Wittmann Battenfeld do Brasil’s great automation expertise shows its most valuable features in the production of fittings. Israel Almeida Furtado takes one of the newly molded blue fitting components with metal threading inside from a mesh box. “For a long time, these parts needed a lot of manual work”, he explains. A production worker inserted the metal threading and removed the finished parts follow-ing insert molding. Then the Wittmann team in Brazil developed a new, efficiency-optimized production process based on a horizontal SmartPower injection molding machine for the 16-cavity mold. The production cell now includes a WX143 linear robot from Wittmann, plus one Scara robot and one automation unit for isolating and feeding the metal threads - a customized solution, also designed and manufactured by the local Wittmann team. By this new process, the unit costs were signifi-cantly reduced, and here elimination of the manual work was not the only contributing factor.
“The fully automatic process is considerably more stable, and the cycle time is shorter”, explains Cardenal. This means higher quality consistency, greater productivity and greater energy efficiency.”
“It is a big advantage for us that Wittmann supplies us with injection molding machines and automation equipment from a single source”, emphas Gonçalves. “The production cells are easy to operate, thanks to their uniform interfaces and central control system via the machine’s display, and when servicing is required, we have only one contact partner for the entire production cell.“
Jointly at the Interplast 2024
For Krona, quality and service are the basis for the Group’s continuous growth. Several acquisitions of additional companies have also taken place. The latest example is Viqua, also located in Joinville. Originally a competitor, Viqua now complements Krona’s product portfolio with sanitary products in the premium segment. Viqua has already been working with injection molding technology from the Wittmann Group for many years, too.
Together with Viqua, Wittmann will present an exciting application in August at the Interplast 2024 in Joinville, the plastics trade fair in Brazil. Water faucets will be produced using Airmould gas injection technology on a SmartPower injection molding machine.
During the Airmould process, nitrogen is injected into the cavity filled with melt. The pressurized gas forms a bubble in the central area of the melt, which counteracts the shrinkage on the surface by internal pressure, thus eliminating shrink marks. A cavity is created inside the molded part, which reduces the amount of plastic material needed. In this way, light-weight components can be produced with Airmould within short cycle times, and with high-quality surfaces. In the specific application of water faucets, the gas forms the hollow structure through which the water will flow. Accordingly, no core pulls are required in the mold.
In a good position to achieve sustainability goals
Sustainability is a central topic for the Krona Group. “We have defined key figures by which we can measure the sustainability of our activities”, reports Vilson Perin, President of the Management Board of the Krona Group. “Over the next five years, we will use them to significantly reduce our raw material, energy and water consumption and thus improve our CO2 footprint. With Wittmann we are well positioned for reaching our sustainability goals. The Wittmann machines consume less energy than the other machines on our production floor.”
The actions to strengthen sustainability are part of a much more comprehensive corporate social responsibility strategy. Last year, Krona established the Instituto Krona, a type of foundation by which the Group controls its social commitment and makes it transparent. A separate team has been established to analyze and evaluate requests, and to decide which projects will be sponsored and where help will be provided. The funds are spent for sports sponsoring at the individual production locations and for disaster aid, such as relief for flood victims.
