News:
- LAKELAND HELPS MOLD COMMUNITY
- (REAL) PROCESS CONTROL - A CLOSER LOOK AT K-KONTROL™ IN ROTOPLAS
(493K Ltd., Ferry Industries Inc., Mity-Lite RMD, Conclusion)
- CRM - CUSTOM ROTO MOLD
Lakeland Mold Company teams up with rotational molding industry partners in United Way Pacesetter program
Brainerd, Minnesota USA
Lakeland Mold Company of Brainerd, Minnesota, a world leader in the manufacture of cast and CNC machined aluminum tooling for the rotational molding industry, was recently selected as the Pacesetter company for the United Way of Crow Wing County's annual fund-raising campaign. As Pacesetter, Lakeland Mold's commitment to raise $10,000 places the company as a United Way "Pillar Giver" in the central Minnesota region.
To achieve this aggressive fundraising goal, Lakeland Mold partnered with rotational molding industry companies Mold In Graphic Systems® (Clarkdale, AZ) and Liquidlogic™ Kayaks (Flat Rock, NC) to donate two kayaks at community raffle events that were made from Lakeland Mold tooling. Mold In Graphic Systems® donated customized, permanent labeling to decorate these Liquidlogic™ kayaks, which were produced at Liquidlogic's manufacturing facility at Remcon Plastics in Reading, PA.
The kayaks were the centerpiece of Lakeland Mold's Pacesetter efforts, which along with a silent auction, chili cook-off, community bratwurst feed, and employee and owner pledges, resulted in a $13,852.61 fundraising campaign. John Newhouse, Lakeland Mold Company President, praised employee and industry partner efforts in the fundraising campaign: "the United Way Pacesetter program was a tremendous success, and demonstrates our desire to foster a culture of commitment to the community. We greatly appreciate our employees' contributions, as well as the generous donations from Mold In Graphic Systems® and Liquidlogic™ to help meet and exceed our Pacesetter goals."
For more information, please contact Tom Innis at Lakeland Mold Company, 1021 Madison St., Brainerd, MN 56401. Tel. (218) 828-0110. Website:www.lakelandmoldcompany.com
The supplier, a rotomolder and a machine manufacturer discuss their experiences of (Real) Process Control in rotational molding and reveal the unrealized benefits.
When the topic of process control in relation to rotational molding is discussed, often items relating to gas burners, PLC controlled machines, oven temperature monitoring and cooling fan controls are raised. However it should be stressed that what is being talked about would be more accurately described as machine control and not process control.
This three-in-one presentation will demonstrate how real process control of rotational molding is based upon controlling the rate of heating and cooling of polymer temperatures. The presentation will consist of three parts. In part one, 493K Limited, supplier of K-Kontrol™, will give an overview of some of the academic and practical benefits of using K-Kontrol™, in terms of the molded parts' mechanical properties, the cycle time and the associated reduced labor requirements. In part two, Ferry Industries' President, Harry Covington, will discuss the advantages to polymer temperature control that K-Kontrol™ can offer as well as how to practically install and link K-Kontrol™ into your current machine and the level of automation that you can expect. Part three will feature Dru Laws from Mity-Lite RMD, who recently completed his Masters Degree in Polymers (with distinction) at Queen's University Belfast. Mity-Lite RMD will give some case studies showing the benefits of using K-Kontrol in a production environment and how K-Kontrol has enabled them to optimize process recipes for different materials, improve part quality and reduce scrap and more significantly their labor through automation.
President and founder of 493K Limited, Dr. Gareth McDowell, completed his PhD in Rotational Molding at Queen's University Belfast, United Kingdom in 2002, where his research included :process optimization; mold and powder preheating; internal mould cooling; control system design for internal mold pressurization; the design and build of high temperature data acquisition systems; thermal system modeling; comparative studies between infra red heating ovens and other conventional heating methods. 493K Limited was then established to develop and manufacture data acquisition and control products to improve quality and process efficiency for the heating and cooling stages in rotational molding.
R. DRU LAWS graduated from Brigham Young University in 2003 with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics. In 2005, he graduated with distinction (honors) from the Queens University of Belfast in Northern Ireland with an MSc in Polymer Engineering, emphasizing in Rotational Foam Molding. Dru is also studying to become certified as a ‘6s Black Belt’ in quality. He has several patents pertaining to rotational molding and has guest-lectured at several universities on the same subject. Dru oversees the engineering efforts for the Rotational Molding Division of Mity-Lite. In 2004, Mity-Lite received 3 of the 4 awards given by the Association of Rotational Molders International for outstanding product and process innovation and design. Dru currently serves as the Rotomolding Division Co-Chairperson for the Society of Plastics Engineers ANTEC Committee. He is an active member of ARM International Polyolefins Committee and is the Moderator for the Polysort rotomolding discussion forum.
Harry Covington is President and Owner of Ferry Industries, Inc., Akron, Ohio, USA, a global leader in the production of rotational molding machines, with its Rotospeed ™ range of machines.
Ferry also produces Quintax ™ 3 and 5 axis CNC routers for trimming plastics, manufacturing patterns and molds, shaping aerospace composites and for making wood products. He serves on the ARM International Board of Directors and is a member of the Rotational Molding Hall of Fame. He has been a frequent presenter at ARM International and PEC meetings over the years. Covington holds a BSME from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
To obtain a copy of this presentation you can download it by clicking here.
To find out more about the products offered by Ferry Industries you can visit their webpage at www.ferryindustries.com or call them on 001.330.920.9200.
To find out more about the products offered by Mity-Lite RMD you can visit their webpage at www.mitylite.com or call them on 001.877.648.7686.
It is very easy to claim reduction in cycle times, increased productivity, reduced costs with new technology. Certainly these are the theoretical benefits of installing K-KONTROL™ on your machines, but they are also fast becoming the reality in moulding shops worldwide. We have asked Dru and Harry to talk briefly about how K-KONTROL’S PROCESS MONITORING & CONTROL SYSTEM can benefit you in your shop, not just presenting this as an academic tool but a FULL TIME PRODUCTION MONEY SAVER.
Here are some photographs of installations that have been made in various machines over the last two years.
Installation have been made in North America….
Harry gives an overview of process control on his machines and talks about where he sees the industry going and indeed where it needs to go if it is to improve and take serious steps forward. For a long time machines have been running on time based cycles with only the oven temperature as the controlling factor, with no regard given to the polymer or even the mould temperature.
Ferry Industries currently offers three process control options, allowing the molder the ability to measure the temperature in and around the mold. The Rotolog, formerly developed at Queen’s University Belfast as an R&D tool, is now available through Ferry as a full time production system. It is capable of operating continuously within the harsh environment of the rotomoulding ovens, thanks to its ice packs and advanced insulation properties.
IRT uses an infrared thermometer to monitor the mold's outer temperature. This permits optimizing the process by controlling the machine cycle based on temperature and time rather than time alone.
K-KONTROL™, now available from Ferry Industries, is a permanently installed system capable of measuring the mold, polymer and internal air temperature on a continuous basis. The system is bolted onto the head of the arm and thermocouple wires are tracked back to the rear. From here the temperature on up to four channels is transmitted via radio.
The K-PAQ™ is a portable high temperature logger, much like the ROTOLOG. It measures the air pressure inside the mould to ensure that over pressurisation is not occurring. It also uses coolant cartridges to extend its life in the oven.
Ferry Industries, with their universal software control, ROTOCURE, can use data from all of the above systems to control the full Ferry range of machines, making their machines temperature control based.
For the process of rotomoulding and indeed the industry to advance it is essential that the control methods improve and come into line with the other mainstream plastics processes.
The Mity-Lite RMD Facility in Utah. They have 3 Rotomoulding machines. Two of these machines are fully controlled with K-KONTROL™ using PLCs written with OPTO 22 software.
You can see the head of one of arms with K-KONTROL™. The K-KONTROL™ system in this case totally replaces the plate of the machine arm.
Another K-KONTROL™ installed arm. One benefit of K-KONTROL™ is that it controls the cooling stages and ensures that the part exits the cooler at the same temperature every time.
A close up of K-KONTROL™. The black ring remains stationary will the outer brass coloured disk rotates with the head.
OPTO 22 control software written in-house governs the cycle based on POLYMER temperature.
A screen shot showing the various stages of a foaming cycle that are tracked using K-KONTROL™.
Some temperature traces showing the mould and polymer temperatures during a typical cycle at Mity-Lite RMD.
K-KONTROL™ is used for pre-production run development of the Klean-Guroo Kleaning Kart.
Perfect cure first time, every time…
No more guess work in foaming…
Here are some conclusions from a real moulder…Reduced scrape rates, Balanced temperatures for all moulds, Fully automated control, Reduced labour, Maximise arm/station efficiency……and of course the kompetitive advantage.
A summary of some figures we have received back from our customers show an optimisation in cycle times giving a saving of up to 10%, compensation of ambient temperatures (a variation in outside temperature of 15C can alter cycle times by up to 6 minutes for the same polymer temperature – consider how your part quality varies for constant timed cycles). Reduce scrap rate by seeing what’s happening in real time and acting immediately. Think of the endless amount of R&D and fault finding that you can do with K-KONTROL™ within your PRODUCTION schedule.
"CRM has become a flexible project management service which delivers value added services, including design and assembly. The market place has changed dramatically in recent years and to meet customers needs we have developed a flexible bespoke approach to enhance rotomoulding production. A key sign of strength for the rotomolding sector is the increased range of products being produced. We are producing many marine parts, including the boat interiors, which are created by our customers design and style teams working closely with our engineers."
"There has been an increase in capital spending during the last four months, but the overall trend this year has been a slow in capital spending, stalled, of course, by the cost of resin and high oil prices."
Corey Claussen, Vice-President / Co-Owner,
Custom Roto-Mold Inc.
www.customrotomold.com
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