Plastics News - Show Daily - October 15, 2024 - 6

FAKUMA 2024
6 * Plastics News, October 15, 2024
Belli SAS is home to arguably
among the largest and
most powerful injection
molding machine on the
planet. The 27.2-meter-long
Haitian JU88000V has a
clamping force of 88,000
kN, an injection capacity of
134,000 cubic centimeters
and a 300-millimeter-diameter
screw. Haitian photo
HAITIAN INTERNATIONAL
GERMANY GMBH
A1-1103
December 2022, four months of
design demonstration, partial
testing and verifi cation followed
to develop the entire machine.
Building and shipping
The builders got to work and
completed the giant press in
October 2023 - one year from
the design phase.
Pouring and processing the
platen casting was difficult, Jianbo
said, with the weight of
a single platen casting being
more than 140 tons.
" The platen lifting and fl ipping
Heftiest Haitian press
installed in France
By Catherine Kavanaugh
Plastics News Staff
Bellignat, France-based Belli
SAS is manufacturing products
for home, garden, leisure and
environmental uses on a much,
much grander scale both physically
and strategically.
Founded in 1957, the family-owned
company has bolstered
its capacity big time with
arguably among the largest and
most powerful injection molding
machine on the planet: a
27.2-meter-long (89.2-foot) Haitian
JU88000V with a clamping
force of 88,000 kN (8,800 tons),
an injection capacity of 134,000
cubic centimeters and a 300millimeter-diameter
screw.
" I wanted to have no limits on
the injection volume and told
myself I would take the largest
machine in the world so that I
could produce very, very large
parts, " Belli's Managing Director
Eric Chanal said.
Company officials plan important
work for the impressive
press's inaugural project.
Job No. 1 for the JU88000V is
to support the water supply in regions
of Europe with little rainfall,
Massive machines
Plastics News Report
Haitian offi cials believe the
JU88000 handed off to Belli
SAS from Haitian's headquarters
operations in Ningbo,
China, in October 2023 sets a
record with its clamping force
of 88,000 kN and fi rst use of a
super-large-diameter 300 millimeter
screw.
In other machine feats, in
2023, Milacron built an 8,000ton
press with dual injection
units and two 260 mm screws
for a U.S. customer. Yizumi
delivered an 8,500-ton press
with dual injection units and
two 270 mm screws to a Chinese
customer.
In 2022, Engel delivered an
8,000-ton press with dual injection
units and two 260 mm
screws to the U.S. market.
Some machine builders
point further back to the
1990s, when a 9,000-ton Battenfeld
press was installed at
a container plant of Cascade
Engineering Inc.
" One thing about the Cascade
machine that is unique
is it's basically two 4,500-ton
presses next to each other.
They can run independently
(with individual molds) or in
parallel (to run as one large
machine) with two large injection
units, " Dave Sharp, Wittmann
USA's injection molding
machine division manager,
said in an email.
In a similar setup, Paris-based
Plastic Omnium SA
had two 5,500-ton presses
linked in tandem.
Plastics News' story archive
also shows an 8,800 MIR injection
press was installed at Contenur
SA in Spain to mold containers
for municipal solid waste
and industrial storage products.
Also, Bemis Manufacturing
Co. in Wisconsin coinjection
molds 8-foot hoods for John
Deere tractors on a 6,600-ton
Milacron press.
Infi ltrator Systems Inc.
designed and built an injection
press with 6,000 tons of
clamping force to mold septic
tank halves measuring 15 feet
long from 245 pounds of polypropylene.
Chanal
said. Belli is producing
large plastic tanks to collect and
store rainwater in drought-stricken
areas, which are plentiful.
The European Union's Drought
Observatory says some places
have been dealing with drought
conditions since 2018, particularly
eastern Spain, southern
Italy, southeast Poland, Greece,
Ukraine, Southern Russia, Cyprus,
Malta, Mediterranean islands and
extensive areas of Turkey. In severe
areas, receding waters have
hampered food and energy production
and some aquatic species
have lost habitats.
Ultra-large machines are fi ndfactory
ing
spaces on more
fl oors, Ruan Jianbo, Haitian technical
engineer, said in an email.
In the past, large unique machines
tended to be dedicated
to a specific project, but the
JU88000 offers flexibility, Jianbo
said. Custom molders like
Belli SAS can use it for different
products and projects.
For example, for HDPE material,
the amount of material
injected into the mold cavity
during a single cycle can be up
to 98 kilograms (216 pounds).
" These larger machines are
complex
addressing
designs
with precision and accuracy.
The big machines often allow
molders to consolidate separate
parts to gain production
efficiency, " Jianbo said.
Also, newer machine designs
are passing the test for structural
integrity and durability,
even under intense force and
pressure, Jianbo said.
While 88,000 kN is the rated
clamping force of the JU88000,
it can reach a maximum of
100,000 kN, Jianbo said.
He teased about plans for Haitian's
next big feat.
" The success of JU88000V has
gained us valuable experience
for the development and manufacturing
of ultra-large, two-platen
machines for Haitian, " Jianbo
said. " The world's largest application
of a 300-millimeter-diameter
screw and barrel has also provided
a benchmark for the industry. "
Going bigger
The two-platen JU88000V machine-building
process took a
year, and the outcome is practical
verification of Haitian technology,
according to Jianbo.
The footprint of the giant machine
is 27.2 by 9.5 by 6.1 meters
(89.2 by 31.1 by 20 feet).
The clamping platen is 5,560 by
4,920 by 1,990 mm (18.2 by 16.1 by
6.5 feet) and weighs 138 tons.
The injection unit is 13,498 by
2,514 by 2,665 (44.3 by 8.2 by 8.7
feet) and weighs 85 tons.
The machine bed weight of
the clamping unit is 40 tons,
and the injection unit is 9 tons
with a total weight of 630 tons.
The JU88000V can handle a
range of mold sizes thanks to
the maximum tie-bar distance
of 3,400 by 2,820 mm (133.9
by 111 inches) as well as mold
thicknesses from 1,000 to 3,500
mm (39.4 to 137.8 inches).
There is no precise data of
wires, but about 26,000 meters
(about 16 miles) was used.
Jianbo said Haitian adopts
communication technology to
improve response speed and reduce
the volume of wires used
to build machines.
The planning stage
The JU88000V was designed
and built in China, then disassembled
and shipped to Belli
SAS in France and reassembled.
Talks about the tall order
started in October 2022, when
Belli officials expressed interest
in a large-tonnage JU88000.
Haitian International put together
a team of staff experts
to organize the research and development
work.
After the order was placed in
were matched with lifting tools,
and the most experienced and
professional team was deployed
to accomplish this, " Jianbo said.
The JU88000V was handed
off to Belli from Haitian's headquarters
operations in Ningbo,
China, in October 2023.
Haitian staff then had to get
the product to the customer,
setting what company officials
said was another milestone for
a large-scale machine being
shipped from China to a European
industrialized country.
" The transportation of oversized
and overweight components
posed a huge challenge,
and a customized dismantling and
packing transportation plan had
to be developed, " Jianbo said.
The moving operation began
with 17 trucks hauling the
machine and peripherals parts
weighing a total of 800 tons to
port. The cargo left Taicang Port,
Shanghai, China, to Foss, France,
by ship and then was transported
to the customer site in Oyonnax
through the inland canal.
" Such logistics always provide
challenges, of course. But
the coordination and planning
in the end turned out to be really
detailed and well organized, "
Jianbo said.
On the factory fl oor
Haitian staff from China and
Europe, primarily SAS Haitian
France, were among the engineering
and manufacturing personnel
on the technical team.
They worked continuously for
five weeks on the installation.
" The height of the machine
exceeds 6 meters (19.7 feet),
which poses significant safety
requirements for the entire assembly
process, " Jianbo said.
" We configured high-altitude
operation tools, safety protection
tools, etc., to assemble the
machine safely. "
The installation team included
Hu Zesong, Wang Kai, Lai
Xuewei, Zheng Boyu, Zhou Jiawang,
Toledo Melvin, Titouan
Rameaux and Swen Koller.
Haitian fi rst exported an injection
molding machine to Europe
in 1989 to a customer in Greece,
and now the company has sales,
service and customers in almost
every country in Europe.
" With the JU88000 project,
Haitian has earned trust from
European customers to successfully
implement special
projects in addition to our standard
machines, " Jianbo said.
Plastics News - Show Daily - October 15, 2024

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