Hytec Plastic Mouldings Ltd manufacture precision injection, compression and thermoset plastics moulding from their base in Staffordshire, UK.
The company recently developed plastic wall brackets for flat-screen televisions to tap into a lucrative and expanding market. Peter Lucas, MD, explained: “As televisions get slimmer and lighter for their screen size, heavy metal wall-mounting brackets are becoming obsolete. We saw an opportunity to develop plastic mounting brackets and capture the market. The plastics brackets are cheaper and easier to manufacture, equally durable and 100% recyclable.” The company manufactures brackets suitable for televisions up to 60 inches” and 45 kg. “This is a rapidly expanding market, and as television technology continues to develop, screens will continue to improve and more people will replace their old cathode ray tube sets with modern LCD devices.”

The company had many considerations in the design of the brackets, as they would be supporting potentially thousands of pounds worth of electronic equipment, and failure of any component could be catastrophic. Tooling trials were carried out with a number of injection moulding machine manufacturers to assess the quality and repeatability of production. Having seen the ALLROUNDER ALLDRIVE electric machine in operation, Hytec decided to further investigate.
 
“Repeatability and part quality were key, however there were other considerations; cost, parts availability and considerations about how the machine integrated into the work flow were all important,” commented Lucas. The ARBURG machine offered Hytec the best repeatability and came with an industry renowned reliability record, something the company is extremely proud of.

ARBURG Ltd was able to include its own three axis MULTILIFT robot with the package, creating a complete single-supplier solution. “This was a major consideration for Hytec,” continued Lucas, “as it enables us to control the process from one interface. The robot was also easy to program using ARBURG’s own ‘teach in software’. ARBURG also offered us in-house training and have an excellent local parts and service availability, something that is not always available with machines sourced from competitors. With all this included, ARBURG Ltd offered the most competitive overall package and the peace of mind that we needed.”
 
The ALLDRIVE injection moulding machine and MULTILIFT robot solution was the first time Hytec had bought from ARBURG Ltd, however the performance an support they received led to them investing in an ALLROUNDER 420 C GOLDEN EDITON 100 tonne machine for use in its Class 7 Cleanroom manufacturing installation, which will concentrate on medical and visually critical in car products.