Primed and Ready – BOLE Machinery UK Finalists at the 2023 Plastics Industry Awards
BOLE Machinery UK is delighted to be among the finalists at the 2023 Plastics Industry Awards. Nominated in the “Supplier Partnership – Prime Machinery” category, the BOLE team is hopeful that a recent reshoring project completed alongside partner Wykamol Group Ltd, will win the prestigious award at the PIA’s ceremony on the 17th of November.
It was early in 2020 when Wykamol Group Ltd, a market leader in the provision and development of products for the remedial treatment industry for almost 90 years, first approached BOLE to help with its re-shoring initiative. Following an increase in demand and a decrease in product quality and reliability from European manufacturers, Wykamol decided to look at purchasing injection moulding machinery with a vision to produce their own products to ensure in-house quality, production deadlines, and customer satisfaction.
Wykamol’s initial thought was to look at investing in second-hand machinery as a starting point. This could have been a good option due to the availability of a variety of models accessible at short notice, but the risk of mechanical or electrical breakdown with no support could be a costly error not only for the initial repair but also for ongoing energy running costs and the risk of failing to keep up with the project demand.
When looking at the second-hand market, an energy test was carried out on a well-known older European machine brand to gauge the energy consumption and annual cost in order for them to compete in the market.
Energy pricing at the time (May 2021) was £0.18p Kw. The older machine worked at an average 26.87 Kwh, costing £4.84 per hour. The BOLE machine worked at an average 9.09Kwh, costing just £1.64 per hour.
When taking a long-term view on ownership and running costs, the results was clear, and the first of Wykamol’s new BOLE injection moulding machines, a 230t EKS, arrived in October 2021.
The Patented Toggle Clamp design of the EKS machine ensures 100% of the locking force is spread evenly across the platens, and along with the built-in quality monitoring system meant that Wykamol Ltd could reduce the locking tonnage force required for each moulding process.
The new BOLE EKS machine helped to reduce the energy requirement of the process and increase longevity of the machinery, and along with the quality monitoring system which ensures the repeatability of the moulding process the Wykamol Group were able to ensure that each product meets the required quality specification, while lowering their processing costs.
A testament to the success of the first, the customers’ second BOLE machine, a 140t EKS, arrived in 2022 and Wykamol are currently in discussions with the BOLE UK team for a third machine.
With such a successful relationship building over the past 3 years, Bole Machinery UK are delighted to be working closely in partnership with Wykamol Group Ltd in sustaining the energy-efficient, eco-friendly and reduced cost of production of their products. As the ever-increasing demand for new and upcoming projects and cost reductions continues, the BOLE UK team hope that the successful partnership will not end any time soon.
BOLE’s Head of Sales for the UK and Ireland, Matt Holyoake said, “Submitting an entry to the Plastics Industry Awards is a huge achievement for any business in this industry. We couldn’t be happier to have partnered with Wykamol Group, not just for this award, but over the last three years working together to bring the company’s manufacturing processes back to the UK.”
“This case study shows what is possible, in terms of reshoring projects to the UK economy, and how modern, energy-efficient machinery from BOLE can make all the difference when efficiency and sustainability are vital to your manufacturing process.”
The BOLE Machinery UK team will be attending the Plastics Industry Awards on Friday 17th November at the Intercontinental Hyde Park, hoping to take home the “Supplier Partnership – Prime Machinery Award” on the night!
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