Improved control cuts injection moulding

State-of-the-art controls based on a variable speed drive from ABB have cut the energy consumption by one third on an injection moulding machine at McKechnie Automotive and Engineered Plastics in Pickering. The new control panel was designed and supplied by ABB Drives Alliance Partner, Halcyon Drives.

McKechnie is one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of engineered plastic assemblies. The company was looking to improve the efficiency of the injection moulding machine as part of a wider drive to save energy. “We carried out a Pareto analysis across the whole factory and found that this machine was particularly inefficient because of the way it was being operated,” says senior process engineer, Rob Howlett. “We contacted Halcyon, who designed a control system that they said would save around 30%. We couldn’t believe it would be that much so we arranged a three-month trial and found it actually saved 33%.”