Husky Wins FEDIL Innovation Award for Groundbreaking Plate Line Automation Project

BOLTON, ON – Husky Technologies, a pioneering technology provider enabling the delivery of essential needs to the global community, has been awarded the 2024 FEDIL Innovation Award in the Process category for its groundbreaking Plate Line Automation project. The FEDIL Innovation Awards recognize projects that stand out for their innovative, original character, and are relevant to the Luxembourg economy.

“We are honored to receive this year’s FEDIL Innovation Award in the Process category,” said Laurent Huberty, Husky’s Manufacturing Technology Team Manager, Hot Runners. “This award is a testament to the innovation and dedication of our team to drive operational excellence. Our Plate Line Automation project is just the beginning, and we’re excited to expand the success of this cutting-edge solution to our global network of facilities.”

Husky’s Plate Line Automation project is an Industry 4.0 initiative that was designed to enhance operational efficiency, product quality, and employee productivity by integrating advanced robotics and cutting-edge software into the manufacturing process. The project incorporates three key technologies into a single automated system to achieve:

• Streamlined material handling to increase productivity and improve safety using 5-tonne Automated Guided Vehicles to deliver pallets directly to milling centers.
• Fully automated tool loading and unloading for deep-hole drilling, minimizing human intervention and increasing precision.
• Higher accuracy and faster production times through the adoption of digital twin technology and tool analysis software enabling real-time simulation and quality control.

“This holistic approach demonstrates Husky’s commitment to leveraging the full potential of Industry 4.0, advancing automation to new heights,” said Rinas Mohammed, Husky’s Director of Global Operations, Industrialized Tooling, EMEA. “This project is a perfect example of how Husky is combining advanced robotics and digital technology to streamline processes. By automating critical tasks, Husky has reduced production times, enhanced precision, improved safety, and freed operators from repetitive, manual tasks.

https://www.husky.co/

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Celebrating 75 Years Of Excellence: Clariant Cargo & Device Protection’s Californian Team Named “Best Of The Best” By AGM Container Controls

For the seventh time in eight years, AGM Container Controls (AGM) has recognized Clariant Cargo & Device Protection (CDP) Colton, California team with the “Supplier of the Year Award” for 2023. Of 295 active AGM suppliers, only five were honored with this prestigious award. Clariant’s supplier success is rooted in its Colton, California manufacturing facility, which celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2023.

AGM is a major manufacturer of environmental- and moisture-control solutions designed to protect essential products from damage caused by shock, pressure, moisture, oxidation, corrosion, and other environmental hazards. Given the critical nature and value of these products – which include military, aerospace, and avionics components, industrial equipment, measuring and detection instruments, and more – AGM deploys multiple capabilities. This includes advanced engineering, technical expertise, manufacturing excellence, and rigorous environmental controls to ensure optimal protection and performance.

For moisture control and humidity indication, AGM relies on suppliers like Clariant Cargo & Device Protection. AGM has recognized the excellence of our team in California with its “Supplier of the Year” award for seven of the past eight years.

In a congratulatory note accompanying the award, AGM Container Controls President and CEO Howard Stewart praised the recipients, including Clariant CDP, as “the best of the best.” Clariant was one of only five suppliers to meet all of AGM’s stringent supplier qualifications, including the number and value of orders shipped, component quality, and on-time order delivery.

Clariant made the grade by supplying AGM with 554 orders, with a 98% component quality rating and a 97% on-time delivery rating. “Therefore,” said Stewart, “I am pleased to inform you that such achievements qualify Clariant as a seven-time recipient of AGM’s Supplier of the Year award.”

The Colton site produces humidity indicator solutions used in applications worldwide. The facility’s history dates back to 1948 when Rear Admiral Welford Blinn (USN Ret. Dec.) founded the Humidial Company in 1948. Blinn envisioned a simple “go/no-go” humidity indicator. Today, these “button” indicators are built into ammunition cartons and cases, alerting crews if ammunition or other vital military supplies have been exposed to damaging humidity levels during transport or storage.

Fun fact: Today, Blinn’s granddaughter, Michelle Martin, heads the Operations Business Segment for CDP NORAM, Adsorbents Americas. She states, “AGM Container Controls has been Clariant CDP’s longest-running customer relationship for over 50 years. We are proud to continue to supply AGM and all our customers with solutions that protect essential products and commodities worldwide.”

Paul Gusman, Site Manager at the Clariant CDP Colton facility, added that Clariant CDP’s values hold the key to ongoing success: “Our commitment to innovative chemistry, customer focus and dedicated employees, paves the way to continued excellence. We look forward to continuing, and further enhancing our relationship with AGM and all our valued customers in the years ahead.”

https://www.clariant.com/

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LSU Researchers Create Low-Cost Method to Recycle Plastic

LSU researchers have created a new, low-cost way to break down plastic, a potential Kerry Dooley breakthrough that could save billions of dollars and eliminate billions of tons of plastic pollution.

“Getting plastics to the recycling plant is only half the battle. The other half is reusing that plastic waste to create new products,” said James Dorman, program manger with the U.S. Department of Energy and former LSU Chemical Engineering professor. “Some estimates show as much as 95 percent of plastics in the U.S. ends up in landfills and incinerators. Our process breaks down commercial plastics, including polystyrene and high- and low-density polyethylene, so recycled material can be seamlessly integrated into new products.”

Dorman and LSU Chemical Engineering Professor Kerry Dooley use electromagnetic induction heating along with special magnetic materials and catalysts to break down different types of plastic.

Electromagnetic waves melt the plastics from the inside out, which requires far less energy. Dorman and Dooley’s process also produces only small amounts of unwanted byproducts such as methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, unlike conventional recycling. The conventional method of melting plastic waste, pyrolysis, requires high temperatures and produces gases like carbon dioxide and hydrogen.

Dorman and Dooley’s method works at lower temperatures and offers more precise control of the breakdown process. Their method can be tailored to handle food residues and other contaminants that help limit plastics recycling. For example, recyclers commonly send plastic containers that still contain food – yogurt for example – to the landfill because the residue taints the recycled material.

Most plastic starts with fossil fuels. Refiners heat oil and natural gas to “crack” the large molecules into smaller molecules, among them ethylene and propylene. Those chemicals are the building blocks used to make a variety of plastics. By linking the monomers, plastics manufacturers create a long chain molecule called a polymer, or a plastic.

“Our extraction process retains key, core monomers, so they can be reinserted into the polymerization process,” Dorman said. “For example, we can pull the ethylene from the polyethylene during recycling and use it to make new polyethylene.”

Ethylene and propylene are extremely valuable. The global market for ethylene alone is estimated at $150 billion.

“By recycling these chemicals, we can help reduce the need for new fossil fuels and lower greenhouse gas emissions,” Dooley said. “Basically, our extraction process helps clean up the environment and creates a way to make money from what was once trash.”

“This breakthrough in plastic recycling is a crucial step in our Scholarship First Agenda mission to build a research platform for energy resilience,” said LSU Vice President of Research and Economic Development Robert Twilley. “By innovating processes that increase the recycling of carbon-based materials and reduce carbon emissions, LSU is addressing the challenge of plastic waste and helping to create a sustainable energy future.”

Dorman and Dooley have worked with the LSU Office of Innovation & Technology Commercialization (ITC) to pursue patent protection for their invention.

“We’re excited about helping Drs. Dorman and Dooley explore the commercial possibilities for this cutting-edge technology,” said Daniel Felch, LSU ITC senior commercialization officer.

https://www.lsu.edu

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Absolute Haitian To Sell, Service Niigata Machinery In US And Canada

Customers will gain access to a broader range of horizontal and vertical presses and enhanced customer support, said the company.

Niigata Machinery Co. Ltd. announced just before the Christmas holiday that it will transition sales and service of its injection molding machines in the United States and Canada to Absolute Haitian Corp., effective March 1, 2025.

Niigata Machinery has been a subsidiary of Haitian International since March 1, 2023.

The strategic move enhances product diversity, strengthens customer support, and aligns with the construction of state-of-the-art facilities in Japan to unify operations and innovation, said Absolute Haitian in the news release.

Bringing Japanese craftsmanship to global market

Founded in 2022, Niigata Machinery took over the injection molding business of Niigata Machine Techno in 2023. With backing by Haitian International, Niigata aims to deliver Japanese craftsmanship to the global market.

Haitian International is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and operates manufacturing facilities throughout the world. It is the world’s largest supplier of injection molding machinery, with a production capacity of 50,000 machines annually.

Absolute Haitian has been Haitian’s sales and service agent in the United States and Canada since 2006. During that time, it has sold approximately 4,500 Haitian presses into that market.

Absolute Haitian said it will incorporate the Niigata product line alongside its Haitian and Zhafir machines in the United States and Canada. Customers will benefit from a unified supplier, gaining access to a broader range of horizontal and vertical machines and an enhanced customer support infrastructure, the company added.

New state-of-the-art plant

This change coincides with the construction of state-of-the-art Niigata facilities in Momoyama, Japan. Niigata announced announced the project in March 2023.

At the time, PlasticsToday reported that the plant will consolidate all aspects of Niigata’s injection molding business — from research, design, and engineering to fabrication, manufacturing, and warehousing — at a single location.

Commenting on the multi-million-dollar investment at the time, Steve Cunningham, general manager of Niigata Machine Techno USA’s Injection Molding Division, said the company was in the midst of a major growth surge for its MDS8000 all-electric injection molding machines. The existing facility reportedly could not support demand for the press. “When our new facility opens in 2025, we’ll not only be able to support this growth surge, but we expect to significantly shorten lead times throughout North America so that we can get new machines out to customers on a timely basis,” said Cunningham.

https://www.plasticstoday.com/

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