Situation Overview

To function in today’s global market, most packaging must be produced to be durable enough to withstand shipping conditions and functional enough to meet consumer performance needs. An industry-leading brand approached Husky to produce a 17-litre pail that would be able to support heavy weights with a secure lid and in-mold label (IML). The customer had an existing two-cavity system, but needed to increase the package volume and flexibility, without increasing their manufacturing footprint. To maintain the company’s industry-leading quality standards, all finished goods were also required to pass stringent drop and lid fit testing.

Husky Solution

Husky’s solution was its high-performance Hylectric^® 1200 injection molding machine with a three-cavity production cell. The Hylectric system’s reflex platens provided uniform clamp force distribution, enabling optimum clamp size for multi-cavity molds, while reducing tonnage requirements. In addition, the system’s robust clamp base and linear bearings enabled higher mold weight carrying capacity and excellent platen parallelism for increased molding stability, longer tooling lifetime and better part quality. Finally, the innovative machine design with two side-by-side high-performance injection units provided fast injection and recovery, raising the system’s overall throughput capability.

Results

The solution has increased overall operational flexibility and resulted in several significant performance improvements for the customer, including:  

• A 3% reduction in part weight
• Approximately $120,000 yearly resin savings
• An annual increase of 1.5 million units in output
• A 46% increase in productivity

Why Choose a Hylectric Injection Molding Machine? 

Hylectric machines are designed to support aggressive cycle times for a wide range of applications, like thinwall packaging, pails, specialty closures, and medical devices. 

They are equipped with Husky’s distinctive three-platen clamping unit. The Reflex™ platen is designed to enable uniform clamping force distribution across the entire molding surface, for part-to-part consistency and quality. 

Superior tonnage distribution helps to reduce clamping force and mold wear. Combined with wide tie-bar spacing, large platens, and a stiff clamp base, Hylectric systems are ideally equipped to run heavy, high cavitation molds that would typically require larger conventional machines. 

To meet growing demands for performance flexibility, Husky offers Hylectric machines from 120 to 1200 metric tons with a broad selection of injection units. Longer versions of the clamping unit are available for large shut-height tools.

NEXT STEPS

Speak with a Husky packaging expert to learn about how our latest technologies can address your packaging needs.