With Elmet‘s Smartshot E and Smartmix Top 7000 Pro systems, two of the company’s technological flagships are used in the production cell.

As for attracting newer workers, Plymouth appeals in large part because of its impressive investments in technology and the digital chain. “If you look at Protolabs and what it does, it’s a technology company, right?” says Singh. “We’re all powered by technology; we talk in technology.”

The speed and simplicity of the process is reminiscent of “gig” apps like Lyft or Uber Eats in terms of its convenience and ease of use. First, a prospective client visits Protolabs’ website. They upload a 3D model of the part they want to create. Protolabs then uses software to analyze the model and evaluate how well it can be made using injection molding, making recommendations along the way. This design-for-manufacturing analysis, or DFM, plan is then usually checked over by one of the company engineers, many of whom now work remotely.

In short, since the company has so much capacity, its clients never have to reserve production time. Plymouth’s quick turnaround also explains why the company holds relatively little inventory.

The end-to-end digital chain of Protolabs Plymouth’s process, Singh says, is one of the company’s competitive advantages over operations that prioritize front-end tech. Each part can be digitally tracked through the process of the plant by the client that ordered it.

With help from Sumitomo Demag, Shin-Etsu, and Mettler Toledo, Elmet will debut two innovative production cells to make silicone can covers at K 2022.

The new system boasts a material utilization level of up to 99.6%. Drums are changed automatically to increase ease of use and keep the amount of training to a minimum. Use of special seals made of FDA-compliant materials allows the Smartmix Top 7000 Pro to be used for medical applications.

Ryan got started at IndustryWeek in August 2019 as an editorial intern and was hired as a news editor in 2020 before his 2023 promotion to associate editor, talent. He has a Bachelor of Arts in English from the College of Wooster.

The technological high-end counterpart in material provision is the Elmet Smartmix Top 7000 Pro dosing system, which delivers precise and reliable dosing of material to the Elmet injection mold. A Sumitomo linear handling device removes the parts from the mold and transfers them to the weighing cell made by Mettler Toledo where every part is weighed. The result is stored in a database and displayed graphically to demonstrate the process accuracy of the system. After weighing, the silicone parts are marked by laser to ensure highest possible traceability. After lasering, the parts are placed on a conveyor belt.

Unlike most winners and most factories, though, Protolabs produces unique custom products, quickly and on demand. The Plymouth plant makes (appropriately for the name) prototypes. The products that make up its high-mix, low-volume output are modeled by a computer and made into injection-molded plastic pieces within a timespan of mere days or hours. Protolabs Plymouth’s remarkable achievements in perfecting its model of manufacturing—and working to advance beyond it—are what make it a worthy 2022 IndustryWeek Best Plants Winner.

Gurvinder Singh, global product director of Protolabs’ injection molding operations, says the reason Protolabs exists comes down to one word—speed. This single-factor focus is one reason for the company’s unorthodox approach to machine availability: Part of Protolabs’ appeal for clients, according to Plymouth plant leadership, is what the company calls its “infinite capacity” model, in which machine uptime is treated as a capacity performance indicator instead of a performance capacity indicator.

Once the design is finalized, the front end can send the plans directly to the milling machines, which machine aluminum blocks into custom molds. At the same time, it can also send those parts to Plymouth’s quality control area, where automated 3D printers produce fittings to hold the finished, molded part in place for quality checking by a computerized coordinate-measuring machine, letting the company run inspections on the parts made without adding lead time.

Protolabs’ other advantage over its competitors, Singh says, is its manufacturing expertise. While some prototyping companies are essentially intermediaries that connect clients to other contract manufacturers, Protolabs Plymouth has the know-how to do its own stunts. At the same time, though, the company is planning to expand its footprint on what it can provide for customers beyond its own house-made prototypes: Protolabs’ acquisition of 3D Hubs last year, Singh says, will cover even more ground by enabling Protolabs to connect clients to other manufacturers for high-scale orders.

The heart of the innovation is the interaction between the high-tech contributions from the four partner companies. The combination of high-precision dosing (Elmet Smartmix), the all-electric injection-molding machine (Sumitomo IntElect), and the electric valve-gate cold runner (Elmet Smartshot E) enables a new level of accuracy in the reproduction of part weights.

Associate Editor Ryan Secard covers topics relevant to the manufacturing workforce, including recruitment, safety, labor organizations, and the skills gap. Ryan has written IndustryWeek's Salary Survey annually since 2021 and has coordinated its Talent Advisory Board since September 2023.

The dosing system design was focused on reducing the unit’s footprint to 1,150 mm/55.3 inches by 790 mm/31 inches. This makes the system the smallest liquid-silicone dosing system for 200-Liter container units on the market.

“[The Hubs acquisition] basically allows us to be the one-stop shop. You want early prototyping and you want fast, we’re here for you. Hey, if you want longer lead times, we’re here for you,” Singh said. “You want millions of parts, which we’re not great for? We will help you fulfill it from a plant.”

Compared to its predecessor, the Smartmix TOP 5000 P, the Smart TOP 7000 Pro features a completely new pump system, which now only contains approximately one third of the liquid silicone in the system, making it much easier to clean. This is particularly important for use in the medical and pharmaceutical fields where the pump unit is dismantled and cleaned each time the material changes to prevent mixing of different types of liquid silicone.

Vigorous devotion to speed and quality, a strong focus on customer satisfaction tied with a culture that encourages employees to experiment, and innovative technology: These are the features that qualify Protolabs Plymouth as an IW Best Plant.

“Websites are common now, right?” Singh points out. “Our level of automation is high on the front end, but I think on the front end, everybody’s figuring out how to do it. I think we still are significantly different from any other competitor on the back end.”

“We are extremely fortunate. We have got a very committed and very engaged workforce,” Wesling says. Plymouth employees feel connected to the success of the plant, he says, thanks in part to clearly indicated plant KPIs displayed on whiteboards, as well as individual goals and annual merit pay increases.

The special four-cavity injection mold from Elmet injects four different can lids made of liquid silicone (LSR) from partner company Shin-Etsu. The silicone lids produced serve as coverings for customary beverage cans such as those for soft drinks, energy drinks, and various alcoholic beverages. A separate cavity also produces covers for customary food cans made of sheet steel.

PlasticsToday learned from Michael Schaffer, Elmet’s business unit manager tooling & turnkey, that the company built a 4-cavity mold specifically for the K Show. It will be used to make Smartcap lids in the Sumitomo booth as a souvenir for visitors, he adds.

Lids for food & beverage cans are manufactured by the Elmet injection molding system with an all-electric Smartshot E valve-gate cold-runner system.

Like other IW Best Plants winners this year and in the past, Protolabs credits its employees’ freedom to make decisions for part of its success through kaizen projects and getting floor employees invested.

There’s no getting around it: Protolabs’ Injection Molding Facility in Plymouth, Minnesota, stands out as an unusual IW Best Plants winner. Most winners make one product or a small handful of products, and they aim to maximize the amount of time their machines are running.

Achievements: Automated digital twin, Recognition as a WEF Global Lighthouse Network plant, 16.4% reduction in scrap and rework costs within past 3 years, digital process control reduced parts non-conformance by 45%, increased large injection molding capacity by more than 50% in the past 3 years.

Together with three project partners, Austrian company Elmet developed two innovative injection-molding production cell that manufacture four different covers for beverage and food cans, which have been dubbed as Smartcaps.

Plymouth’s devotion to speed and ease of client access has led to remarkable agility for its operation. According to Greg Wesling, director of manufacturing operations, the turnaround on some projects from 3D-modeled plan to mold to a prototype in the client’s hand can be as little as 24 hours—though the standard is more often closer to 10 days.

To hear more from Raymond and other IW Best Plants winners, attend the Manufacturing & Technology Show from Oct. 18-20 in Cleveland. All four winner's of this year's awards will participate in a panel discussion on Oct. 19 to discuss how they approach continuous improvement and strive toward manufacturing excellence.

Rick Lingle is Senior Technical Editor, Packaging Digest and PlasticsToday. He’s been a packaging media journalist since 1985 specializing in food, beverage and plastic markets. He has a chemistry degree from Clarke College and has worked in food industry R&D for Standard Brands/Nabisco and the R.T. French Co. Reach him at [email protected] or 630-481-1426.