The automation department exists because the parts we mold have small features that people handle inconsistently. Manual sprue trimming leaves a witness; manual pin insertion makes the cycle time vary, which changes how long the insert sits in the hot mold; and manual riveting misses or skews a spring. Each of those is a quality escape waiting to happen, so each operation was mechanised.
Automatic sprue cutting
Our robots are five-axis servo units, and the gate is designed as a submarine gate wherever the product allows, so that the visible face does not show a gate witness. Submarine gating puts the gate on a side wall, and on power housings the side wall is thicker than the top face, which means the end of the flow can trap air. The in-house cutting machine trims the sprue squarely at the machine, keeps the gate face flat, and removes the manual trimming step.
Automatic pin insertion
When an operator inserts pins by hand, the cycle time varies. A pin that sits in the mold longer than intended heats up, and the resin around it can carbonize — a defect that only shows up later as a functional failure. Our pin insertion machines use a shared frame with a changeable fixture, so small orders can be automated too, and the insertion depth and timing are identical for every part. The equipment covers the pin arrangements used by the major national plug standards.
Automatic spring riveting
Spring riveting controls continuity and impedance, so a missed or skewed rivet is not a cosmetic defect: the product either does not conduct or fails later in the field. For orders from 100,000 pieces we run riveting automatically, with a CCD station that checks every part for a missed or crooked rivet and a second station that verifies continuity and impedance on 100 percent of the output.
Built in-house, maintained in-house
The machines are designed and built by our own automation team, using a common frame and part-specific fixtures. That has two practical consequences for a customer: a new part usually needs a fixture rather than a new machine, and when a machine needs attention the people who built it are in the same building.