männer develops innovative cluster concept mold for pipette tips

Any interruption for maintenance is never welcome, and this has become particularly true during the time of COVID-19, with production disruptions causing critical supply chain delays. männer has developed a mold with an innovative cluster concept to ensure molders can produce perfect parts at a rate that meets record industry demand. Disposable IVD articles that require high precision, high quality, and high production volume — a difficult combination for traditional moulding — are now possible. 

Pharmaceutical companies are currently extending their production capacity for manufacturing pipette tips to meet tremendous demand. Due to complex automation, investments can run into the millions – capital outlay that must be recouped through unit prices of only a few cents. This means molds must achieve consistently high output volume and low scrap.

männer has developed a mold concept for pipette tips which satisfies rigorous technical requirements while also emphasizing continuous availability. The concept is also compatible with existing systems on the market so customers can integrate the mold within existing production units.

The männer mold concept features multiple clusters, with each cluster having eight easily removable and replaceable cavities. Each cluster contains a nozzle head and its own electric supply for the independently heated nozzle tips, enabling mold maintenance directly on the machine. A cluster simply needs to be swapped out for production to resume. This approach avoids nearly all downtime during 24/7 operations.

männer’s hot runner expertise offers considerable advantages such as superior temperature control in 64-cavity molds and ensures the precise geometry of the pipette tip, including wall thicknesses from 0.25–0.30 mm and an opening of only 0.35 mm. Even the slightest core offset could result in filling imbalances and cause potentially inaccurate diagnostics results. The short-shot test revealed that all 64 cavities are optimally balanced. The stable temperature balance and optimal design of melt channels solve several problems all at the same time. The thin core stays centered during injection, material dwell time is minimized, and the problem of “drooling” (i.e., the melt that keeps flowing into the cavity when the mold opens) commonly seen in open systems does not occur.

To expand its presence in the diagnostics sector, männer is currently investing in additional production capacity.  Through cooperation with injection molding machines specialist Sumitomo Demag, automation specialist Micro-Automation, temperature control equipment specialist HB-Therm, and its affiliated Molding Solutions network companies, Gammaflux (temperature control systems) and Priamus (process control), männer has a complete production unit in Bahlingen, Germany.

In Bahlingen, the pipette tip molds can be optimized and given qualification testing concerning demolding and automation. After qualification approval, the pipette tips are ready for use anywhere in the world.