Our solution: machine technologies “to the point”. This offers greater production efficiency while at the same time saving resources and providing a greater range of applications, which then in aggregate leads to a maximization of production capacities at a high level.

Top performing athletes, in triathlons for example, can only be successful if they excel in all disciplines, for example by coordinating strong performance with versatility, through consistency at high performance levels, with mental strength and flexibility under highly competitive conditions. The key is that they are able to call upon their performance capabilities with utmost precision and score successfully in all the individual disciplines taken in their totality. This is a profile of requirements with which we, in the plastics industry, are only too familiar. In highly competitive markets the requirements and challenges are mounting for the processing industry, be it customer demands, increasingly short product cycles and greater variation in product features, or of the increasing pressure for innovation because of manufacturing processes that are to an increasing extent interconnected, e.g. “just in sequence” production. The uncertainties in future energy costs add to the intensity.

The more efficiently the technology employed is geared to demand, the greater the competitive advantages for the user are. Injection molding machines by Haitian International score high in every respect. Taking all criteria related to production, such as high-level integration using interfaces, solutions engineered for particular applications, or modular automation into account, low investment and maintenance costs, short delivery times and a transparent, cost-efficient policy on spare parts are also included. Overall, this results in maximum use of production capacities while conserving resources at the same time. Haitian and Zhafir machines are designed for flexible production, for diverse groups of plastic product parts. Optionally equipped with all available and future standard interfaces, by EUROMAP or SPI, for example, they can be integrated into any conceivable production cell. Also available are interfaces of all kinds for integrating the machines into interconnected manufacturing processes or into what are called “Cyber Physical Systems”. This portfolio strategy, focusing consistently on demand, has proven its worth, especially in difficult times. It provides the plastics processor with rapid, energy-efficient solutions and creates clear competitive advantages by giving broad scope for action and the short-term ability to adapt to new customer requirements. Technological, machine-based flexibility, combined with “Technology to the Point”, will gain increasingly in importance here. It will be the formative measure for and factor in the success of future generations of machine models. As of today processors can already produce an extraordinarily broad range of parts within one product group of similar parameters with efficiency and precision on our standardized machines. In the future, these machines will become even more flexible and efficient, even easier to operate, and interconnectable via standardized interfaces.

Vision “Industry 4.0”: The customer benefit is crucial

“We monitor everything connected with the theme of Industry 4.0 very carefully and discuss it with our systems partners and with many customers”, says Prof. Helmar Franz, Board Member of Haitian International. “How and when our machines are to be integrated into an “intelligent” environment is determined ultimately by what benefits and added value there are for the customer. Of course, it is important to overcome some other challenges first, the solutions to which do not all go hand in hand: key aspects such as data security, network accessibility, internet stability. On the other hand, there is the question of what makes sense. Not everything that is technologically feasible today would necessarily make economic sense for the individual plastics processor. It’s a matter of finding the happy medium, the perfect balance between flexibility and productivity while also taking cost into consideration.”

Focus on integrated smart solutions

Haitian International will further continue its development on the path from being purely a machine manufacturer to offering holistic systems solutions. The course has been set and important steps have already been taken. Haitian Group engineers, systems developers, and IT specialists are collaborating in intercontinental project groups pursuing different approaches to solutions and goals. This includes optimizing or developing new interfaces to the systems environment (keyword: EUROMAP 77) so as to be able to integrate highly standardized machines even more flexibly into automated processes, cells, and production lines – without compromising productivity.