DELIVERING PERFORMANCE

AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT HOW OPTIMISED HOT RUNNER SYSTEMS DELIVER IMPROVED COLOUR CHANGE PERFORMANCE.

- MAT KHAN

COCA-COLA USES A SPECIFIC SHADE OF red, while one particular shade of blue is what identifies Pepsi.

In consumer packing, as brands keep adding new varieties, demand shorter production runs and develop new designs with increasing frequency, there is increased focus on changing colour at processing. Optimising the injection moulding colour change process to get an accurate colour is the need of the day.

“A poor colour change process can result in extra wasted material, greater downtime, and increased scrap. These can accumulate to higher production costs,” said Derrick Hennebicque, Product Manager, Hot Runners at Husky.

He was making a presentation at a knowledge session webinar on ‘An in-depth look at colour change performance’ presented by Husky and powered by Manufacturing Today. In an engaging delivery, he sought from the audience “an appreciation not only for the importance of colour change but also for all the consideration needed to make it happen; such as design principle, application influences and the importance of colour sequencing.”

REAL-LIFE GAINS

A 32 drop polypropylene closure mould changing from Amber to Natural was reported to need 9000 cycles in 28 hours for the colour change until an approved part of an acceptable colour was produced. With adjustments and solutions from Husky, this was reduced to 215 cycles in 40 minutes. This saved 656 hours of machine time and 10,300 kg of scrap material per year.

With case studies from real life such as these dotting his presentation, Hennebicque demonstrated the value of a high-performance colour change process that businesses and professionals interested in injection moulding would find compelling.

PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS