AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGY ZONE at CHINAPLAS 2016 Paving the way to SMART MANUFACTURING for the plastics and rubber industries

With the arrival of the Industrial Internet of Things, manufacturing sectors have already begun to invest in highly automated and IT-driven production, transforming traditional factories to smart factories. Undoubtedly, “automation” is the major element in smart manufacturing technology adoption process, to improve resources utilization, customer service, working capital deployment, waste reduction and sustainability. Real time communication between machines, factories, logistic providers and suppliers provides improved visibility on the end-to-end supply chain. According to the global market research firm TrendForce, the global market of technologies involved in smart manufacturing or factories is estimated to reach US$250 billion in size by 2018. The intelligent manufacturing is going to cause a revolution in manufacturing industries in the next decade is not a far-fetched projection. The plastics and rubber industries will certainly be part of it, as technology upgrade is already on the go among these factories.

In response to the trend of smart manufacturing, the Automation Technology Zone will be continued in a larger scale in CHINAPLAS 2016 after its introduction in Guangzhou’s edition last year, with the introduction of Factory Automation System and Components Zone in addition to Robot Parade and Smart Production Line. 

Robot Parade and Smart Production Line
Who will be in charge of the smart manufacturing of China 2025?  Robots!  The R&D, manufacturing and application of robots, dubbed the jewel in the crown of the manufacturing industry, can be an indicator of the levels of technology innovation and manufacturing quality of a nation.

Deployment of robots is ubiquitous across the processes of the plastics and rubber industries.  Be it injection moulding, blow moulding, extrusion moulding, or downstream processes like cutting, welding and painting, extensive application of robots improves precision as well as efficiency, and is conducive for achieving energy efficiency. 

As for injection moulding, robots can be employed to carry out parts removal and high tolerance inserts installation processes.  Downstream applications like quality control, assembly, deburring, laser cutting, labelling, packaging, palletizing and printing are also possible.  A demonstration of IRB4600, an injection parts removal robot by ABB Engineering (Shanghai) Ltd., will be found at CHINAPLAS 2016.  This model is highly adaptable to different applications in diverse environments, such as material handling, welding, cutting, frame capability, inverted mounting, loading and unloading materials on injection moulding machine and numerically-controlled machine tools, etc., with quality assured by its accurate path and motion control.

Sumitomo (SHI) Demag Plastics Machinery (Nignbo) Co., Ltd. will launch for the first time in Asia their Systec Servo 210, a complex production unit for insert moulding, insert technology and in-mould decorating UD tapes, with their partners the German automation specialist M.A.i GmbH & Co. KG of Kronach, the decorative foil specialist Leonhard Kurz Stiftung & Co. KG of Furth and plastics processor HBW-Gubesch GmbH of Emskirchen. This all-in-one insert-inject-weld-detect integrated automation system combines the complex structure and the decorative functions of technology products, which are lighter, more functional, stronger and more attractive. Energy consumption and material consumption are also reduced.  Their demonstration will include décor pick-up station, UD-tape pick-up with hot handling, metal insert at ejector side, décor insertion, UD-tape insertion and mounting station.  Specifically, a small pair of gram-weight pliers will be seen manufactured to possess better strengths after the treatment with UD-tape, and the final product will be lighter than similar products by 35%.  The system can be applied in the automotive industry for producing semi-structured optical products.
 
Meanwhile, Dongguan Enmair Automation Machinery Co., Ltd. will be hosting live demonstrations of their EM series of multi-joint, multi-axis robots, which are super speedy and precise full servo robots equipped with 5 - 9 servo motors and of which the working repeat positioning accuracy is within ±0.1mm.

If we move on to the booth of Switek Technology Automation (Dongguan) Co., Ltd., we will see the whole set stack mould automation / packaging systems that SWITEK&WEIDA jointly display to the public for the first time.  This is the world’s first and unique apparatus for fold mould, output of which can double that of a normal speed machine, saving 60% electricity.

Factory Automation System and Components
As the demand for industrial robots experiences a rapid growth in China, markets for controllers, servo motors and reducers, the three core components of robots, is at the same time developing perhaps unnoticed.  China for the time being is dependent on imported controllers, the quality of which has a direct impact on that of the robots they control.  In a sense controllers are the brains of robots.  They send out signals according to instructions, and direct the robots to perform certain tasks or actions.  However, with the accumulation of experience in technology and applications, some robots manufacturing enterprises are already producing their own controllers.

The Taiwan-funded Advantech LNC Dong Guan Co., Ltd. will be introducing their R8800, a six-joint robot controller which possesses the following characteristics: stable and precise movements controlled by its CNC core; complete empty coordinate conversion, making possible the multi-station reproduction of procedures and cross-machine migration; diverse path generation methods, which significantly reduce programming time; open style man-machine function, aligning the screen with the needs of field operations.

Another key technology concerning robots and CNC machine tools are AC servo systems.  They are high-response, high-reliability, low-maintenance systems.  They fulfil the high speed, high precision and high efficiency requirements of unmanned mass production.  According to Lite-on Industry Automation, their own developed Servo Drives ISA-7 Series of high-performance servo drives, which make use of 17-bit single-turn absolute encoder of high resolution as control for servo motors, achieve high performance precise positioning control, excellent high-speed performance and the meeting of the diversity of command and control requirements.

The Zone will also find Deltacimic Electronics Co., Ltd., a leading provider of integrated solutions for industrial automation, of which the products include control products PLC programmable logic controllers, HMI human-machine interfaces, text displays, industrial communication modules, etc.; driver products inverters, brushless DC motors, power feedback units; movement products AC servo systems, motion control axes cards, etc.

Other names at Automation Technology Zone also include ISRA Surface Vision GmbH, who will showcase their Intelligent Systems Robotics and Automation (ISRA), robot vision, surface vision and quality inspection systems; Gimatic Automation Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., of which featured products are fast conversion modules, gas expansion clips, needle and single finger clamp jaws, etc.; Danfoss (Shanghai) Automatic Controls Co., Ltd., supplier of inverters, power systems, pressure sensors, etc.; and the list goes on.

The varieties and diversities of automation equipment used in the plastics and rubber industries are too profuse to be confined within the boundaries of the Automation Technology Zone, but will be found widely spread in various halls in CHINAPLAS 2016.  For instance, in the Injection Molding Machinery and Extrusion Machinery Zones, Kuka Robotics China Co., Ltd. will be presenting a sensitive lightweight robot for industrial applications LBR iiwa, the unique gravity compensation technology of which makes its every movement accomplished with ease, and thus ensuring safety at a high level; while Wittmann Battenfeld (Shanghai) Co, Ltd. will be staging their SmartPower series of servo-hydraulic machines equipped with the same amplifier system as the all-electric EcoPower, a drive technology that enables the use of the KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), transforming the kinetic energy released by deceleration into electrical energy.

Adsale, the organizer of CHINAPLAS, is jointly presenting Industry 4.0 Conference together with VDMA (German Engineering Federation).  Speakers from prominent global manufacturers and smart factories will share their experiences on realizing Industry 4.0 in their companies.

With intelligentization as an indisputable future for the Chinese manufacturing industry, the world’s No.2 plastics and rubber trade fair brings to enterprises targeting manufacturing upgrade a new world of cutting edge technology and practical level solutions.  CHINAPLAS 2016, in which 3,200+ exhibitors and representatives from around the world together with many country pavilions will take part, will be held on 25 - 28 April 2016 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, PR China.  Participating in this conference will get you on the bandwagon to Smart Manufacturing!

There are two types of entry tickets - a one-day pass (RMB 30) and four-day pass (RMB 50). Admission is free on 28 April, 2016. Visitors who successfully pre-register on or before April 19, 2016, at www.ChinaplasOnline.com/prereg  can enjoy free admission. For more information on the show, please visit www.ChinaplasOnline.com.

 

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