Results of the JUNE SimTech™ 2022 Injection Molding Challenge
First Place Goes to Andrea Bricola, Draexlmaier Automotive of America, and, First Place goes to Draexlmaier Automotive of America for the company spotlight category.
Congratulations Andrea Bricola and Congratulations Draexlmaier Automotive of America!
JUNE 2022 SimTech™ Challenge Wrap Up
This is a first! Draexlmaier Automotive of America cleaned up in the JUNE SimTech Injection Molding Challenge in both the individual and company categories. Clearly, Draexlmaier Automotive of America has some talented molders on their team. Well done Andrea Bricola and team Draexlmaier!
How Did Andrea Do It?
Here’s how. Andrea focused on using the lower processing temperature range for the Polystyrene. This allowed him to run a cycle faster than the quoted cycle and ultimately win the challenge. Andrea recently earned his Gold Level ProMolder 2 certification with flying colors in Charlotte, NC during a live 5-day PM2 training event.
Challenge Specifics
This month’s molding competition presented a bit of a different challenge. We designed and configured a general-purpose screw for the 300-ton molding machine in SimTech. Competitors will be familiar with this machine and screw configuration because we used it in prior challenges. The material used for the June Challenge is Polystyrene (PS), an amorphous material.
This month, participants were charged with molding a Cover, which is considered an average nominal wall type part. The quoted (standard) cycle time for this job is 14.0 seconds. Which is quite a bit faster than the quoted cycle for the previous May challenge part (33.0 cycle). So, for June we had to mold a much faster cycle with an amorphous material.
In our expansive course offerings, we teach the specifics of a general-purpose screw design (“GP” screw), a screw designed for shear sensitive materials (like PVC, polycarbonate, most “ring-structured” polymers) and a semi-crystalline screw design. We also teach the specifics for the semi-crystalline screw which is designed with a higher compression ratio and longer feed section on the screw.
The winning setup used a good temperature profile on the heating barrel. With the amorphous screw, the winning setup used a “straight profile” temperature setting. This means the material temperature is set with essentially the same temperature along the entire barrel of the machine. This will provide a uniform mixing and melting of the amorphous polymer without introducing high levels of shear.
If you don’t have a full understanding of this configuration Paulson Training Programs can help you with this. We offer a thorough explanation in our Basic and Advanced courses and seminars, both public and virtual. Hope to see you there!
Company Team Winners: These are companies who have three or more employees participating, and for the JUNE challenge, the top three winning companies include.
- First Place: Draexlmaier Automotive of America, with a companywide average score of 125.93
- Second Place: Plastikon, with a companywide average score of 125.55
- Third Place: Henniges Automotive, with a companywide average score of 124.93
Congratulations to our individual winners and company winners and to all who participated.
Individual Winners
- 1st place –Andrea Bricola, Draexlmaier Automotive of America – Score: 126.177
- 2nd place – Greg Reep, Draexlmaier Automotive of America – Score: 126.171
- 3rd place – Josh Pace, Draexlmaier Automotive of America – Score: 126.168
Featured Set-up: Andrea Bricola, Draexlmaier Automotive of America
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 select a month from the drop down menu.
As always, we’ll be announcing the over all 2022 ProMolder Champion after we tally all the scores from the entire year. Start earning scores!
In the meantime, get ready for the next month’s challenge! Take advantage and pre-signup. Don’t miss out. Get on the list to win! Until then, keep on learning!
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.
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.
