Wittmann Automation Slashes Energy Costs

Expect significant energy and cost savings across the board from Wittmann at this year’s K 2025 exhibition – not least in the areas of robotics and automation. A big hint of things to come was provided by Wittmann at the company’s competence days back in June 2024, Vienna and also three months later at Germany’s Fakuma 2024 exhibition.

Since compressed air can be the most expensive form of energy in most injection moulding operations, Wittmann engineers have made it a key target for energy reduction in Wittmann robots and automation.

The key factor here is demand-based vacuum control: Wittmann EcoVac is the solution, and the largest energy saving potential is possible when handling inserts or moulded parts with a smooth surface. The EcoVac function has now been made available for the entire range of Wittmann robots.

Wittmann UK Joint MD, Dan Williams, says that “Automation and energy saving have been part of the Wittmann company DNA from Day One. We therefore expect significant advances and innovation on both counts when we open our K 2025 exhibition on October 8^th. We certainly look forward to demonstrating all the cost, time and space savings thereby.”

 Wittmann’s SmartRemoval robot control package has many friends throughout injection moulding for its move-in phase, move-out phase, iVac monitoring and also the push function.

For complex parts that are difficult to transfer securely, the push function feature enables a gentle, torque-monitored transfer, reducing part deformation and mechanism wear.

Dan Williams added that “the benefits here include: less wear on the robot, reducing downtime and associated costs; pre-empting potential loss of production and pre-empting replacement of components, which would wear or potentially break if not using the function.”

 Added automation performance and more efficiency – again, supplied across the entire range of Wittmann robots – also results from the company’s new servo-driven rotary axes; an innovation which Wittmann rolled out at Fakuma 2024. Even more compact and lighter combined rotation sequences have now become possible, thus extending the fields of application.

The weight saved in this way provides a higher load capacity for both grippers and parts, so that in many applications smaller robot models can be used than were normal previously.

At the level of automated sprue picking, more flexibility is now provided by the WX90 sprue removal system, available in a stand-alone version with a robot interface and control cabinet of its own. The WX900 robot can be used on injection moulding machines of all brands.

Thanks to its extremely energy efficient servo axes, this robot can be amortized in injection moulding plants within two years typically.

K 2025 is also set to show Wittmann as a pioneer of visual inspection that is integrated within automation technology. The Fakuma show dropped a big hint here by incorporating and demonstrating camera technology on a Wittmann W918 robot.

For this demonstration, the operating panel of the camera software was able to be visualized on the Wittmann R9 robot Teachbox. In this way, various entries – via the camera – can be made directly on the robot’s operating terminal, and measurement results can also be retrieved there.

In summary, once the K 2025 doors open on October 8^th, Wittmann robotics and automation is set to re-assert its technological and cost-effective dominance in injection moulding. Watch this space for full details!

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