Results of the April SimTech Challenge – 

First Place Goes to Eric East of Impact Molding for the APRIL SimTech™ Injection Molding Challenge. A hearty round of applause to Eric. This was no easy feat.

APRIL SimTech™ Challenge Wrap Up

The Rolling Stones sing about “Time” being on their side, and for this APRIL SimTech Challenge it was all about “time,” on your side or not.

This month we went beyond efficiency scoring. In order to earn a score you had to make as many good parts as possible in a 120-hour job. This scoring method proved immensely difficult for everyone.

Just like a lot of time is consumed when cycling or changing the barrel temperature on a real injection molding machine, SimTech also takes time to achieve those functions and was reflected in your score. But, unlike a real molding machine, where you would have to wait for the barrel temp to change (approximately 30 minutes) or for the machine to cycle, SimTech presents your results and feedback instantly, complete with realistic projections of how many parts you made. This is why SimTech is such a useful and critical tool for building those injection molding skills.

Yes! There Were Booby Traps

In addition to the “time” based nature of this particular challenge there were several “booby traps”. Did you notice?

The material for this Challenge was Acrylic, an amorphous material with melt temperature range of 409 – 511F.

In order to run this part and achieve the cycle for a “winning” score, the participant needed to get the actual melt temperature in a lower range. You can achieve this with the following:

• Set the Rear and Middle Zone on the Barrel Temperatures relatively low
• Run a low Back Pressure 
• Run a low Screw RPM 

If the participant did not get a low enough melt temperature, they would get Warp as a part problem. So, if the participant did not set Barrel Temperatures, Screw RPM, and Back Pressure correctly, and in the right combination, they would get warp and no score.

APRIL Winners:

• First Place: Eric East, Impact Molding (wins a hat & t-shirt & $500 training credit from Paulson)
• Second Place:  Josh Stall, Sonoco (wins hat & $300 training credit from Paulson)
• Third Place: Doug Burkead, Impact Molding (wins t-shirt & $200 training credit from Paulson)

Points Winners:
The names below reflect those who have won before and are now accumulating points for the end-of-the-year GRAND PRIZE of $6,000 worth of training from Paulson.

• Johnny Ash (our 2019 reigning champ)
• Alexandru Crai
• Luke Snyder
• Joey Hall

Congratulations to our winners and all who participated! Well done!

To learn more about our monthly SimTech Molding Challenges visit details here.  To see how you or your fellow molders ranked this month, check out the leader board by clicking here and choose that month’s challenge from the drop down menu.

Having Fun with our Competitions?

Imagine the team of skilled molders you could create if SimTech was in your plant 24-7? Your employees could be improving their molding expertise in a safe, low-cost environment, building critical thinking and troubleshooting skills. And you can stage your own friendly in-house competitions.  It’s proven, molding simulation is the best and most cost-effective way to become a better molder. You don’t want your employees making their mistakes or trying new techniques on the production floor at an actual machine—now that’s a costly way to learn. The simulation of complex processes is quickly becoming the gold standard of skill development. SimTech is the answer for injection molding.

Here’s just a few of the applications you can employ with SimTech:

• Hiring Qualified Employees – Before hiring a potential employee, test their knowledge and skills with problem solving exercises in Simtech.
• Technician Promotion – Give your candidates for promotion a test before you make that decision.
• In-plant Competitions to promote learning and discussion – Have your own competitions amongst your team. Have a discussion on what process settings work and why.

Just hearing about this? Want to join in on all the fun? Sign up and learn more here.

To learn more about SimTech and all the other skill development courses Paulson offers, visit PaulsonTraining.com or call 1-800-826-1901; or contact us via email sales@paulsontraining.com.