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If a better machine can help your company beat challenging economic conditions, you’ll probably find it at NPE. And finding it will be easier, thanks to our editors’ efforts to sift out of some 2000 exhibits the most significant news in injection and blow molding, extrusion, compounding, and thermoforming.

A new six-axis "mini" robot designed for parts handling, machine tending, and assembly is new from Fanuc Robotics America Inc., Rochester Hills, Mich.

Injection molding robots introduced at NPE pushed the work envelope for speed, reach, payload capacity, ease of programming, and ability to handle more sophisticated tasks.

The recent NPE show in Chicago saw the debut of several new 5- and 6-axis articulated-arm robots and programming software for secondary operations.

A new articulating-arm spray-coating robot was demonstrated at NPE last month by Fanuc Robotics America, Inc., Rochester Hills, Mich.

Injection molded parts are typically demolded with simple pick-and-place automation—a top-mounted, gantry-style (also called Cartesian, linear, or traversing) three-axis robot.

Paintless in-mold film decorating and carbon-fiber composites are making inroads in appearance and structural parts. Blow molding is finding new interior applications. And long-fiber thermoplastics are cutting weight and cost on the inside and outside of new passenger vehicles.

Injection molders looking to get in on the IMD action should ask plenty of questions: What are the mold-design considerations?

Recycled Resin Prices Flatten OutNew systems to process mixed plastic waste and to upgrade it with fiberglass or wood flour were prominent at last June’s show in Chicago.

If the big show in Chicago was any indicator, linear servo drives and jointed-arm designs may be the next trends in robots for injection molding.Injection molders visiting NPE 2000 last June may have glimpsed the future of injection molding automation.

Examples of the growing trend toward all-electric blow molding machines for packaging will either be physically present or shown in videos and brochures at NPE.

From micro to maxi, from simple sprue pickers to sophisticated six-axis models, NPE had it all. A raft of new robots, faster and smarter than ever, will help make automation an irresistible choice for U.S. molders.

The newest crop of robot automation for injection molding machines, displayed recently at the Platex show in Osaka, Japan, and the Plast-Ex Show in Mississauga, Ont., continue the trend toward six-axis jointed-arm models and improved servo-driven, beam-mounted units seen at last year's NPE show in Chicago. The latest introductions also include new controls for servo-driven robots, new units designed to work in palletizing cells, and a range of new sprue pickers in servo and pneumatic models.

Examples of the growing trend toward all-electric blow molding machines for packaging will either be physically present or shown in videos and brochures at NPE. Superior accuracy, repeatability, speed, quietness, cleanliness, and energy efficiency are all claimed for the five new all-electric models being presented by four firms at the show.

Exhibits by three new or relatively little-known suppliers of forming machines were among of the highlights of the SPE's Ninth Annual Thermoforming Conference, which was held last month in Chicago.