“ForARBURG Switzerland, the trade fair presentation was a resounding success. The generally positive expectations before the exhibition, which had also been shared by the Swiss plastics industry, were fully met by Swiss Plastics. Not only our stand presentation, but also the exhibited ALLROUNDER 420 A with its unique high-speed application attracted great interest among the attending trade visitors and media representatives”, says ARBURG’s Swiss subsidiary manager, Peter Moser with satisfaction. The high-speed application in particular represents a unique selling point and a competitive advantage for the company, which fulfil the high demands for innovation and customer satisfaction at ARBURG. Two cups, each weighing 8.2 grams, were produced on the ALLROUNDER 420 A with a clamping force of 1,000 kN, in a cycle time of 2.2 seconds and were subsequently removed and stacked.
 
Furthermore, Peter Moser is full of praise for the, in his opinion, informal but more intense exhibition atmosphere: “With approximately 3,700 visitors, the trade fair is certainly not one of the “first division” plastics exhibitions. It is however set to gain increasing importance as a platform for the industry, in the future. It is also precisely the informal character of the exhibition that enables intensive contact with customers. The high attendance and the interest of the exhibition visitors to the ARBURG stand were particularly outstanding and resulted in many business contacts.” Overall, a clear signal was sent to the Swiss plastics sector with its approximately 900 companies, at the trade fair premiere.

In the context of a trade-fair co-operation between ARBURG and the institute of materials technology and plastics processing (Institut für Werkstofftechnik und Kunststoffverarbeitung – IWK) of the Rapperswil college of engineering (Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil – HSR), ARBURG provided an ALLROUNDER 420 C Golden Edition (with a clamping force of 1,000 kN and a size 290 injection unit) for the exhibition. A process-optimised application for the medical component technology sector was demonstrated. The institute’s director, Professor Frank Ehrig, made special mention of the good co-operation with ARBURG.
 
An ALLROUNDER 570 C also went on permanent loan to the IWK in order to provide long-term support for prototyping and development projects. A co-operation is planned with an aim to obtaining results with regard to both applications and materials. The IWK makes innovative and professional contributions in terms of applications-oriented research and development relating to a wide variety of issues surrounding the subject of materials and plastics technology. It consequently offers services in its role as a link between the HSR and companies.

A principle feature of the electric ALLROUNDER A machines is their cost efficiency.The main axes, with servo-electric drive as standard, enable simultaneous movements, thus facilitating short cycle times.The auxiliary axes can be driven electrically or hydraulically, depending on the customer's requirements. A further advantage of these electric machines is their low energy consumption which, depending on the application, can be up to 40 % lower than with a comparable hydraulic machine. High reproducibility and part quality are guaranteed by the excellent positioning accuracy of the electric movement axes, which also contribute to the reduced noise emission level. In addition, the accuracy of the axis movements allows rapid and precise entry into the mould, thus optimising cycle times – a factor that plays a particularly important role in the case of complex production cells. Electric ALLROUNDER A machines therefore offer decisive advantages for numerous applications. By extending its product range, ARBURG has expanded the scope of applications of the electric ALLROUNDER A, for which the SELOGICA “direct” control system with touchscreen is also available as an alternative at no extra charge.

Further new elements of the ALLDRIVE range are the more generous installation dimensions, which allow the use of larger and more complex moulds on the electric ALLROUNDER A, and the automatically self-adapting clamping force control, which ensures higher part quality. The safety guard, open at the top and enlarged at the rear of the machine, provides more space not only for cooling and electrical connections on the mould, but also for more convenient mould changing. With the new, small size 70 injection unit, ALLDRIVE machines are now ideally suited to the production of small and micro-components.