Joint Effort

At an in-house trade fair hosted by Sumitomo (SHI) Demag last May, the 500 or so invited guests are very impressed by the 50-tonne IntElect 50 injection moulding machine before them. The fully electric injection moulding machine series is equipped with special high-torque direct drives that provide maximum precision and dynamic performance. The IntElect 450, previously the largest injection moulding machine available, is an integral part of a highly efficient electric production cell that manufactures polycarbonate headlight covers for the automotive industry. The machine can be operated as intuitively and easily as a smartphone, thanks to the NC5 plus control system, which has a colour touch screen with a glass surface.

This development has been made possible thanks to the know-how acquired by the Sumitomo Group over decades in the field of electric drives. More than 65,000 of the company’s fully electric machines are in operation throughout the world. The consistent alignment with customer requirements has contributed to their widespread use. “After the trade fair, we more or less completely reworked the prototype,” reports Marc Spenner, Sumitomo’s series design engineer in Wiehe. When it comes to making sure the cables also meet machine requirements, he relies on the expertise of HELUKABEL’s sales representative, Uwe Wohner. “About 90 percent of the machine’s cables are from HELUKABEL. Some of them are exposed to great stresses which means they must have certain qualities. We also find his advice invaluable when it comes to using UL-style cables in machines for the export market,” explains Spenner.