A major medical technology company produces and sells an extensive range of medical supplies, laboratory and diagnostic equipment for health care facilities, life science institutes, and clinical laboratories. In the field of injection and infusion technology the company is regarded as an innovation leader.
The company attaches particular importance to highest quality. Development, production, and delivery of products and services are subject to a continuous process of improvement. For this purpose processes are analysed to determine where and how efficiency and effectiveness can be increased.
For the production of plastic parts by way of injection moulding the medical technology company uses both new granulate and regrind, which may both be contaminated with foreign bodies such as metal particles. In the past this often complicated the injection moulding process because such metal particles resulted in clogging of individual cavities in injection moulding tools, and tools frequently had to be cleaned. This caused expensive production downtimes of injection moulding machines, quality defects of plastic products, and a reduced output.
Looking for a solution for these production problems the company came across Sesotec metal separators. Using metal separators is the most reliable method for the removal of metallic particles and thus for the protection of injection moulding machines and for quality assurance of plastic products.
After thorough tests the medical technology company now uses Sesotec Protector metal separators for the inspection and cleaning of granulate (new material and regrind). Metal separators of the Protector series are installed directly above the material inlet of injection moulding machines, where they reliably remove metallic contaminations from the slowly descending material column. Apart from outstanding properties such as high sensitivity and space-saving, compact design, the metal separators of the Protector series especially are characterised by the "Quick-Valve" reject unit.
When a metal particle is detected a pneumatically controlled piston in this reject unit moves into its reject position, and the rejected material is completely sucked off into a collecting container by means of a Venturi nozzle. The piston then moves back to its pass-through position again. Only a minimum of good material is lost in this process, and clogging is impossible.
The medical technology company is reported to be "highly satisfied" with the Sesotec metal separators: "Since the installation of these metal separators the operating time of our injection moulding machines has considerably improved, because disturbing metal contaminations are no longer an issue in the production process.“