Woodland Adds Thermoset Molding Press

Woodland Plastics Corp. Addison, Ill., this January added a new, 350-ton Arburg Allrouder thermoset injection molding machine, which it will deploy to serve OEMs and their suppliers in the automotive, appliance, electrical, energy, and lighting industries.  The new press will reportedly allow Woodland to meet customer requirements for components with tight tolerances, ensuring parts are molded effectively and efficiently, and at a low cost.  While the new press is not the biggest thermoset molding machine at Woodland Plastics’ facility (it runs two 500-ton presses), it provides technicians with the highest degree of processing control and efficiency.      

With advanced sensors and monitoring capabilities, the new press ensures quality and repeatability on every shot, Woodland says.  Key processing parameters such as cycle time, injection speed, injection pressure, mold temperatures, and screw position are conveniently displayed on the touch screen monitor via easy-to-read graphs and charts. 

Using the touch screen, technicians are able to easily read, monitor, fine-tune, and add or remove operations with the push of a button.  The press also includes interface communication abilities with thermolators, which allow mold temperatures to be controllable through a control panel.  Since the new press has been implemented in January, Woodland Plastics has lowered scrap rates, along with labor and quality costs; all while increasing the available machine time for thermoset molded components.

As a custom injection molder of thermoset materials, Woodland Plastics is ISO 9001:2008 certified, with available molding processes of injection, compression, and injection-compression. It also offers an array of secondary services.