Injection Moulding

The Ask: "Can you automate our process?"

The Background:
This partner had a business that was partly based upon producing a variety of bespoke mouldings. Their process required a number of labour intensive steps, some of which possessed significant durations in between (for curing). They approached us to determine if we could optimise their process.

The Output:
We started with an initial assessment of their process to fully understand the steps required and the resources they each needed. We quickly identified four areas for improvement; curing, assembly, injection and disassembly.
We presented to the partner the improvement possibilities for each of the areas, alongside the efficiency it would introduce in to their business and the level of effort required for the development. We also identified how the improvements would work in combination, making recommendations on the areas to prioritise.
The partner agreed with our recommendations and elected to pursue two of the four areas; heated curing and automated injection.
We developed a heated enclosure that followed prescribed heating regimes for optimal and consistent curing.
We developed a semi-automated desktop injection system that allowed the partner to utilise their current moulding technology whilst assisting operators with a labour intensive process step.

The Results:
The partner's curing time was cut by a factor of 2 and injection time was down by 75%. Ultimately this almost doubled the throughput of their process - without hiring additional staff.