Following its investment in a Fanuc Roboshot injection moulding machine, eco-conscious plastic products manufacturer Bloom-in-Box says it is well on the way to becoming carbon neutral. By means of servo technology and ‘intelligent power regeneration’ capabilities, the Roboshot S150iA installed at Bloom-in-Box’s Burscough facility uses 3kW per hour, permitting it to be powered exclusively by renewable solar energy.

In addition, the Roboshot’s power regeneration feature enables intelligent energy recovery: when an axis decelerates, energy returns to the power source, adding to the overall savings.

“We had reached a plateau. Our older machines were slower, causing production bottlenecks, and lacked the precise temperature control needed for working with biodegradable plastics,” said David Reardon, director of Bloom-in-Box.

Bloom-in-Box has been involved in injection moulding for more than 20 years and has always been an advocate of electric moulding machines on the basis that they use up to 80% less energy than their hydraulic counterparts. When significant growth meant the company had reached maximum production capacity last year, it took the decision to invest in a new electric machine that would enable it to increase capacity by 25-40%.

Continental has acquired EMT s.r.o., a mould manufacturing specialist based in Puchov, Slovakia. The tyre maker and automotive technology company obtained all shares in its long-standing supplier on 2 April 2024 after entering into an agreement with EMT’s shareholders, including majority shareholder Dynamic Design Europe. Beyond confirming the retention of all 107 EMT employees, Continental has not disclosed details of the agreement.

Fanuc says the machine's energy efficiency is attributed to a combination of Fanuc’s proprietary servo technology and smart energy recovery.

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As well as being well on track to becoming carbon neutral, Bloom-in-Box is well-placed to expand its garden, scoops and measures ranges and to develop new medical and PPE products.

At the same time, the company had embarked on a roadmap to become carbon neutral, starting with an assessment of its carbon footprint. This revealed electricity accounted for 95% of its total carbon emissions. To address this situation, in November 2021, Bloom-in-Box installed a 40kWp solar system that feeds directly into the factory. During daylight hours this generates on average 10kW per hour, with the potential to produce even more electrical energy during the summer months.

The 150T clamp force Roboshot S150iA in operation at Bloom-in-Box runs at 2.9-3kW per hour for a six-second cycle (the longer the cycle the less energy consumed), reducing energy consumption by 20% versus previous generation electric machines in the plastic processor’s fleet.

“Our goal at Bloom-in-Box is to become carbon neutral over the next 12-18 months. We have been working with all-electric machines for the last 20 years to reduce power consumption and emissions. Solar installations and our new Fanuc Roboshot were the next steps to achieving this. Thanks to these latest investments, our current carbon emissions as a business are estimated to be less than 10 tonnes of CO2 per year, with our ultimate goal to achieve net zero,” said Tom Reardon, production coordinator and robotics engineer at Bloom-in-Box.

Bloom-in-Box is a third-generation, family-run plastic injection moulding business focused on designing and moulding recyclable products from recycled materials. In 2018 Bloom-in-Box earned a place in the final of Best Recycled Plastic Product of the Year for its Bloomie floristry box. The Bloomie is made from 99% recycled material and is 100% recyclable. Any boxes that mould incorrectly are chopped up, passed through a grinder and made into security spikes. Other products made by the business include laundry pegs, scoops and measures.

“We build our own [servo drives], meaning they are as energy efficient as is physically possible. This also enables us to specify servo drives that are the perfect match for each machine’s target performance, ensure they deliver exactly the amount of power to the motor that it needs,” said David Raine, Roboshot sales manager UK and Ireland.

“When the equipment starts to decelerate and the motor is no longer required to drive a process, it automatically switches to being a generator, feeding the electricity that is generated back through the system to another location on the machine where it is needed,” said Raine.

Therefore, when it came to deciding which injection moulding machine to invest in, Bloom-in-Box wanted this machine purchase to support its carbon emission reduction ambitions and to be powered exclusively by the new solar panels.