Product category:
Press tools - design, manufacture and usage, CAD/CAM, software
News Release from: FSG Tool and Die | Subject: Im-Pak moulds
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 15 September 2005
Moulds for container's reach fast cycle
times
When a container manufacturer approached Im-Pak Technologies to help it decrease production cycle times, the high quality moulds required for the job were manufactured by FSG Tool and Die.
When a container manufacturer approached Im-Pak Technologies to help it decrease production cycle times, the high quality moulds required for the job were manufactured by FSG Tool and Die Im-Pak Technologies, based in Petworth, West Sussex in the UK, is an intellectual property company that develops, patents and licenses technology for use in the plastics commodity industry - specifically containers
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 11 Nov 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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Or, as the company's technical director, Peter Clarke, described it: "Anything from a plastic test tube up to a 20 gallon bucket." Although formed as recently as 2003, Im-Pak is already making a name for itself in the plastics industry through the application of its patented sequential injection-compression mould technology, which is aimed at thin-wall and thick-wall polypropylene containers as well as PET pre-forms and other high volume packaging areas.
It is an industry development that has not escaped the attention of a well-known volume producer of plastic containers, which recently approached Im-Pak with an enquiry to produce one of its containers in a cycle time faster than the company's existing capability.
Following initial discussions it was determined that use of Im-Pak technology would produce a cycle time for the proposed container of just 5.5 seconds in comparison with nine seconds using conventional technology.
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With annual volumes expected to be in the order of several million, most moulding shops would be attentive to savings of half a second, let alone 3.5 seconds, so the order was placed with Im-Pak.
FSG Tool and Die of Pontypridd produced the moulds.
Clarke commented: "FSG is more than just a toolmaker, it is a precision engineering and machining company.
Projects such as these are not driven by cost or lead-time, they are driven by accuracy and FSG is capable of producing extremely high precision with tolerances in the realm of 0.005mm.
Because of FSG's experience with the canning industry and its aluminium foil work, the company is conditioned to close tolerance work and exceptionally tight fits.
FSG has the right machine tools, a temperature controlled environment, a thorough inspection system and highly skilled employees." Im-Pak's technology uses a shooting pot atop the stationary mould plate to inject a full shot of molten material in to the cavity as the core side is closing.
The material forms a thick molten billet in the base of the core and is then forced up the sides of the mould at high speed by the force of the entering core.
The mould closes before material can flash through the top.
Once in full production the single cavity mould manufactured by FSG will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, producing a container every 5.5 seconds.
The tool has already passed initial run stage and is currently undergoing final testing.
To maintain its competitive position FSG has embarked on a structured programme of heavy investment in recent years.
The company now boasts fully automated EDM systems alongside high specification CNC machining centres and grinding centres.
FSG is also a recent winner of the GTMA World Class Golden Globe Award.
Clarke summed up: "FSG's communication and feedback is first class.
Everything from day-to-day progress updates through to provision of full CMM reports, all of which is vital on a complex, high profile project such as this.".
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