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O�cial magazine of L&T Plastics Machinery Limited | DEC 2011

Chennai : 044 - 2681 2003 | Delhi : 011-4141 9584 | Mumbai: 022 - 6705 1147 | Kolkata: 033 - 2282 5138

2012

Mr Mahendra Kumar,Mr Ramnath Ashok &

Mr Vijaykumar (Founding Partners)

Swashthik GroupSwashthik Group

Promise is a cloud; fulfillment is rain… goes a famous Arabic proverb. In the case of Swashthik, it’s rained four times in the past five years. From a humble beginning as an entrepreneurial venture five years ago, Swashthik Group has come a long way in being recognized as a formidable player in the field of Poly Ethylene Terephthalate (PET) processing in South India. The sprawling new 4500 Sqm campus awaiting inauguration is yet another example of what single minded dedication and a committed effort could achieve. This is the fourth unit that they have come up with in a short time.

Getting good players is easy. Getting them to play together is hard. Swashthik is an exemplification of outstanding team work of a clearly envisioned strategy. The founding partners Mr Ramnath Ashok, Mr Vijaykumar and Mr Mahendra kumar had embarked upon a journey that started at the peak of economic activity in 2007 and has by now seen both sides of the economic curve more than once. While dealing with the plastics industry to get parts molded

and supplied can be a frustrating experience for many, Swashthik had no such troubles as Mr Ramnath Ashok had guided them to sail smoothly with his prior experience in production and administration. Mr Vijaykumar, a self-grown marketing whiz is adept with his knowledge of the domestic terrain and Mr Mahendra guiding the team in financial aspects.

Staying at the top of an Industry which is constantly evolving and rapidly growing needs both heavy investment and the grit to stay ahead. The journey for Swashthik started from their association with L&T, in ordering two De Tech series of machines and L&T drying/conveying system. CAPEX has always been at the top of their priority considering the industry itself that grows over a 100% every year. Swashthik now boasts of 14nos Injection molding machines for manufacturing preforms and closures along with nine single stage machines to cater to the pharmaceutical Industry, liquor industry besides supplying containers to the Godrej Jyothi and Henkel. Managing the

8th International Plastics Exhibition & conference,Feb. 1-6, 2012, New Delhi

2012 Infinite Opportunities

Visit Us @

Hall 18 - H | Stall M 21 Hall 18 - H | Stall M 21

Swashthik Group

Mr VijaykumarMr Ramnath AshokMr Mahendra Kumar

RIGHT METHOD OF ASSEMBLING SCREW TIP ASSEMBLY.In injection moulding machines, Screw tip assembly (Also called Ring Plunger or Nose cone assembly) is being replaced, for the reason of wear or failure. After doing this simple maintenance job, a few of us face a scenario of sudden increase in failure of screw tip assembly.

We wonder and look for reasons and start looking at various root causes like Wrong Material, Wrong manufacturing process & Wrong assembly practices

On our analysis, we found that it is mainly due to incorrect assembly process

This can occur in two ways. Both are explained here.1. When a screw tip is assembled to screw with Locking

ring and thrust ring together, during injection process, the very high melt pressure is transferred to the bearings of the Plasticizing screw drive assembly .Those bearing are designed to take care of the high axial force. This force transmission will take place only if the Screw tip is threaded completely into the screw, so that the threads of screw will not be subjected to axial force induced during injection. This is ensured by design, in such a way that the threads depth in screw is more than the length of thread on screw tip.

However, when a replacements is done, it is quite possible that molten plastic gets entered into the thread of screw and occupies the unseen portions of back of threads in screw.

In such occasions, when a screw tip is assembled, the screw tip may not get tightened completely and in this process the threads of screw may be subject to axial loads during injection.

Since these threads are not designed to take care of such

high axial force, Eventually in a very short span of time, the replaced screw tip may break, may be damaging the threads of screw also.

To overcome this, a simple checking will avoid this type of error.

Refer the below photograph.

Genuine spare parts play an important role in upkeep of machines, more so as plastics industry works on round-the-clock basis and any stoppage of machine is not viewed kindly. There are always a set of suppliers who try to lure moulders into buying spurious components by offering them low prices. By this, the damage inflicted by them to the machine is so high that customers finally end up not only loosing heavily on maintenance costs but also suffer huge loss of productive hours.

We have a live case with one of our overseas customers;it is a machine of 250T clamp force capacity supplied by us. Customer wanted to carry out reconditioning of clamp unit in that machine. They approached a local self-proclaimed machine reconditioning company for carrying out the above activity as customer was promised fast execution time and low price for spares. To their horror, customer found out later that spares turned out spurious and technicians did not have correct understanding of our machine. Finally, when customer summed up all the costs incurred by them for ‘reconditioning’, it turned out that they had spent an amount equivalent to almost 50% cost of machine, more shocking was that machine could not be made to function in spite of spending so much money

At L&T Plastics Machinery Limited, we have now formed a special cell to take care of spares requirements from customers. Our endeavor is to keep your machines always in the best of condition - up and working. We will supply you spares in kit form to address specific maintenance tasks. We urge you to keep stock of these spares at your works to avoid total break-down of machines. To enable faster distribution, we have our dealer networks at following locations Viz Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Nasik, Pune, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Daman & Delhi. They will be too pleased to serve your needs on spare parts supply for L&T injection moulding machines and Auxiliary Equipment. Also you can contact our regional offices spread across India.

You can keep your machines and equipment HALE & HEALTHY with our CARE & SUPPORT. For more details contact us at Spare.LNTPPM@larsentoubro.com

- V.Padmanaba Bhat

Spare a thought onSPARES

Before assembly, always clean the inner threads of screw thoroughly. Then assemble only the screw tip into the threads of screw till as far as it can go, just by hand force. Once it is sufficiently tightened manually, the location for thrust ring on screw tip will appear between the screw and tip. This location must be less than the thickness of thrust ring. If it is less, it is for sure that when assembled with locking ring and thrust ring, during injection, the thrust load will get transferred to the bearings of screw assembly and not to the threads. There by these kind of failures will be avoided.

Note: While assembling, always apply reliable High Temperature Grease on the threads of screw tip, leaving the last threads of screw tip.

2. While assembling the screw tip assembly it is to be kept in mind that the geometry of the locking ring is varying for different plasticizing unit.

Some of the locking rings have taper on one side and some have on both side. If the locking ring having taper only in one end is assembled improperly, then there is every chance of locking ring getting locked inside the barrel. Hence the assembly drawing for the various screw types are given below to avoid the problem of wrong assembly. This picture explains how to assemble and how should not be assembled

- C. Somaskandhan

ENHANCE PRODUCTIVITY WITH OPTIMUM ENERGY CONSUMPTIONWe have been consistently working for the energy saving features and options with Dehumidified Air Dryers along with L&T PET PREFORM Machines. The selection of the system is very crucial and is based on the Mould, Machine, Chiller specifically with respect to PREFORM Moulding.

The study gives a broad outline and also subjected to continuous improvements and operational Synergy between the Machine Manufacturer and the Customer.

SAVE COSTS WITH VOLUMETRIC MASTER BATCH BLENDING UNITToday in Injection and Blow Moulding Process many high precision colour master batch dosing requirements have come up and the costs of the special Master Batches also have gone up. In order to have the exact and precise dosing of Additive or MB the machine mounted Volumetric Blending units are now available with dosing screws catering to very low consumption.

It not only ensures the right dosing of the master batch pellets ( 38 – 40 pellets per gram, cylindrical in shape ) but also delivers precise, reliable and consistent performance saving MB for any given application.

Features of LTPML blending unit

• Inclined dosing screw with instant Start & Stop operation with brushless DC motor

• PLC Controller for consistent and reliable operation• High and Precise dosing possible with range of dosing

screws to suit the application• New range of special screws to cater to high demanding

application.

Glimpse of a unique application where the Volumetric Blending Unit MB Mini is used shows the unit’s capability with various polymers like HDPE, PPCP, PP, and many other Engineering & Non Engineering Plastic pellets and related Master Batches.

Special Screw G 0.5 S for precise and low throughputs in MB Mini versions

Let us keep in mind a machine mounted blender can solve the complex issue of colour inconsistency and ensure that the product is right first time and every time.Contact: moorthyr@larsentoubro.com

- R. Srinivasa Moorthy

Machine

Pump Unit

Screw Type/Diameter

Product name

Material

Cycle time

Part weight

Runner weight

Shot weight - Total

Type of mould

No of cavities

DT150/510 - 900

30 kW

Std. “C” Type / 60 dia. / PET Screw

PET – “Preforms”

PET – ASPET 320C

18.80 seconds

21 gm

Nil (Hot Sprue Gate)

504 gm

Two Plate Mold with Hot runner system

24 Imp

DT 150 / 510-900Pet-”Preforms”

Cycle time

Injection Time

Hold on time

Cooling time

18.80 sec

6.40 sec

2.0 sec

7.0 sec

Mould open time

Mould close time

Other delays

Dosing time

1.00 sec

1.30 sec

Nil (Fully Auto Cycle)

6.34 sec

Process Data

Power consumption per hour

Auxiliaries connected

Total Connected Load (Auxiliary equipment)

Material consumption per hour

Energy consumption per kg

20 Units (kWh) (CADEL CD – 511)

LMD-250+ 600 L Bin / HLBET 08

53.1 kW (IMM 30 + 23.1) (Aux. 14.5kW + 1.3kW)

97.77 kg/hr

0.20 units /Kg (Sp. Energy Consumption)

Power Consumption Data

Shot Weight Grams

35

22

28

Throughput in Kg/hr

11.5

4.0

4.6

ResinKg/hr

11.01

3.86

4.47

Master BatchKg/hr

0.44

0.10

0.11

Process Data

AuxiliaryEquipment FocusAuxiliaryEquipment Focus

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MWE DemystifiedPrecise control of critical process parameters is the key for achieving consistency and product quality. LTPML machines’ MWE feature comes in as a handy tool for processors to achieve precise control of the parameters. This feature essentially compares the parameters on a real time basis against a pre- selected master curve and if the actual curve deviates from the set master it alerts the processor to take corrective action.

The MWE unit allows scanning measurements to be made on the following parameters:• Mould cavity pressure profiles• Injection profile• Screw position• Melt temperature

The scan period can be selected by the user in any part of the cycle after a selectable start delay until the stop event set by the user after a selectable stop delay, and is displayed graphically. A maximum of 4 actual profiles or 1 actual profile accompanying its Master profile can be simultane-ously displayed. These options can be selected through the programme preselection.

The Zoom-In feature enables the user to study the details of a particular portion of a curve. The navigation feature using the scroll bar allows reading the actual values in any particular instance of a cycle.

With its versatile configuration possibilities, MWE helps the processor to reach optimum settings for a particular process and control the same to maintain consistency.

-Benny Mathew & G.Subramanian.clientele that any PET molder would be proud of and it includes Team, Godrej, Jyothi, Marico, John distilleries, Ravikumar distilleries and over 80 vendors who are in the field of water packaging industry and very large customers list in the beverages filling sector. The challenges for delivery and new product development always keeps team Swasthik on their toes and it is well complimented by the special delivery schedule and services offered by L&T Plastics Machinery.

The high precision machines offered by L&T keeps the rejections to the minimum and the higher production offered by these machines help in offering lower cost per component to their customers. The latest addition of an L&T Ace GenXt machine with automatic take-off & cooling system has offered lower cycle times in production and enhanced the preform clarity further. The system was a three way collaborated supply between L&T, Acme Disys, New Delhi and We Tec, Taiwan.

The team at L&T Plastics Machinery and Swashthik have forged levels of association that’s more like a bunch of trusted friends rather than a mere business involvement, the level of energy in our daily interaction just seems to grow with time. With business always growing, the next time you are travelling in south India there is every chance that you sip a water bottle that has the letters SWP etched beneath.

-S. Narayana Swamy

finances at Swashthik, the team of three had taken a lot many bold steps in the past to reach the enviable position today.

The product portfolio of Swashthik ranges from 11grams to 36 grams preforms in water sector, 15grams to 48grams in CSD and hot fill preforms besides their recent venture into the wide mouth preforms ( jar preforms) from 53mm neck finish to 120mm neck finish preforms .They have also put their heads into the 5 gallon preforms with an higher tonnage L&T injection molding machines. They have a i-Coni-Con

Energy Efficient – L&T Servo Machines Case Studies In Energy SavingsWith Servo Machines

DTS With

GreenMachineGreenMachine

S. No

1

2

3

4

5

Machine Tonnage

150275350350550650

Servo pump connected load

8 kW11 kW15 kW15 kW23 kW31 kW

Material

PC ClearPC BlackPP Talc FilledPA 66ABS BlackPP

Cycle Time(secs)

20.0059.0085.0087.00125.0090.00

Specific EnergyConsumption (KWH / Kg)

0.4020.4680.4860.4830.5540.589

For more case studies wait till our next issue

Save Energy– Save Money.

WRITING INSTRUMENTS –SPECIFIC ENERGY CONSUMPTION

S. No

1

2

3

Machine Tonnage

100

150

250

Servo pump connected load

8 kW

8 kW

15 kW

Material

PP

PP

PP

Cycle Time(secs)

15.00

34.00

42.00

Specific EnergyConsumption (KWH / Kg)

0.378

0.430

0.486

AUTOMOTIVE COMPONENTS –SPECIFIC ENERGY CONSUMPTION