For Rob Anderson, meanwhile, the success of the first system quickly led to the company placing an order for a second: “We went for the second machine due to the easy installation of the first. The short lead times offered by FANUC meant we could get products to market extremely quickly. At Advanced Plastics, we like to experience new technologies and look at innovative technologies where we can achieve better results for our customers. In essence, the FANUC ROBOSHOT S450iA was the only machine that could do the particular job that we needed it to do – and it does it very well.”

Installed in combination with the integrated FANUC M020iD35 robot, the installation prompted Advanced Plastics to order a second machine-robot combination from FANUC UK, which has already been delivered and commissioned.

By measuring the motor torque, AI-Protect immediately stops the machine if any restriction is detected, shielding the mould during the full opening and closing cycle while having no impact on clamp closing speeds. The same technology protects the ejector’s forward and reverse movement without affecting productivity. AI-Protect even alerts operators when greasing is required, or the mould is worn.

Freeform Injection Molding technology from Nexa3D compresses design, iteration, and validation cycle times into a matter of hours rather than weeks.

Based on input collected from the first two iterations, the design of the silicone part was approved and manufacturing of a metal tool was initiated with full confidence of part moldability and performance. The in-house tool shop built the final metal tooling in four weeks without iterations.

The M-20iD35 robot at Advanced Plastics is controlled via the latest R-30iB control system. This integrates more than 250 software functions to ensure industry-leading speed, accuracy and safety. This is all neatly packed into the FANUC A-cabinet, with a high-performance CPU and mainboard with increased memory, a compact and stackable design, and the user-friendly iPendant Touch control interface.

Like all of FANUC’s offerings, the solution provided to Advanced Plastics has a range of intelligent, digital features. In this instance, one of the key smart benefits is the FANUC AI-Protect system for both mould and ejector. This provides unparalleled mould protection, which in turn neutralises an important potential cause of downtime.

Medical device manufacturers are tasked with developing elaborate test protocols to ensure that the product in development is safe and meets essential requirements. If these tests are conducted late in the development process, the more onerous and risky they become. SPT Vilecon often works with silicone, a material that is extensively used in medical applications because of its chemical resistance, mechanical performance, and biocompatibility. However, silicone parts are notoriously difficult to prototype and test, since most grades need to be injection molded to achieve their full performance potential, said the company. FIM enabled SPT Vilecon to offer an alternative to a customer developing an intravenous (IV) silicone product — the use of 3D-printed tooling to perform early design and material verification at a fraction of the cost of conventional methods.

Editor in chief of PlasticsToday since 2015, Norbert Sparrow has more than 30 years of editorial experience in business-to-business media. He studied journalism at the Centre Universitaire d'Etudes du Journalisme in Strasbourg, France, where he earned a master's degree.

The 3D-printed molds for the first and second iterations cost less than €2,000 combined. And the technology enabled a two-day design cycle, which is more than 90% faster than conventional metal tooling.

SPT Vilecon said it has begun expanding the range of injection mold prototyping with silicone, metal, and ceramic materials to provide medical device manufacturers with an even wider selection of product development and verification services.

The ROBOSHOT S450iA injecting moulding machine operates with a clamp force of 4,500kN, a double platen die height of between 350mm and 1m, and a clamping stroke of 900mm. Weighing 29.7 tonnes, it has a rated maximum injection speed of 180mm/s.

SPT implemented Nexa3D’s Freeform Injection Molding (FIM) technology to help customers shorten time-to-market on complex medical devices in demanding medical-grade materials and to expand on the range of materials that can be quickly and reliably used in prototyping and early device test manufacturing.

Based in Hull, Advanced Plastics undertakes everything from initial design concepts to volume production of plastic mouldings and assemblies, structural plastic components and technical automotive components. The company has almost 10 years’ experience of using FANUC equipment, as Anderson explains: “Our injection moulding machines produce high-level engineering parts in various grades of plastic. Since we purchased the first FANUC robot back in 2012, we now have nine ROBOSHOT machines and over 40 FANUC robots. We are proud to be the first company in the UK to purchase the FANUC ROBOSHOT S450iA. We purchased this machine on the back of our experience with FANUC, as we needed a bigger machine that gives us the sensitivity to protect very delicate tooling. This machine perfectly fits the bill.”

As a result of the close integration of machine, robot and software, exceptionally fast cycle times can be achieved. As Ed Darling explains, this is a key benefit to Advanced Plastics: “I particularly like FANUC moulding machines because, being all-electric, they are economical to run; but mostly, I like them because we are a cycle time-oriented business.”

A supplier of development and manufacturing services to medical device OEMs used Freeform Injection Molding from Nexa3D to accelerate time-to-market and slash prototyping costs for a complex silicone-based IV device. SPT Vilecon explained the process in a recent press release.

“The combination of the FANUC robot and moulding machine allows us to seamlessly integrate our processes,” says Rob Anderson, managing director of Advanced Plastics. “This has resulted in a dramatic increase in our output from around 600,000 parts on a particular range up to a planned 1.3 million.”

Other automated features include Clamp Force Adjustment, which checks and adjusts the minimum clamp force to provide increased security, eliminating the need to manually modify this critical parameter. Optimising clamp force also minimises mould wear and increases machine life, cuts component defects, reduces energy consumption and compresses start-up times.

To highlight the effectiveness of this feature, Darling outlines an incident when an apple was dropped between two surfaces of the mould: “Because of the accuracy of the AI-Protect, the apple wasn’t crushed. That shows the precision that we need on these moulding machines.”

Design input collected from the first tests was integrated in a second iteration that took only a couple of hours to complete. By contrast, conventional metal tooling would have taken more than six weeks to design and procure, and the adjustments needed for the second iteration would have taken an in-house tool-shop a week to complete.

FANUC’s M-20iD35 robot, meanwhile, is a high-inertia, high-strength model with a hollow wrist and base that delivers fast and efficient movement in all six axes. Its maximum load capacity of 35kg is more than sufficient for the lightweight plastic injection moulded components produced on the ROBOSHOT S450iA at Advanced Plastics. Similarly, its reach range of 1,831mm means it can easily cope with stretching into the ROBOSHOT S450iA to extract components and load them into a collection point or pallet – regardless of the dimensions of the moulded part.

“AI-Protect allows the moulds to open and close at fast speeds with full protection of the tooling. The tooling can often be just as expensive as the moulding machines so we must protect it,” says Ed Darling, Advanced Plastics’ process manager.

The UK’s first installed FANUC ROBOSHOT S450iA injection moulding machine has doubled output on a key range of moulded products for Advanced Plastics, a supplier of precision-engineered parts to OEMs in the automotive, medical, packaging, defence and consumer goods industries.

The patented FIM process uses high-speed Nexa3D printers and xMOLD resin to print injection molding tools that are compatible with thousands of off-the-shelf injection molding materials, including reinforced high-performance feedstocks. The process reduces design, iteration, and validation cycles using end-product materials to a matter of hours rather than weeks.

Certified to ISO 13485, Denmark-based SPT Vilecon describes itself as a fully integrated provider of development and manufacturing services to the medical device industry. It offers in-house tool making and injection molding along with other manufacturing services to companies in northern Europe.

Injection-molded silicone parts were produced within two days, allowing early verification of key design and performance aspects.

Robust and valid prototyping and verification are key to minimizing cost, time, and risk factors in developing medical devices, said SPI Vilecon. FIM is a new toolbox for medical device companies seeking to accelerate their innovation and obtain early verification of part performance and moldability, added the company.