The trend towards ever smaller production batches has been apparent for several years. Customers also increasingly want company-specific information on the components and a broader colour spectrum. For this reason, ifw put together an internal team consisting of experts from toolmaking (ifw mould tec) and parts production (ifw kunststofftechnik). The assignment: to develop an automation solution to increase efficiency and make work easier for production staff in the manufacture of small and medium-sized batches. ifw Managing Director Gerald Neudeck: "Our goal was and is a technically simple, economically attractive and mature system that significantly increases efficiency."

Process-safe, simple, handling systems

The practical tests are carried out by ifw in its own plastics technology department. Specifically, in the contract manufacturing of fittings with diameters from 32 to 110 mm. Authorised signatory Christian Otte: "On the one hand, our new development automates the insertion of the seals into the fittings and takes over the leak test. On the other hand, it also applies EAN labels and places the fittings in the appropriate packaging size." Customers of ifw kunststofftechnik, says Otte, will benefit from a further shortening and flexibilization of delivery times as well as savings in warehousing, which ifw also offers as part of its obligatory 360° service.

Shorter set-up times thanks to intelligent modular system

Mould tec Sales Manager and Authorised Representative Harald Schicklgruber points out the short set-up times resulting from the well thought-out concepts, especially for the fittings industry: "Automation in fittings production is basically nothing new, but with the "ifw Easy Automatizations Solutions" we have put together intelligent and extremely space-saving automation packages. It guarantees economical work even when changeovers have to be made several times a week. As a result, orders with smaller quantities can be handled cost-efficiently, despite the set-up effort of the automation." In concrete terms, the reason for the short changeover times lies in intelligent modular systems. A flexibly configurable, multifunctional handling head with numerous modules enables the manipulation of almost all fitting variants. The possibilities of 3D printing technology have been integrated. In this respect, it is only logical that ifw will also offer these automation solutions to ifw tooling customers in the future.

Injection mould and automation from a single source

ifw Managing Director Gerald Neudeck: "Of course, we will not only use the advantages of "ifw Easy Automatization" in our own plastics production. As a technology leader in the production of highly innovative injection moulds for fittings, we feel obliged to also offer this new development to our customers who invest in new moulds from ifw."