Press release submitted on behalf of WITTMANN USA.
A savvy injection molder in the heart of U.S. automaking country is reaping great dividends by fully embracing Industry 4.0 technology to manufacture important parts – a commitment the company expects to be a significant advantage in drawing more business.
BMI Injection Molding and Assembly of Chesterfield, Michigan, has invested heavily in cutting-edge digital manufacturing over the past two years – and they chose Wittmann because their work cells are fully integrated, from injection molding machines (IMMs), robots, to auxiliary equipment, software and controllers.
BMI, which has been in business for 30 years and employs a workforce of 50, began purchasing Wittmann IMMs, robots, and auxiliary equipment in March of 2022 and added its second 240XL machine in March this year. The company expects to purchase an additional 240XL and possibly a 450XL cell, both optimized with Wittmann’s Industry 4.0 technology.
Current products on BMI’s manufacturing floor include:
• SmartPower 240XL (270 US Ton wide platen) Servo-Hydraulic IMMs
- MacroPower 450XL (500 US Ton wide platen) Large Tonnage IMM
- Five-axis robots with new R9 Controller
Wittmann’s 240XL cell in particular “has really exceeded our expectations,” enthuses Sam Holdsworth, BMI’s director of operations and engineering. Wittmann’s all-in-one Industry 4.0 solutions “streamline set up, and process monitoring ensures delivery of quality finished goods” while also adding “an element of respect and organization to the manufacturing floor. In addition, the unique Wittmann WiConnect! phone app gives our operators easy accessibility to friendly, knowledgeable Wittmann team members and makes short work of any issues.”
Automation and Data Drive Efficiency
Producing parts for the automotive, medical and consumer goods industries, BMI has automated much of its part removal, with robots gently extracting parts from molds. This is particularly essential when producing “A”-surface automotive parts that require superior aesthetics. “Scratches or any part handling marring cannot be tolerated on these parts,” said Holdsworth.
“They aren’t brackets or under-the-hood components. When you sit in your car, you see these components – so for a human to only touch them at the very end of the production process is beneficial to achieving the final quality.”
Wittmann’s Industry 4.0 work cells have helped put BMI on the map in producing ISO FIX bezels, Holdsworth explains. ISO FIX bezels feature pad printed images that identify child seat anchor points. BMI also produces seat adjustment handles (decorated and non-decorated), seat rail trim panels, body trim grommets and assorted interior, body and engine compartment fasteners.
“Some years ago, an ISO FIX standard was put in place requiring every tether point in a vehicle that accepts a child seat anchor be identified,” Holdsworth explains. “When you were in your car and you could reach down between the seats and find this metal hoop, now that has to be identified and clearly visible. These bezels snap in certain areas, and that metal hoop is in the middle. We were initially decorating the parts with the words ISO FIX on them and eventually started molding them.”
In the near future, BMI‘s five-axis robots will present the two parts (housing and cover) of the ISO FIX bezel to an assembly cell, where they will be snapped together, pad printed and off loaded to a conveyor that goes to an operator who inspects and packages each one.
BMI molds ISO FIX bezels in black, and a multitude of current automotive interior colors, says BMI Operations Manager Scott Lehman. Wittmann’s Industry 4.0 cell helps manage those colors. “We have Wittmann Gravimax blenders that let us add colorant to the resin at prescribed ratios, because we have to adhere to a master color sample. That equipment is incorporated and works seamlessly within our 4.0 cell. If we didn’t have the Wittmann blenders, then we’d be adding colorant in different ways that is much less accurate.”
Wittmann’s Industry 4.0 Advantage
Before purchasing Wittmann equipment, BMI struggled through purchasing injection molding machines and auxiliary equipment from separate suppliers who were reluctant to talk to one another and provided only limited guidance in getting their respective equipment to work well together.
But when a Wittmann truck packed with a digital manufacturing display pulled up to BMI, Holdsworth and his team began to see the benefits.
“We initially scoffed at the Wittmann road show truck coming to our facility as a sales pitch,” he said. “But when we saw what they demonstrated and heard what they had to say, we learned a lot about how Wittmann can provide single-source solutions. Instead of having to get answers from different suppliers to any issues, we could deal with just one. The one stop shop is a true statement.”
“It really does work, and the proof is when you walk out on the floor and you see all the green LEDs working in concert,” he continued. “When one piece of equipment requires attention, it turns a different color indicating intervention is required. Once a process is developed for an application, the 4.0 technology provides us the ability through the machine interface to call up the program that automatically populates all Wittmann equipment in the workcell with the correct process. If a certain piece of equipment is not correct for any reason the machine will not allow us to run without intervention from a lead technician or engineer. To have all Wittmann equipment interfaces show up and the ability to control process parameters through the machine interface is a great thing – you can’t say enough about it.”
Another significant value BMI appreciates is Wittmann’s coordinated approach to onboarding customers, Holdsworth says: “As we moved through the molding work cell requirements, we had our Wittmann local sales person and three Wittmann experts (IMM, Robots and Auxiliaries) in our conference room, each responsible for making sure everything in the work cell works in concert.”
Among the many benefits BMI reaps from Wittmann’s integrated Industry 4.0 is more consistent production and fewer bad parts.
“Parts per million rejections are always a key indicator with your customers, so we certainly use that as a selling point. The proof of the pudding is deliveries: Are you delivering parts on time, and are you meeting cost targets? The only way to do all of that is to be able to produce efficiently.”
As BMI continues to hone its Industry 4.0 operations, Lehman says, “we’re gathering data each and every minute, and we can establish baselines – whether it’s a quarterly or an annual measuring stick. We go through those every week, so we’ve got a lot of good data we can use to our advantage down the road.”
Ultimately, embracing Wittmann and its fully integrated Industry 4.0 solutions “has been an educational process – and I don’t think we’ve even nearly scratched the surface of what the capabilities are to help improve our operations,” Lehman concludes.
About Wittmann
With headquarters in Vienna, Austria, WITTMANN is a global company with 7 production facilities, 31 subsidiaries, and 24 agencies in 52 countries. WITTMANN is the only manufacturer offering plastic processors worldwide a complete range of innovative robot automation and injection molding machine technology, along with auxiliary equipment for material conveying, blending, drying, granulating, heating and cooling, for individual work cells to fully integrated project managed system solutions from one manufacturer. Their worldwide sales and service network provides unmatched local service and support.
More information: www.wittmann-group.com
