Sustainable Plastics - September/October 2023 - 20

injection moulding
Field site tests prove that integrating
an all-electric machine into
production lines, alongside digital
tools and automation, combined
with training and development, can
reduce cycle times by 49.3%.
Bringing productivity
gains within reach
In a new white paper compiled by Sumitomo (SHI) Demag UK,
the injection moulding machine manufacturer off ers a compact
and considered overview of the possibilities available to
converters to considerably enhance their productivity.
P
roductivity is one of
the key factors determining
a company's
profitability, and improving
productivity is a continuous
challenge. In the white
paper entitled 'Processing productivity:
Make 50% more for
less,' launched by Sumitomo
(SHI) Demag UK at Interplas
2023, the machinery manufacturer
makes a case for what it
refers to as phased Total Factor
Productivity improvements - a
more progressive implementation
of improvements to processes
that plastic manufacturers
can introduce - and helps
to quantify these.
As the paper points out, 'investing
in new energy-eff icient
all-electric injection moulding
machinery can be highly productive',
but there is 'any number
of other opportunities to
boost eff iciency, output yields
and product quality even further'.
20
'More
output with the
same or less eff ort'
Productivity, in this white paper,
is defined as achieving
more with the same or less effort.
Sumitomo (SHI) Demag
UK has bundled its insights in
this paper on what practices
contribute to increasing and
improving productivity: how
equipment choices, production
eff iciency, process optimisation
and training combine to create
significantly more time to increase
manufacturing capacity
and close the productivity gap.
And, according to the experts
behind this white paper, an increase
in productivity of 50%
or higher is 'entirely reachable'.
They demonstrate that by integrating
an all-electric machine
into production lines, alongside
intelligent utilisation of digital
tools and automation, combined
with investing in training
September/October 2023
and development, cycle times
can be decreased by up to 55%
percent. This can equate to an
extra 168 days of production.
Yet, as the paper makes
very clear, there is more to it
than simply installing an ultra
eff icient all-electric injection
moulding machine. Employees
with the right work skills are vital
to an organisation's productivity,
while employee engagement
is an essential ingredient
to company success.
Developing employee work
skills requires investment on
the part of the company, but,
the authors of the paper write,
it is one that repays itself in
the form of better employee
retention rates, higher productivity,
lower scrap rates and
improved overall equipment
eff ectiveness rates.
The paper cites technical
director Judson Smythe of the
Lancashire-headquartered
plastic injection moulding comInvestopedia.com
explains
the concept of Total Factor
Productivity as follows: Total
Factor Productivity (TFP),
also known as Solow's residual,
is a measure of the
share of production growth
that cannot be explained
by increases in inputs like
capital and labor. It captures
the impact of technical development,
increases in production
and other unnoticed
elements. The residual is the
'unexplained' component
of economic growth and
sheds light on an economy's
overall eff ectiveness
and eff iciency as well as the
role that factors other than
conventional inputs played
in generating output.
pany MGS, who noted: " It's a bit
like a halo eff ect. When teams
feel like you invested in their
development and future, they
champion further process improvements.
This in turn has a
lasting and invigorating eff ect. "
At that company, less than a
day of in-person training, during
which machine operatives
learned how to better utilise
the parallel functions of the ma
http://www.Investopedia.com
Sustainable Plastics - September/October 2023

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