Injection molding / manufacturing - Assignment Example

The research is based around dyeing and molding methods used by industries to reduce production and change over time between production of different parts. Molding and dyeing MOLDING AND DYEING First, let us start with the basic principle. Mould or molding is the very first method of increasing production rate in an industry. Moulds and molding alone are not the reason but are a basic part of it. Molding is the process of manufacturing by shaping raw material using different techniques and methods, which have been introduced to the industrial world over the years through rigorous trial and error methods.

Now, the role of the mould or the caste. It is in simple terms a hollow shape of the actual part, which has to be produced or manufactured. The raw material with proper heating and other scientific methodologies (discussed later) is poured into the caste and as a result, the required part is manufactured. The earlier paragraph explains the very basic form of molding where as now it has been developed into a complete form of art, rather we can call it a new science. Injection molding is a manufacturing process for producing parts from both thermoplastic and thermosetting plastic materials.

Material is fed into a heated barrel, mixed, and forced into a mold cavity where it cools and hardens to the configuration of the mold cavity. After a product is designed, usually by an industrial designer or an engineer, molds are made by a mold maker (or toolmaker) from metal, usually either steel or aluminum, and precision-machined to form the features of the desired part. Injection molding is widely used for manufacturing a variety of parts, from the smallest component to entire body panels of cars, Douglas (1996, pp. 43). An Injection molding machine is simply a mechanical device invented to take the human factor out of the process of injection molding to as far an extent as possible.

Set-Up Time for Injection Molding Machines For understanding the set up time of a machine two other factors have to be examined and described namely injection time, cycle time and set-up time. Injection time is the time required to inject the raw material into the mould which means larger the mould size, longer it will take to fill it up and hence larger injection time. The cycle time is the maximum injection time. When a mould change occurs in a cycle due to changing of the mould size or the part that is produced, set-up time has to be introduced.

Its prime example can be seen in the rotary injection mould machine where the mould shoe changes periodically. The time it takes to change one set of moulds to another, as per requirement, is known as set-up time of an injection mould machine. Reducing the Set-Up Time for Injection Molding Machines Since the begging of science, lets say the wheel, man has been obsessed with reducing everything. From the time taken to complete a journey to the size of a cellular phone. Similarly, since the introduction of the injection-moulding machine with changing castes and moulds, a need was felt for the minimum time between changeovers.

After cumbersome research a method used in the modern industrial world has been located for the purpose of this paper. The technique is known as Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED). SMED is nothing more than a quick and effective way of converting the machine to manufacture one product to the next in the least possible time.