Essentra Components has selected Sumitomo (SHI) Demag for its first all-electric moulding machine installation.
Its Kidlington plant recently put its new Sumitomo (SHI) Demag IntElect2 50 ton through its paces, trialling over 50 different applications and tools.
Performing tests against the same tonnage hydraulic machine of similar specification, Divisional Process Development Manager Chris Butler disclosed that both the all-electric cycle times and energy savings surpassed all of his expectations.
“What we were expecting versus what we documented during the trials was exceptional,” explained Butler who has taken charge of a huge project to analyse the age, condition and sustainability of the company’s combined fleet of 419 moulding machines spread across 13 countries.
Through a series of trials completed over the summer months, Essentra Components has collated all the raw data it needs to push forward with its investment strategy of replacing legacy hydraulic with all-electric machines. This evidence all bodes well for the moulder’s future sustainability and production capacity developments.
As a result of the improved process control and the IntElect’s quicker clamp unit/linear movements, the trials revealed an average 24 percent cycle time saving.
In a separate trial, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag’s Technical Manager Nick Stockton replicated the exact product processing, shot weight, cycle time and machine tonnage to document energy improvements. Previously consuming 6.31 KWh at an average cost of £0.78 p/h, on the new IntElect2 this dropped to 4.3KWh. Impressively, this instant 32 percent energy saving was gained without adjusting any of the process steps.
“With the optimised cycle time, the volume of material we processed per hour increased by nearly a third compared to the hydraulic machine. So, we are essentially making more mouldings at virtually the same energy cost,” adds Butler.
“It gives us a very high consistency of part, reducing machine process downtime and part scrap rates. From a sustainability viewpoint, this further strengthens the rationale for all-electric.”
On the basis of these tests, Kidlington is planning a full switch to all-electric over the next decade.
Chris’ ambition at the start of this IntElect trial project was to determine whether an all-electric machine could deliver the capabilities and improvements needed to be more sustainable and shrink the company’s machine count long term.
He concludes: “These trials have been extremely valuable and insightful. The energy and cycle time savings made have been nothing short of remarkable. And from a performance perspective, the IntElect system fits our strategy and where we want be from a sustainability point of view.”