Concentrated innovation from ENGEL for the packaging market

On Thin-Wall Packaging Day, ENGEL presented solutions addressing current and future challenges for manufacturers of thin-wall packaging. The event established a new attendance record at the Schwertberg headquarters. The lively response provided ample proof that the injection moulding machine manufacturer had precisely met industry requirements.

ENGEL headquarters in Schwertberg/Austria hosted numerous participants and partner exhibitors from 24 nations on 8 February. ENGEL staged technical presentations, four exhibits and hands-on examples to showcase the results of years of consistent development work specifically for the high-performance sector.

“Just three years ago, each one of the applications on display would have been unimaginable,“ says Ivica Puskaric, Sales Manager Packaging at ENGEL, summing up the rapid progress. And as Christoph Lhota, Vice President Medical & Packaging added: “We have pushed forward with the development of our machines in a focused way, driven by market requirements. Today, our customers benefit from the market-ready results of our pioneering work.“

“The packaging market has special requirements. In order to fulfil these requirements in an even better way, we are setting up specialist sales teams consisting of experts who understand our packaging customers and speak their language,“ says Stefan Engleder, CEO of ENGEL, promising even closer customer support with even higher quality. There is one specialist sales team located in America, one in Europe and another in East Asia to ensure on-site presence worldwide along with rapid support for packaging manufacturers.

One of the event's highlights was the four applications on show, exemplifying the injection moulding machine manufacturer's complete range of solutions for the packaging industry:

e-motion 765/280 T:
All-electric efficiency, also for applications with high performance needs

With its new generation of electric injection units, ENGEL is pushing the boundaries of what is possible – thin-wall applications with a flow path to wall thickness ratio of over 400:1 can now be produced on efficient, all-electric injection moulding machines from the e-motion series. Impressive dynamics and a maximum injection speed of over 600 mm/s guarantee reliable cavity filling, even for complex part geometries. The entire production cell's energy consumption is up to 30% lower compared with contemporary hybrid machines.

duo speed 500:
Higher productivity per unit of area thanks to two-platen machines

The duo speed series has been consistently designed to maximise dynamics on both the clamping unit and injection unit sides. This is the first time that a two-platen machine has achieved the performance characteristics required for profitable production of thin-wall packaging. The machine is available in sizes from 4,000 to 11,150 kN and extends the ENGEL packaging portfolio upwards. In combination with a conveniently large mould area, this allows for a significant increase in the number of cavities on a smaller footprint compared to a toggle lever machine. The particularly wide opening stroke offers further benefits in applications with long core-pulls.

e-speed 280:
Ready for tomorrow's circular economy today with direct injection moulding of rPET

The hybrid e-speed series supplements the ENGEL portfolio at the upper end of the performance spectrum: this series impresses in applications where producing on an all-electric machine is ruled out by the extreme performance requirements on the injection unit side. The extremely dynamic injection unit, featuring a hydraulic accumulator, makes it possible to injection mould PET directly in ready-to-fill moulds, for example. The injection time of the rPET application on display is just 0.05 seconds. During this short period of time, the iQ weight control smart digital assistance program also actively manages material fluctuations in the recycled material to guarantee consistent process and part quality.

e-mac 180:
Efficiency and precision for the mid-performance segment

Not all thin-wall applications specify such strict requirements for the injection moulding machine – the compact, all-electric e-mac series by ENGEL is designed for the wide field of applications with medium wall thicknesses. It is characterised by efficient and precise servo-electric drives and a particularly small footprint. Applications with a flow path to wall thickness ratio of approx. 250:1 and a cycle time of more than five seconds are typical of this series. One special feature of the application on display is that an ENGEL viper linear robot takes off the parts on the production cell's clamping unit side here instead of using side-entry automation. Thanks to its impressive dynamics, the part handling robot does not impact on the cycle time.

In addition to the various machine solutions, which efficiently meet the individual requirements of a wide range of applications, the production cells also helped to demonstrate complementary solutions from the ENGEL portfolio for the packaging market: smart digital assistance programs to boost process stability, reduce dry cycle times, demonstrate the potential for process and energy optimisation and ensure seamless production monitoring. Remote maintenance tools and predictive maintenance with condition monitoring rule out unplanned machine downtime while boosting machine availability. This means that thin-wall packaging manufacturers can guarantee that their ENGEL injection moulding machines will always achieve the highest possible output at minimum cost.

The event was rounded off by an extensive supporting keynote programme, featuring insights from the ENGEL development department, and networking opportunities. A pre-event programme was held at the machine manufacturer's technology centre for participants who arrived a day earlier. In the scope of this event, guests had the opportunity to network and establish valuable contacts with ENGEL employees, industry representatives, mould makers and partner companies.

As Ivica Puskaric sums up: “The number of participants easily exceeded our expectations. We are delighted with the high level of interest, and this shows that our developments are a perfect fit for market needs.“