Hamilton, OH - Four years after secrecy, US consumer giants Procter & Gamble unveiled the Imflux process, a brand new injection molding technology that uses a lower steady-state pressure to mold the molds and nozzles by software And pressure sensor control.
With a market capitalization of up to $ 65 billion, P & G owns a number of global brands such as Gillette, Head & Shoulders, Christie's, Tide and Swift, etc. P & G formed a new division of 150 employees in 2013 called Imflux , Responsible for the development of new injection molding technology, is now open to the industry license.Petroleum executives since 2013 the company set up the department has been very tight-lipped, but now on the industry activities about the details of the technology.
Plastics News reporter visits P & G on September 21 in the 200,000-square-foot headquarters in Hamilton, north of Cincinnati. The company took the reporter to visit the Imflux department, where employees design and produce molds for Imflux to refine further with the consumer The injection molding technology.
Imflux executives said that in a sense, the technology completely subverts the traditional injection molding process .. Imflux CTO Gene Altonen stressed: 'We use low-pressure, and is the steady pressure operation' Well, P & G has been an injection molder for 27 years and said: 'Imflux truly realizes viscosity changes in real time and adjusts in real time as material, temperature, or mold changes make the entire injection process more stable.
Imflux is a standard injection molding technology that completes the traditional high-speed, high-pressure injection molding and packaging and cooling processes, said Jayne: "These processes are done synchronously because we are packing and cooling simultaneously with the filling of plastic raw materials At the completion of injection molding, the finished product is basically, some thicker molds may require further cooling, but the cooling time is greatly reduced, and we no longer add stress and heat to the mold.
Compared with traditional injection molding technology, Imflux can reduce the cost of the mold, shorten the entire injection cycle time, allowing the use of smaller injection molding machines, thereby reducing hardware investment costs.
According to the company, the technology relies on proprietary software and different types of sensors in injection molding machines and molds. Imflux technology is derived from the internal goal set by P & G six or seven years ago to reduce the cost and time by half to produce molds.
A team of 20 plastic product-related leaders from all parts of P & G formed a team called 'Upgrade Business Development Project Group.' Jayne recalled the scenario at the time saying: 'Our approach is to first determine the cost and timing of these mold decisions Most of the factors are due to high pressure, which necessitates the use of hard steel tools, which require a multi-step machining process, first roughing, then semi-finishing, and finally finishing into finished products, all of which take time if we All these steps can be done in one go, so we thought of using low-voltage technology. '
The company expects the injection molding innovation to save Proctor & Gamble hundreds of millions of dollars in material and capital costs each year because it reduces the cost of molds and allows molds to be processed using smaller tonnage injection machines, reporting savings of up to 10 Billion dollars cost.
Nathan Estruth, chief executive, said Imflux did not make quarterly reports to P & G's financial analysts, but executives have disclosed some details of the cost cuts at analysts 'meetings, saying:' From Procter & Gamble's core interests say it is very beneficial to reduce costs. '
Imflux official said the technology according to the authorization of the injection molding machine, the company declined to disclose the license fee, the proposal based on the needs of users. In addition to internal cost savings, foreign licensing also bring non-banditry earnings Procter & Gamble.
Imflux officials did not release data on technology transfer, including licensing and the number of injection molding machines used internally by Procter & Gamble and the number of companies already using Imflux technology.
Procter & Gamble is already working with a number of plastic machinery companies such as the company on October 5 in Florence, Kentucky, KlausMufei company's public day held a presentation.