KraussMaffei Technologies GmbH (Munich, Germany) reported on Nov. 17 that it has received an order from BMW to supply a large number of injection molding, reaction process and automation machines and systems. These machines and systems will be used to support series production and develop innovative and turnkey process solutions for substituting conventional materials by plastic.
"We are delighted to receive the order from BMW. We regard this order as recognition of the many years of trustful cooperation and our competence as an innovative system and solution partner for the automotive industry," said Frank Peters, managing director of the Reaction Process Machinery Division of KraussMaffei.
The machines will be used, for example, to produce and finish components made of thermoplastics and reactive resins in the interior and exterior, as well as for load-bearing structures. Parts for the vehicle body will be produced on a total of nine high-pressure resin-transfer molding machines at the BMW plants in Landshut and Leipzig. The main characteristics of the machines are constant and reproducible process guidance, as well as high filling pressures for maximum fiber wetting. The self-cleaning mixing heads do not require any cleaning cycles whatsoever and ensure a highly automated production process with great potential for shortening the cycle time. Post-mold finishing of the components is carried out based on modern trimming solutions from KraussMaffei. The material supply system is also an integral part of the order.
As part of the order, the BMW plant in Wackersdorf will acquire another large MX 4000-24500 injection molding machine to produce stable mold carriers for the instrument panel in the 1 and 3 Series using the so-called injection molding structural foam process. In this process components are produced with a compact outer skin and a foam structure inside. Two integrated industrial robots from KraussMaffei perform the necessary assembly and follow-up steps. At the BMW plant in Leipzig two 4000-tonne MX 4000-17200/12000/750 WL double swivel-plate machines will produce components with an outer skin and a thermoplastic substructure. In this case the outer skin and substructure will each first be separately injection molded, joined together as the two swivel plates rotate and tightly connected with a third plastic component. A ready-to-use component is therefore produced at every mold opening. The machine is fully automated with two IR industrial robots. Intelligent mold tempering with impulse cooling is used for energy-efficient management of the mold's heat balance.
