CHINAPLAS – E&E Industry's Door to Intelligent Manufacturing, Green Manufacturing and Innovative Designs

While facing the problems of rising labor cost, electronic and home appliances manufacturing are also required to improve manufacturing efficiency and safety. Without doubt, automation is viewed as the solution to tackles these problems and achieve sustainable profit growth. The use of automation equipment and technology, such as 3D printing and industrial robots is increasing every year. According to a report of Global Industrial Robotics Market in Electronic and Electrical Industry 2015-2019, analysts forecasted global industrial robotics market in electronic and electrical industry will grow at a CAGR of 5.43% over the period 2014-2019. Some leading home appliances manufacturing in China, like Haier, Midea, Skyworth, Galanz, Gree, and Hisense have been extensively employing automation equipment or robots in their intelligent manufacturing processes to enhance their operational efficiency and manufacturing quality.

Apart from enhancing manufacturing efficiency, raw materials are also crucial for the development of E&E industry. Smart wearable devices will follow smart phones and tablets as the focus of attention in the consumer electronics market. More high-end plastics, such as thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) are required to address the rapidly growing wearable device market, particularly for soft-touch bands in smart watches and fitness tracker applications. AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) technology is set to produce products with flexible screens which follow body curves and are lightweight, durable and comfortable to wear.

Newly Set Up of Automation Technology Zone
The Automation Technology Zone in CHINAPLAS, as usual, enjoys much attention from enterprises this year. High-end robotic equipment, system integration, core components, etc. from both Chinese and overseas providers will be showcased by ABB, FANUC, KUKA, Siemens, Rockwell, Mitsubishi Electric, Beckhoff, Shini, Demag, Step, ISRA VISION, SAS Automation, Gimatic, Sonon and the like. In addition, organized specifically in response to the needs of factories, an Industry 4.0 Conference will be held during the trade fair. There will be vigorous discussions on topics ranging from the basics of Industry 4.0 to its realization by many of Germany's leading automation machinery and equipment companies, providing practical and operational solutions for enterprises targeting urgent manufacturing upgrade.

New Technologies and New Materials for Product Upgrades
A breakthrough in the key aspects, i.e. production technology and the application of materials, is, on top of the mastery of basic core techniques, crucial for Chinese manufacturers of electronics and home appliances enterprises to enhance the competitiveness of their products. As living standards improve, electronic information products and home appliances may be deemed more objets d'art than articles of functionality. And in the case of electronic products, new models and upgrades keep emerging while their lifespans keep getting shorter, the latter of some can be compressed to a mere 6 month cycle. All these result in unprecedented pressure on enterprises.

More functionalities, better looks and greener are irrevocable directions of the development of electronic products. Plastic is an ideal tool to help enhance the functionality of electronic appliances due to its simple processing technology - parts can be molded with a single injection procedure, thus reducing a lot of processing and post-processing steps. By applying special engineering materials, wear-resistant, heat-resistant food compatible parts in appliances like coffee machines or juicers can be dealt with readily; by filling and modifying various types of plastic to produce a faux metallic or sprayed appearance, appliances can be made not only more visually attractive to consumers, but also lighter in weight.

To keep up with the market dynamics, in addition to the above mentioned new materials for special looks, CHINAPLAS will also feature 3D printing and an assortment of composite and special materials, for example, a new thermal conductive resin, modified PA66 for thin-walled moulding, a fire proof new generation halogen-free polyamide resin, as well as new materials and technologies like antimicrobial materials that require no coating, noise insulation materials, and green materials, etc. On top of boosting R&D, better innovative designs on CMF (colour, material, finish) are needed to enhance the competitiveness of products.

The following is the latest introduction to some of the exhibitors and their technologies for display:
ABB Engineering (Shanghai) Ltd. - ABB Injection Molding Machine Pick Out Robot Cell IRB4600
This model is highly adaptable to different applications in diverse environments, such as material handling, welding, cutting, frame capability, inverted mounting, loading and unloading materials on injection molding machines and numerically-controlled machine tools, die-casting, etc., with Lean ID for cost-effectively increasing the life of the dress pack and quality assured by its accurate path and motion control. A full feature automatic mold identification system supports high-quality high-performance pick up.

HangZhou Atech Machinery Co., Ltd. - oil electricity compound machine and mobile phone metal box machine  
The oil electricity compound machine AT-V Series are vertical four-column clamping, vertical injection models with 25T-90T clamping force and 5g-150g injection amount. Technology involved: injection repeatability ≥ 0.01, injection speed ≥ 300mm /s; the use of a hydraulic clamping system and an electric injection system combines the advantages of a hydraulic pressure machine and the whole electrical system. Its stability, high efficiency and precision, make it suitable for micro injection molding, high precision products. The AT-1600.2R, a mobile phone metal box machine which makes use of the latest oil injection system developed by AKPLAS, has an injection speed of 400 mm/s and an injection accuracy of ±0.01. The turntable employs a servo drive, while the transmission makes use of an encoder for accurate positioning. The rotation speed is more than twice as fast as a traditional hydraulic drive, taking only 0.8s for a 180° rotating. There is no loss in accuracy in positioning. With Atech's latest AKMP energy-saving servo system, the energy consumption reduction can be up to 70% compared to conventional hydraulic systems. It is suitable for injection molding of mobile phone “metal box” which requires high accuracy in the complex molding process, and can work with automation equipment in high efficiency, stable mass production.

Sodick - Metal 3D Printer OPM250L / GL30-LP Super high response Injection Molding Machine
Sodick's Metal 3D Printer provides a one-stop solution to customers. Core-technologies for the whole manufacturing process are developed within the Sodick Group. Main features: one process milling, linear motor drive method, original NC unit and original CAM.

Also on display will be GL30-LP Super high response Injection Molding Machine for ultra-thin lenses. The LP series is a follow-up to the LD series of small precision molding machine with widened product range and improved usability. It inherits the high response time from its predecessor and attains the highest injection response in the industry. This flagship model of Sodick in the mobile phone ultra-thin lens industry has been highly regarded by customers. A demo of phone lens molding can be seen at CHINAPLAS 2016.

Shenzhen Wote Advanced Materials Co. Ltd.──Super Engineering Plastics, Compounding