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A New Level of Automation

By: James Callari 26. February 2013

Rodon Group, the Hatfield, Pa. injection molder that has long relied on automation to produce parts “cheaper than China,” as its website extols, is among the first plastics processors to deploy Baxter, a new kind of robot developed by Rethink Robotics, Boston, Mass.
 
Rodon will be using Baxter for repetitive tasks like picking up parts off a conveyor for packaging. The robot can be "trained" by the very people it is assisting. With extra sensors to make Baxter “aware” of his surroundings, it can be deployed near people. Not bothered by heat or noise, Baxter can take on those “hard to fill” positions.
 
Baxter contains a suite of integrated sensors and a basic knowledge of how to perform a wide range of simple manufacturing operations.
 
Baxter can be tasked with the general part movement. It can transport parts from one location to another, count, re-orient and much more. Baxter can put parts onto moving conveyors or fixed surfaces, or remove them from moving conveyors or fixed surfaces. It can check parts for characteristics like weight or shape, evaluate against criteria and perform different actions depending on test results.
 
Baxter can tend machines and perform operation sequences based on stimuli. For example, it can be trained to place a part in a machine and push a button.It can systematically pack a bag, box or tray. It can be trained to arrange packed objects in an array and unpack containers. Baxter can be trained to align and snap fit assembly elements and insert items into containers, and can grind, polish and perform other finishing operations on a variety of parts and materials.
 
Rethink Robotics was founded in 2008 by robotics pioneer Rodney Brooks. Brooks  was a co-founder of iRobot and held positions there including CTO, Chairman and board member from 1990 through 2011.
 
From 1984 through 2010, Brooks  was on the faculty of MIT as the Panasonic Professor of Robotics, and was the director of MIT CSAIL, the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. While at MIT, Rod developed the behavior-based approach to robotics that underlies the robots of both iRobot and Rethink Robotics.

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Film, Bag Recyling Rates Climbing

By: James Callari 26. February 2013

 

Film recycling rates climbed 4% in 2011 to reach 1 billion lb for the first time, according to a national report released recently. Film is defined in the study as bags, product wraps and commercial shrink film. The report, developed by Moore Recycling Associates, Inc. on behalf of the American Chemistry Council (ACC), noted that the recycling of plastic film has grown 55% since 2005.
 
The report noted that approximately 58% of U.S.-recovered post-consumer film was consumed domestically in 2011—up from 5% in 2010—largely due to growth in the plastic and composite lumber industry, the primary market for this material.
 
The composite lumber industry showed a 120-million-lb increase in consumption from 2010 to 2011 to reach 55% of the total market for recovered film. Consumption of post-consumer plastic film by the film and sheet industry, the second largest market for this material, held steady at 100 million lb, or 16% of the total market.
 
Recycled PE  film is used to make a range of products, including durable plastic and composite lumber for outdoor decks and fencing, home building products, garden products, crates, pipe, and new film packaging like plastic bags.
 
Recovery data in the report, “2011 National Postconsumer Plastic Bag & Film Recycling Report,” is based on a survey of 19 U.S. and three Canadian processors of post-consumer film along with 37 companies that export this material.
 
Through ACC’s Flexible Film Recycling Group (FFRG), which represents resin producers, film converters, brand owners, and recyclers, the industry is actively working to increase both commercial and consumer participation in the film recycling process.
 
“Reaching the 1-billion-pound mark is an achievement that plastics makers, recyclers and retailers can be proud of,” notes Steve Russell, vice president of plastics for ACC, “and we’re continuing to work together to get that number even higher.”

 

There are currently more than 15,000 locations where consumers can bring their used polyethylene bags and wraps to be recycled, primarily at large grocery and retail chains across the United States.

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Get in the (New) Zones

By: James Callari 21. February 2013

 

If you surf our site regularly—or even just every now and then—you’ve probably noticed that we organize our content by zones, which we define as areas where specific kinds of content are located. We do this to make it easy for you to quickly find the information you are hunting. If you are interested in something related to injection molding, for example, you can link to the injection molding zone, where we have all of our publication’s content related to this process clustered, including news on materials, machinery, processing tips, troubleshooting and best practices.
 
Well just recently we three new zones that contain content on three key end markets for plastics: medical, automotive and packaging. You can link to these zones from our homepage, or you can bookmark them directly to your browser’s favorites folder. In these zones you’ll find market data, market-specific materials and equipment, and case-study stories we have written about processors who have successfully navigated the waters of these end markets.
 
This is just the start. Within the next months we will have added more end markets to the list. We know your time is valuable, and it's our intention to get you to where you need to be on our site with as little fuss as possible.

 

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'Sliding' Along...For 60 Years

By: James Callari 19. February 2013

In 1953, a young man named Percy Harms was selling steel to mold builders when he saw a need in the emerging plastics and injection molding industry—helping them prevent parts from sticking in the mold. That need drove Percy to approach a cousin working in the rapidly growing aerosol industry about putting silicone oil in an aerosol can.
 
It also evolved into the first mold release—and foundation —of the new Percy Harms Corp., predecessor of Slide Products, Wheeling, Ill. which celebrates its 60th anniversary in the injection molding industry this year. From that first mold release have come hundreds of innovations, all focused on the same thing – helping injection molders work smarter, faster and more productively.
Commemorating Slide’s 60 years of innovations will be two separate giveaways of a new iPad. To participate, qualified industrial users should go to here, correctly answer one trivia question about Slide Products and submit their contact information before June 30, 2013. A second question will be posted from July 1-Dec. 15, 2013. The first winner will be announced in July, and the second before year end. Only one entry per person per giveaway is allowed.
 
Slide Products has continued to innovate and offer plastics processors and mold builders unique products and smart formulations that are also environmentally safe. Among their innovations, they were one of the first companies in the industry to eliminate chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) from all of products.
 
“After the EPA issued its final assessment in September 2011 characterizing trichloroethylene (TCE), one of the most widely used chlorinated solvents nationwide, as carcinogenic, we eliminated not just TCE, but all chlorinated solvents from our products,” said Michael. Not a single product in the company’s entire line has any type of chlorinated solvent.
 
They also maintain a close relationship with customers and distributors. Unlike many companies that have an online-only sales strategy, Slide Products continues to employ an extensive network of locally based distributors worldwide who know customers by name and can provide products and technical support quickly and easily. “An online-only company can’t hop in the car and drive over to answer questions or deliver product,” explains Michael.

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Innovative Program Targets Entrepreneurs

By: James Callari 24. January 2013

Late last year the Rodon Group, a custom injection molder in Hatfield, Pa., announced a new program for American entrepreneurs looking to use plastic injection molding for their inventions.
 
Rodon calls it The American Entrepreneur Program. They promote it as unique to the molding industry, and say it offers entrepreneurs an ideal low-cost, on-shore solution to get their projects off the ground.
 
“We are excited to be able to offer this service to entrepreneurs looking to get a solid head start on their idea or invention, while keeping the production in the U.S. and at a low cost,” said Kevin McGrath, Rodon’s v.p. of sales and marketing. “Rodon’s expertise, capabilities, and in-house resources make us an ideal partner.”
 
The cost of the program is $4999 for the first 50 people that sign up, a savings of 50% off the regular price. This includes design time, prints, 3D prototype parts, and more. You can learn more at rodongroup.com/entrepreneurs.

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