Regularly inspected and maintained production equipment is the prerequisite for consistently efficient, safe and high-quality production. In practice, however, internal maintenance capacities are not always up to this task. Engel care maintenance packages see the injection moulding machine manufacturer and automation expert Engel offer its customers injection moulding machine and linear robot maintenance as a service.

"Our service technicians have in-depth knowledge of Engel technologies and can draw on global lessons learned from 70 years of injection moulding experience when needed. That's precisely why they have such a keen sense for the small things that so often matter," says Harald Wegerer, Vice President Customer Service Division at Engel. "Our customers benefit from this extensive know-how. Only a correctly maintained production unit lets you utilise its full power."

From simple inspection to predictive maintenance

From the simple inspection including a safety check to predictive and proactive maintenance, the six care packages offered differ in terms of the maintenance scope. What they all have in common is that the machine and robot check is precisely tailored to the highly individual configuration of the respective plant, independently of whether this be a single machine for single-component injection moulding or an automated production cell with special injection moulding technologies.

In all cases, the aim is to boost machine availability and avoid unscheduled machine downtime. Irregularities are detected at an early stage and can be eliminated on a scheduled date, which reduces maintenance costs and improves productivity. Where maintenance measures are carried out regularly, Engel care also guarantees safe working conditions for production staff at all times.

Continuous trouble-free production

All Engel service technicians worldwide working within the care framework follow uniform maintenance schedules. Depending on the package, these include, among other things, leakage and wear monitoring, checking critical machine and robot functions, testing the clamping force distribution on the mould mounting platens, and a sensor check to detect drift and keep the operating point stable.

The care proactive maintenance package is the only service package on the market that includes e-connect.monitor for predictive and proactive maintenance of the plasticising screw. With the help of ultrasound, the condition of the screw is checked through the closed barrel filled with molten plastic. Regular measurements keep wear in check and the expected remaining service life of the screw can be reliably predicted. In this way, screw replacements can be perfectly planned and machine downtime kept to a minimum.

Every service call in the scope of a care maintenance package concludes with a detailed report on the condition of the injection moulding machine or robot. The report points out the potential risks and makes it possible to initiate countermeasures long before symptoms become apparent in production. This proactively prevents rejects, premature wear and damage to the production unit, as well as the associated unplanned downtime and increased maintenance costs. "Our aim is to give our customers the assurance that their production is running smoothly throughout," emphasises Wegerer.