CASE STUDY 3 - PLASTIC INJECTION MOULDING SITE

EDC NE saves plastic injection moulding company tens of thousands 

EDC NE recently worked with a local north-east company which specialises in the moulding of semi-rigid plastic, mainly used for packaging purposes by many key players in the food and beverage industry across Europe. On site they have three Bandera plastic extruder lines which are critical to their production, with any one of the three machines being down resulting in losses of up to 30,000k per machine, per day, making minimal downtime a priority.

ABB received a call from the company’s Production Manager on a Saturday morning informing them that one of their inverters had failed and they needed an immediate fix.

As ABB’s Authorised Value Provider (AVP) in the north-east, EDC NE were contacted by ABB to assist the customer in getting production back up and running again.

The ageing ACS800 inverter was part of the plastic moulding machine and was controlled over a communications network. The replacement therefore had to be identical. Conscious of downtime costs mounting, EDC NE reached out to the wider AVP network to locate a suitable hire drive to provide the customer with the immediate fix needed. Once sourced, the AVP network worked together to get the VSD delivered on a same-day courier. The 315kW hire drive was received on site by EDC NE’s Service Manager, Neil Keenan, who offloaded, installed and commissioned the drive, restoring the customer's production line to full working order on the same day.

With the hire drive intended as a short-term fix, a brand-new replacement ACS880 was ordered the next working day, and delivered, installed and commissioned in time for the customer's December shut down – but EDC NE’s work did not stop there.

Carrying out an annual maintenance service, ABB’s service team identified another of the customer's inverters was at risk of premature failure. Using parts from the service suitcases (held in stock), EDC NE were able to successfully repair the VSD and take the opportunity to fit a preventative maintenance kit to further extend the product's life. The repair work was carried out over the Christmas period, and the VSD was delivered to site at 6am on the day the customer's site re-opened in the New Year. Once again, the delivery was met by the EDC NE team, and installed and commissioned in time to get the production line up and running for opening.

Hard work and collaboration with the AVP network meant that EDC NE were able to keep downtime to less than 24 hours, saving the customer in excess of 30,000k in lost production costs.

SOME OF THE BENEFITS OF DEALING WITH EDC NE

- We have over 100,000k's worth of stock, ready for shipping, or installation.

- Service suitcases on the shelf, meaning you don't have to wait for common parts to be delivered to repair your drive.

- Hire units. Need an immediate replacement? We can supply, install and commission a hire drive whilst your own unit is being repaired (normally a speedy process due to the range of service suitcases we hold - as above).

 - Technical expertise & ABB drive know-how - Our engineers are ABB trained and  audited.

All the above is available from your local NE ABB drive Authorized Value Provider at their premises, based on the Team Valley Trading Estate in Gateshead, approx 3.9 miles from Newcastle City Centre. From supply and installation to emergency hire and full energy surveys, EDC NE are fully equipped to deal with all your VSD requirements.