With the support of KraussMaffei and Netstal, Roth Werkzeugbau organised the first „Roth Packaging Day“ at its technical centre in Auma-Weidatal. The event with more than 80 visitors marked the official entry into the packaging market for the Thuringian mould maker. The KraussMaffei Group's injection moulding segment covers the entire range of the packaging market with its KraussMaffei and Netstal brands.
Roth Werkzeugbau welcomed more than 80 visitors to its spacious technical centre at the company headquarters in Auma-Weidatal on 23 May 2017 for the first „Roth Packaging Day“ welcome. This is unusual in that Roth is not yet an established tool supplier in the packaging sector. „We have grown up in the automotive sector since our foundation immediately after German reunification, and this is where we have generated our main turnover to date,“ says Marco Roth, Managing Director at Roth Werkzeugbau. Roth then reports that the company has been working intensively on the special features of packaging tools for around four years and has already realised its first projects, although it has also had to learn a lot.
„But now we have gained enough experience to give the official go-ahead. This heralds a new era for our company. In the next five to ten years, we want to generate around 50 per cent of our turnover in the packaging sector,“ explains Roth. This market entry by Roth Werkzeugbau opens up interesting new opportunities for German producers in particular, as many important packaging manufacturers are based within a radius of around 300 kilometres of Auma-Weidatal.
Roth technical centre with machines from KraussMaffei and Netstal
According to Roth, the newly built technical centre plays a central role in the implementation of the packaging strategy. „Today's customers want more from us than just a tool: we support them in realising their packaging strategy. Injection moulding processes more efficiently. Our long-standing partnership with the KraussMaffei Group “, explains Roth. The basic equipment includes four KraussMaffei injection moulding machines from the CX and MX series, which cover the clamping force range from 110 to 1300 tonnes. All machines are equipped for 3K applications and feature KraussMaffei 6-axis robotics. Moulds for automotive applications and packaging products with thicker walls, especially for reusable and logistics containers, are produced on these systems.
For extremely thin-walled packaging applications, Roth has also had two fast EVOS injection moulding machines from Netstal with a clamping force of 350 and 550 tonnes respectively. Between the two machines is a highly flexible articulated arm robot for inserting in-mould labels (IML) and removing the finished articles. In order to make the moulding process as efficient and precise as possible, Roth and KraussMaffei Automation have developed a special Handling solution which is ideally suited to the requirements of a mould maker's test operation and at the same time allows short cycle times. The systems used in the Roth technical centre were specially designed for flexible use in mould sampling.
The entire spectrum of the packaging world from a single source
The Packaging Day at the Roth Technical Centre was also something of a small milestone for the KraussMaffei Group. „Here at our valued partner Roth Werkzeugbau, we can demonstrate in a tangible way that with our two brands KraussMaffei and Netstal as the world's only supplier of injection moulding machines to cover the entire range of packaging applications with highly efficient solutions for each specific product,“ says Klaus Zeiler, Head of Global Business Development at KraussMaffei. During the one-day event, live demonstrations were carried out on a total of five injection moulding machines. These ranged from magnets and stacking boxes used in the company's own operations, to the popular EMSA fresh-keeping cans with the corresponding lid and the patented TPE seal, to an IML-decorated cup made of polypropylene with a wall thickness of just 0.4 mm. During the development of this highly demanding application, the Roth Werkzeugbau team was able to rely on the full support of Netstal.
„With our decades of experience and our in-depth application knowledge of thin-wall packaging with and without in-mould labelling, we were able to provide our partner Roth Werkzeugbau with the best possible advice on wall thickness optimisation, cycle time reduction and reproducibility. As a result, it is a perfect win-win situation for a packaging manufacturer with consistent quality at the lowest unit costs,“ explains Thorsten Just, Managing Director at Netstal Germany.
Further minimisation of cup wall thicknesses
Roth Werkzeugbau is fully committed to innovation in order to achieve its ambitious goals. In order to further reduce the wall thickness of cups, the company will soon be venturing into the injection compression moulding process further developed by Netstal. „Our Netstal machines are prepared for this, now we have to build up the corresponding process knowledge to support our customers accordingly,“ concludes Marco Roth. True to the company motto „What comes from Roth, runs!“ it is therefore highly conceivable that interested trade visitors will be able to admire a production-ready injection compression moulding application at the next Packaging Day. The second edition of Packaging Day is planned for 2019.
