Wittmann’s One-Stop-Shop Keeps On Giving
Despite the world economy’s well-publicised problems, the Wittmann Group continues to re-invent injection moulding (IM) technology for a growing customer base that intends to save even more cost from its operations.
A big clue to Wittmann’s success is the 30+ years of systems thinking deployed by the company: This approach partly explains the recent queuing for Wittmann appointments at this year’s Interplas and Fakuma exhibitions, and why – at a time of supply chain blockages and rising costs – Wittmann is looking forward to 9% sales growth in 2023.
Joint Wittmann UK MD, Dan Williams, says “Those two recent exhibitions show that, as a company, we think and design for complete injection moulding cells. All of our technology themes – energy monitoring and saving, automation, environmental – make best sense when considered as part of a whole manufacturing system.”
Such systems thinking has recently created the Wittmann Insider and InGrinder programmes (for automation and in-house recycling) together with a host of other efficiencies and savings from all its peripheral equipment and software.
Another factor that is ever present is Wittmann’s determination to drive down energy use and running costs for its injection moulding customers. A comparatively new development – a piece of Wittmann software called IMAGOxt represents the tip of the spear for the next phase in this campaign.
IMAGOxt allows the energy consumption of any connected machinery (not just injection moulding-related), devices and any consumption clusters in an injection moulding facility to be visualized and displayed in a scalable manner.
The energy data can also be aggregated into logical units in order to make evaluation even more straightforward. The program runs as a web application, both as an optional extension to Wittmann’s MES software and as a stand-alone program.
IMAGOxt contains numerous functions and tools that are helpful for displaying current energy usage, graphically depicting historical trends and defining key performance indicators (KPIs) and consumption targets.
IMAGOxt also enables real-time energy flows between different departments or consumption clusters to be visualized. Such analysis can help businesses to identify the actual energy hot spots within the company so they can then be targeted for change with more energy-efficient equipment. The software can also directly calculate carbon consumption and achieve energy savings.
The energy costs per machine can be apportioned to the individual production cycle of the IMM or even for specific injection moulded parts and jobs – thus providing production and environmental transparency that is an increasingly requirement for today’s circular economy.
Joint Wittmann UK MD Tracy Cadman, says, “It doesn’t matter what IMM machinery or peripherals you are running in your moulding shop – we are delighted to offer you the IMAGOxt analysis package free of charge.” She adds that “energy cost is perhaps the key upcoming issue for manufacturing in the future. At WittmannUK, we are determined to play our part in providing energy solutions based on real-time data and science.”
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WITTMANN BATTENFELD
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