Sandretto UK supply Injection Moulding Machines for use within the TVF, Audio and Computer arenas. Our machines are used to produce TV casings, PCs, monitors and other large electrical components. Sandretto machines offers customers the ability to employ gas-assisted injection moulding.
Click on any of the stories below to read more about how our clients make use of Sandretto machines in the manufacture of electrical equipment:
Showpla Mouldings
SHOWPLA MOULDINGS KEEPS AHEAD IN GAS-ASSISTED INJECTION NEW SANDRETTO 1400 HAS GAS-INJECTION AND ROBOTICS FOR MOULDING LARGE ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS
This Sandretto ‘Mega H’ 1400 tonne injection moulding machine has been supplied to Showpla Mouldings as part of a total moulding solution for the production of large electronic components. Sandretto has also equipped the machine with a Dal Maschio 2400 CNC de-mould robot complete with a multi-sprue cutting device, and supplied a granulator, into which the sprues are deposited by the robot, and an indexing conveyor.
Machine and equipment will be installed in a moulding shop which already operates 19 machines of which ten are of 550 tonne to 1600 tone clamp force. The opportunity is being taken to extend cranage and increase the mould chill facilities to accommodate further growth which the company anticipates in the near future. The factory covers 5230 sq metres on a 15,700 sq metre site.
The new Sandretto brings to eight – out of 20 – the number of machines at Showpla having the facility for gas-injection. This represents what Showpla believes is, for a custom moulder, an exceptionally high proportion of machines capable of gas-assisted injection moulding.
Showpla Mouldings are at the forefront of applying this technique to the production of large fascia panels and associated components and the company reports substantial benefits. Not least is the elimination of witness marks from ribs and bosses attached to cosmetic faces, thereby providing greater freedom in the positioning of these strengthening features. Larger and heavier tube assemblies for bigger tv sets, for example, demand far stronger mouldings.
INVESTMENT AS PART OF WEBGROVE GROUP
Established twelve years ago at its present site in Cheslyn Hay, West Midlands by a Japanese company to serve other Japanese manufacturers in the UK, Showpla developed considerable expertise in meeting the specific requirements of consumer electronics and business communications equipment manufacturers. In October 1998, the company was purchased by the Webgrove Holdings Group which owns three other moulders – Link Plastics in Telford, Silkjet in Leicester and the recent acquisition of XL Timbalex in Didcot – and a toolmaking company A.P.M.T.
Under Director & General Manager Tim Sweet, Showpla was encouraged to build on its well established expertise of producing very large mouldings. The result has been, often with the assistance of gas-injection, the successful production of parts for consumer electronics, power tools and garden machinery, domestic appliances and material handling containers.
With the additional benefits from capital investment, Showpla Mouldings has broadened its market base and is regularly supplying components and assemblies – often on a Just-in-Time or Kan Ban basis – to a wide spread of industries.
INCREASED TECHNOLOGY BACK-UP
Valuable support facilities are increasingly available from within the Group. For example, Silkjet offers a comprehensive design/mould facility for point-of-sale display and specialised packaging, thereby complementing the production of larger mouldings from Showpla and automotive mouldings from Link Plastics.
Through Silkjet, Showpla is calling on expertise in alloy tooling; this has proved particularly beneficial in the rapid supply of production-standard mouldings for an electrical component. More recently, with the introduction of Birmingham-based Arnold Plastics Tooling into the Webgrove Group, a comprehensive design, development and toolmaking service is available, backed up by one of the most extensive test/trial moulding shops in the UK. This is being developed as the Group Technical Centre.
Current investment in both plant and equipment at Cheslyn Hay is enabling Showpla to maintain its position and to meet the changing and, for this custom moulder, increasing requirements from the industry it was first set up to service. In spite of Showpla’s success in broadening its market, it has been the steady increase in orders from consumer electronics manufacturers which have created the need for the Sandretto 1400 tonne machine.
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Allsop Europe
IRISH IN-HOUSE MOULDER HAVING SUCCESSFUL SUB-CONTRACT BUSINESS XPANDS IN A THIRD DIRECTION WITH RANGE OF OWN PRODUCTS
In-house moulders, aware that their manufacturing expertise could be successfully employed in a wider market, will seek sub-contract work. Such was the case with Allsop Europe, the European subsidiary of an American manufacturing group. Set up in Waterford to produce mouldings for what has become a broadening range of components for the consumer electronics market, the company subsequently attracted sub-contract moulding; it now moulds parts for several multi-national companies in the automotive industry.
For Allsop Europe, expansion has taken a further step forward with the launch of its own range of tape/CD/DVD storage systems. With the expertise and equipment installed to produce similar products, the company exhibited its range at the recent Dusseldorf trade show with results which more than justify the installation, last November, of a Sandretto ‘Serie Nove T 165 tonne injection moulding machine.
LOW POWER CONSUMPTION MOULDING MACHINE
Whilst six of Allsop Europe’s nine moulding machines are already Sandrettos, the decision to remain with Sandretto for the ninth machine was based on two significant factors. In the words of ….. title….. John Ryan, the after-sales service is “fantastic”. Furthermore, the ‘Serie Nove’ machines have a much reduced power requirement and this obviated the need to install greater busbar capacity.
The moulding shop comprises nine machines up to 200 tonnes lock, the smallest being a Sandretto Micro 50. Ancillary facilities include de-mould robots and sprue pickers, with post-moulding facilities such as ultrasonic welding and printing.
An extensive printing capability is essential to support the new venture, permitting Allsop Europe to customize its products. At the end of the last Formula 1 Grand Prix season, its CD and DVD storage systems, moulded in the Jordan colours and carrying the company logo, were being sold at various events.
John Ryan looks with confidence to the future. “With really positive results coming out of Dusseldorf, we have a designer working on new products so that our range can continue to grow.”
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Tenma UK Limited
TENMA SETS NEW STANDARDS IN QUALITY AND SIZE WITH 1600 tonne SANDRETTO MOULDING MACHINE
The largest injection moulding machine in Scotland is the Sandretto ‘Mega’ 1600 tonne installed recently at the Cumbernauld factory of custom moulder Tenma (UK) Limited. With two 1300 tonne and three 850 tonne machines amongst its 27-machine moulding plant, Tenma was already well equipped in the custom moulding service it was providing for Scottish industry.
Complete with gas-assisted injection facilities and de-mould robot, the Sandretto 1600 tonne machine is part of a recently completed £2.5M investment in what can best be described as a purpose-built manufacturing facility at Tenma. Comprising, also, a double-oven spray painting line, this investment has substantially increased the company’s finishing and spray-painting capability.
STEADY EXPANSION OVER 12 YEARS
Since opening in 1989, primarily to produce finished mouldings and assemblies for UK-based tv equipment manufacturers, this factory remains the only Tenma manufacturing unit in Europe. The 50-year old company has five moulding plants in Japan and two in China.
In twelve years, the Scottish operation has almost trebled its production floor area to 22,000 sq metres on an 88,000 sq metre site which is fronted by a lake and Japanese garden. Whilst remaining a major supplier of some of the highest quality mouldings of their type in Europe, Tenma (UK) has succeeded in diversifying by developing and supplying moulded parts for, typically, business equipment and industrial air conditioning systems.
Because of having specialised in the supply of tv casings and surrounds, much of the Tenma factory is taken over by fully automatic lines for spray-painting mouldings and assemblies, together with the pre- and post-spray finishing and packing lines. The older unit, installed less than two years ago, is designed for applying a single coating. The recently commissioned and much larger unit first applies an undercoat to de-ionized parts suspended on a conveyor; these feed through the first oven before lacquer spraying and into a second and hotter drying oven.
EXCEPTIONAL QUALITY STANDARDS
The standard of quality, demanded for what is the most expensive range of wide-screen tv sets on the market, is extremely high and rigidly maintained by individual inspection at every stage. The semi-translucent front surround, moulded in a low-butyl grade of ABS, has the effect of magnifying any blemishes in the base moulding. The surface finish of these mouldings is described by Moulding Manager William Shaw as automotive standard.
This moulding and finishing capability has led to the company now having reached advanced stages of completion on five quite different projects. These will take the company into new industry outlets and several will employ the substantial production capability of the new Sandretto.
Whilst the mould tools for the current range of 32 inch tv housings are easily accommodated on the platens, and a shot weight of 3.5 kg well within its capability, one of the new projects is for an extremely deep draw component. This will require most of the machine’s opening stroke.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
It was William Shaw’s responsibility to specify the most suitable moulding machine when the latest – 32 inch – tv housings were being developed. Furthermore, for such a major purchase, it was agreed that the specification should anticipate the future requirements of both this and the new markets into which Tenma is moving.
Competition for the order was against Far Eastern sources as well as other European manufacturers, on the basis of performance, reliability record, price and delivery. The Sandretto 1600 tonne is the first, large non-Japanese moulding machine in the shop. Consequently, Sandretto supplied platens which would accommodate existing mould tools as well as meeting current Euromap standards. The capacity of the travelling crane has been increased to accommodate the new tv front and back cover mould tools.
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