UK & Ireland Arburg Customers Attend Thrilling “Anniversary Days” Exhibition

Energy saving was a big theme at Arburg’s Anniversary Days 2023, the annual global customer meeting in Lossburg, Germany, which attracted 5,700 visitors from 53 countries this year.

The event changed names from the normal “Technology Days” to celebrate 100 years of the Hehl family company. A great deal of space was devoted to pioneering green applications, digitalisation, and automation. With many practical examples, e. g. on display in the Efficiency Arena, Arburg lived up to its claim of combining sustainability and production efficiency through high-quality technology solutions.

Energy consumption is on everyone’s minds as energy prices rocketed above inflation and have remained high; Arburg has responded with its “Action Plan: Energy” exhibit and a report full of tips to save energy and reduce costs in injection moulding production. These include settings to optimise energy requirements through the entire production process, and documenting the metering of consumption accurately, at Basic, Extended and Complete levels, showing customers how to meter their energy in, for example, the start-up and cooling phases and on peripheral equipment.

Simple and advanced machine upgrades can save energy with little effort, and the digital display of energy requirements can be rendered on ALS, Arburg host computer system. A new energy-efficient machine was launched to celebrate the company’s anniversary, a hybrid Allrounder 470 H exhibited against a golden backdrop. Its technical features include a new oil management concept, flow rate splitting for simultaneous movements of hydraulic secondary axes and the extended use of the Arburg servo-hydraulic system – again for energy.

Devotion to Sustainability

Like other Technology Days in recent years, Arburg demonstrated its expertise and devotion to sustainability, digitalisation and automation, especially in the Efficiency Arena. Here, nine stations – six on the topic of arburgGREENworld and three on arburgXworld – Arburg and selected partners in the entire value chain demonstrated how digitalisation and innovative solutions enable a sustainable circular economy.

To demonstrate all three themes in one, a hybrid Allrounder produced Fischer dowels from the “Greenline” series, consisting of 50 percent castor oil. The machine was equipped with the recyclate package and Arburg’s new “aXw Control RecyclatePilot”, which ensures a stable shot weight by means of adaptive process control and can compensate for fluctuating material qualities. The sprues were ground immediately and fed back into the process as post-industrial recyclate (PIR).

The exhibition area covered the entire company. In addition to more than 50 exhibits and innovative applications, Arburg shared its deep expertise in important topics such as sustainability, digitalisation, and automation.

Several UK and Ireland customers commented on the scope of the expo:

Danny MacFarlane, Managing Director, Ellis Patents, said: “It was excellent. I last visited Technology Days eleven years ago and the Lossburg factory has grown so much, as have the machines and applications. It’s very impressive to see Arburg now. Our technical manager joined me and he was blown away. We are trying to bring more work in-house at Ellis Patents, which is what Arburg has done – more vertical integration.”

He added: “We were particularly interested in reprocessed polymers, using more recycled plastic in the product, because our company takes sustainability very seriously. It was good to see Arburg’s control processes – combining used and virgin polymers with bigger variation. More control is needed.

“All companies need to do more to fight climate change. At Ellis, we have just installed 800 solar panels on the roof of the facility. We are keen to learn about any process to decrease carbon emissions.”

Justin Davies, Managing Director at Tex Plastics, said: “This was the third time I have been to Technology Days. It’s always very impressive; it sets the standard in the plastics industry for innovation. Energy management is critical to us at the moment. Arburg has a system that measures the energy consumption per job and cycle – this was very interesting, and we could apply this at Tex Plastics.

“Seeing all the different technologies – updated derivatives if the things that they have been doing well for years – and they are always moving forward with the innovation.”

Andrew McGuiness, Technical Operations Manager, Harwin plc was impressed by the expo. He showed that the annual concept works: “Many of the best technical improvements that I have brought into Harwin have come from visiting the Technology Days.”

Colin Tirel, Managing Director, Arburg Ltd., agreed that there is no substitute for touching and discussing the technology on-site: “The annual Technology Days really is an excellent showcase to demonstrate our wide range of application competence. It is a pleasure to take potential and existing customers to our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, from which they can form their own opinion regarding our capability, sustainability and strength.
“They appreciate the strong partnerships we can create and forge long-term relationships with them for mutual benefit. We often say that this event is larger than most independent plastics exhibitions worldwide – therefore, it is a true technical experience that should not be missed. So book now for next year!”

+++ Special customer event in May +++

Arburg Ltd. in Warwick is hosting a special event celebrating the Hehl family company’s centenary on May 17th. The new hybrid Allrounder 470 H Comfort with energy-saving features will be demonstrated.

Read more news from ARBURG here.

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