Empire Precision Invests Into Their Customer’s Competitive Advantage Through Investments in Technology

Rochester, NY, January 19, 2019 --(PR.com)-- Empire Precision Plastics, an expert in precision and polymer optics injection molding, has made significant investments into its mission to improve their customers’ competitive advantage by reducing their total cost of ownership, improving their time-to-market (TTM) and advancing quality objectives. To achieve this, the company has made several strategic upgrades to their Idea Factory and Technology Center.

The utilization of part design filling analysis in precision and optical parts is now fundamental in structural design and molding process optimization. Mold-filling analysis (MFA) is the computer simulation of molten plastic flow into a given mold geometry. This could be a plastic part, hot or cold runner, gate, nozzle tip, sprue, rib, etc. For a mold, the flow is predicted to the point of 99% filled; packing is a separate simulation. With proper application by an experienced user, this flow simulation can predict - before the mold is built - how the flow front progresses through the flow path of nozzle, sprue, runner, gate, and part. This allows for possible prediction of gate location, fill time, flow restrictions, plastic pressure distribution, air entrapment, venting issues, temperatures, weld lines, and other concerns associated with plastic part production. There are two main applications for mold-filling simulation. One is in optimizing a new mold design before steel is cut. The second is solving problems with an existing mold. Both can save lots of time and money. MFA allows Empire to work with the customer to address issues and improve design for improved quality and accelerates TTM by proactively searching for potential issues that commonly causes delays. After the mold and processes have been optimized, the mold then moves to the Technology Center’s Scientific Molding Center to dedicated sample presses to initiate validation and optimized process are proved.

To further invest in customers’ competitive advantage, Empire invested into two automated EDM cells by upgrading its CNC’s and Sinker EDM capabilities combined with WorkMaster robots from System 3R to load and unloads workpieces and automate electrode changes. Customers find that utilizing this technology significantly reduces “in mold” processing time, enhances precision and creates controlled processes that produce repeatable quality parts.

Long-term proper tool maintenance is critical to tooling longevity and achieving customers’ quality and delivery specifications. In some cases where materials such as plasticizers and other contaminates from the molding process are deposited in the cavity impression, mold vents, parting lines plates and other areas of the mold, regular cleaning will significantly reduce mold wear and potential quality issues. The Empire’s Technology Center purchased an Ultrasonic Mold Cleaning Machine to remove plastic residue from cavity and tooling plates for a non-contact method “scrubbing” to remove residues that are detrimental to tool life via immersion into a heated aqueous solution.

“Our expertise and unique collaborative process alleviates your stress and helps expedite your Design, Engineering and Prototyping processes to the next level, we also offer a wide range of complementary molding services; i.e. sub-component sourcing to value added secondary operations to vendor managed inventory programs.” – Neal Elli, President and CEO of Empire Precision