Increasing the Environmental Sustainability of an Over-Injection Line for the Automotive Component Industry

Abstract

Thermoplastic injection is currently employed in different industrial fields. This process has significantly evolved over the years, and injection machine manufacturers are continuously forced to innovate, to improve the energetic efficiency, aiming to reduce costs, improve competitiveness, and promote environmental sustainability. This work focuses on the development of a novel, profitable, and environmentally friendly plastic over-injection equipment of small metallic parts for the automotive industry, to be applied in a bowden cable production line, to cover the zamak terminations with plastic, or produce terminations entirely made of plastic. The work is based on an over-sized existing solution. The operating parameters required for the work are quantified, and all machine parts are designed separately to achieve the required functionality. Known approaches are finally used to perform the cost analysis, calculate the return on investment (ROI), and energetic efficiency, to substantiate the replacement of the current solution. The new equipment was able to increase the energetic efficiency of the current assembly line while keeping the required injection rates. An efficient and sustainable solution was presented, with a ROI of 1.2 years over the current solution. The proposed design is also applicable to different automated production lines that require this technology. Nowadays, this concept can be extended to all fields of industry that employ injection molding in their processes, enabling to integrate new manufacturing systems, and increasing energetic efficiency while reducing production costs.

The three pillars of sustainability and agile project management: How do they influence each other

“…The environmental pillar is based on a variety of approaches to environmental preservation, natural resource conservation, and the reduction of environmental damage over time (Santos, Gouveis, & Silva, 2017; Silva & Gouveia, 2020). The company must follow environmental regulations when utilizing water and energy (Santos, Rebelo, & Santos, 2017; Silva et al, 2014; Silva, Ferreira, et al, 2012; Silva, Ribeiro, & de Oliveira Reise, 2012), reduce liquid effluent and solid waste emissions, recycle trash, invest in biodiversity, and preserve the environment (Bravi et al, 2020; Fonseca et al, 2021; Purvis et al, 2019; Vieira et al, 2021).…”

Barkhausen Noise as a Reliable Tool for Sustainable Automotive Production

“…Sustainable automotive production requires avoiding monitoring techniques based on aggressive chemical etchants, such as those employed for the visualisation of thermal softening after grinding. These processes are considered as being risky with respect to human health as well as with respect to the environmental aspect (the disposal of chemical substances after use) [4]. Moreover, sustainable automotive production requires the identification of risky factors during components manufacturing, to avoid their premature failure [5].…”

Novel Method for Failure Modes Detection in UV-Cured Clear Coated Polymer for Automotive Interior Mechatronic Devices

“…A deflectometry based defect detection system used for large painted automotive parts was proposed in [6], used mainly to detect the various manufacturing defects induced during the molding and painting processes. Vieira et al [7] proposed environmentally friendly plastic over-injection equipment for the automotive industry to cover the terminations made of Zinc alloys (so called Zamak) of the flexible cable, named Bowden cable, with plastic. The defect analysis was not performed.…”