WEB-BASED COLLABORATIVE ENGINEERING

FOR INJECTION MOLD DEVELOPMENT

Dongyoon Lee, Kihyeong Song, Seokwoo Lee, Honzong Choi

Manufacturing Convergence R&D Department, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology

1271-18, Sa 3-dong, Sangrok-gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do, Korea

Kwangyeol Ryu

Department of Industrial Engineering, Pusan National University, San 30 Jangjeon-dong, Geumjeong-gu, Busan, Korea

Keywords: Collaborative engineering, Injection mold, Injection molding flow analysis, Molding trial.

Abstract: Injection molding is one of the most important manufacturing processes enabling present mass-production.

The recent evolutions of technology related to injection molding result in the difficulties in developing the

molds. As a result, a higher level of engineering technology should be considered for the developmental

stage. This paper presents the web-based engineering collaboration among mold makers, experts, and

product makers. Pre-examination and post-verification in the moldmaking process were investigated

carefully and implemented in the web environment. Hundreds of engineering collaborations were conducted

via developed systems. Surveyed results show that these collaborations help small and medium sized

moldmaking enterprises reduce cost and delivery time, while they increase the quality of molds.

1 INTRODUCTION

Injection molding is one of the most important

manufacturing processes enabling present mass-

production. After a product is designed, molds are

made by a moldmaker from metal, usually either

steel or aluminium. Molten plastic is injected at high

pressure into the molds, resulting in a solidified

plastic that is generally the final part without further

process.

Injection molding process has been developed

considering the process itself, the injected materials,

and the utilization of products. In the case of process,

new and novel methods were introduced and applied

in the field, such as gas-assisted injection, co-

injection, etc. The evolution of materials extends the

utilization of the plastic in the fields of optics, bio,

nano/micro, etc. These evolutions of technology

related to injection molding result in the difficulties

in developing the molds. In addition, globalization

has created a situation of increased international

competition, so the higher quality products at low

cost and with quick response times to market

demand are the common goal of all manufacturers in

the world.

In order to survive in the present competitive

environment, enterprises that produce finished

products are attempting various strategies including

product standardization, securing of multiple part

suppliers, parts modularization, expansion of parts

outsourcing, and fostering of collaborative

companies which have core technologies, etc. These

strategies naturally yield the needs for collaboration

between internal and external organizations, and

many researchers have studied these topics in the

view of strategy, methodology, and real

implementation (Li, 2005 & Molina, 2005). In the

case of injection mold making industry, a framework

of collaborative design environment was proposed

(Chung, 2002). Web-based collaboration system

especially for SMEs (small and medium sized

enterprises) was proposed in the name of ‘e-

Manufacturing’ and the idea of ‘engineering

collaboration hub’ was expressed. (Ryu, 2007)

This paper presents the web-based engineering

collaboration among relevant parties when

developing injection molds as the case study of ‘e-

Manufacturing’. Lots of stakeholders participate in

each stage of injection mold development, from the

part designer to the injection molding machine

159

Lee D., Song K., Lee S., Choi H. and Ryu K. (2009).

WEB-BASED COLLABORATIVE ENGINEERING FOR INJECTION MOLD DEVELOPMENT.

In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - Software Agents and Internet Computing, pages 159-162

DOI: 10.5220/0001990601590162

 SciTePress

operator. Chapter 2 describes the necessity and

importance of the collaborations in the present

competitive environment and introduces the

engineering collaboration for pre-examination and

post-verification in the moldmaking process.

Chapter 3 details the web-based visualization and

conference function, which plays major roles in the

web-based engineering collaboration.

2 COLLABORATIVE

ENGINEERING

In order to survive in the present industrial

environment, large enterprises producing finished

products should focus on the more crucial stages in

the development of a product, like prerequisite

technology research, product planning, assembly

design, and marketing, etc. Most of the general

manufacturing stages, like mold fabrications and

part manufacturing, are conducted by the

collaborating enterprises. But, from the viewpoint of

large enterprises, most collaborating enterprises are

small-scale, with only low levels of manufacturing

technology.

In the case of mold fabrication, especially in

Korea, the mold makers are smaller-scale and are

struggling to meet the requirements of their

customers, which are generally large enterprises.

Large enterprises want collaborating enterprises to

invest in man-power and equipment, but small-scale

enterprises cannot afford to possess such expensive

equipments. Even worse, the most difficult problem

is to locate and maintain experts who can operate the

equipments. These kinds of equipments can be

different according to the characteristic of the

industry and the level of required technology, and in

the case of mold fabrication, these equipments are

CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) tools for

injection molding flow analysis and the 3-

dimensional inspection systems for measuring the

manufactured products. In order to cope with this

problem, we suggest the engineering collaboration

model in which 3 parties playing important functions

in developing molds, that is to say, mold makers,

mold purchasers, and expert engineers, work

together in the web environment. Three parties can

share important information such as drafts and

documents, and can also have conferences with

faraway co-workers while seeing the same screen

via the Internet. When the mold maker or the mold

purchaser requests technical assistance, the expert

engineers assist them according to their request. The

pre-investigation shows us that the injection molding

flow analysis and the 3-dimensional inspection are

the most important, but these are difficult

engineering techniques for small-scale enterprises

making molds, therefore we made them our focus

when designing and implementing the engineering

collaboration system.

2.1 Process of Mold Development

The process of mold development begins with mold

design and ends with molding trial through

machining and assembly processes. In the stage of

mold design, the recent immense development of

rheology and computation enables us to estimate the

flow of resin in the mold and the deformation of

solidified resin before making the real mold. As such,

the majority of mold purchasers order important and

high value-added molds from the mold makers who

can provide them with these CAE results – injection

molding flow analysis. After designing the molds,

mold makers complete the molds by machining the

parts and assembling them. Molding trial is the last

stage just before delivery. If the results of the

molding trial do not meet the required specifications,

the mold is moved to the factory where it is

disassembled and repaired in the proper process

according to the cause of defects. These molding

trial and repairing processes are repeated until the

mold passes all the required specifications. In the

molding trial stage, 3D inspection is not only one of

the most important criteria, but also the evidence

that helps engineers to analogize the causes of

defects and find counter-plans. The following 2

subsections present more detailed process and

function of the developed collaboration system

(Engineering Collaboration Hub).

2.2 Injection Molding Flow Analysis

Figure 1 demonstrates the process for collaborating

with faraway co-workers in the stage of injection

molding flow analysis (CAE Analysis). The related

parties need not gather in the same location and time.

Large enterprises or those performing product

design transfer design information to the

collaborating moldmaker. If the enterprise requests

the engineering collaboration hub to provide a CAE

analysis based on this information, this request is

transferred to the PM (Project Manager) at KITECH

(Korea Institute of Industrial Technology) by e-mail

and SMS (Short Message Service for mobile phone).

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Figure 1: Process of CAE analysis in engineering hub.

The PM checks the requested project and assigns a

consultant team. The PL (Project Leader) verifies

the required data for CAE analysis and discusses the

project considering all aspects from the due date to

the objective. When the PL and requester agree to

progress the project, a consultant begins to analyze

the project. When the consultant completes the

analysis, he or she makes a report and the report is

verified by the PL before it is uploaded to

engineering collaboration hub. Then, the product

maker & mold maker can download the report. The

most important aspect of this system is that the

entire process is conducted via web environment and

all the information is stored automatically to the DB

system. When an important event takes place, such

as analysis request, model change, or report

uploading, the SMS automatically forwards it to the

related person in order to obtain a proper and

immediate response.

In the developed collaborative system, the

injection molding flow analysis was categorized

properly in order to meet the diverse requirement of

each enterprise. At first, CAE analysis was divided

into two categories, short delivery or normal

delivery, on the basis of analyzing term. If an

enterprise wants a fast CAE analysis result, the basic

analysis is executed and it provides a brief report

which contains the smallest pieces of information

such as flow pattern of resin, injection pressure,

clamping force, etc. Normal delivery CAE analysis

Table 1: Classification of injection molding flow analysis.

Period Class Output

Short Basic flow pattern of resin, filling time,

injection pressure, clamping force,

location of weld line and air trap

Normal

Flow

(Pack)

(+Basic) solidification time,

shrinkage rate solidified resin

Cool

(+Flow) temperature of cooling

water, cycle time estimation

Warp (+Cool) deformation of part

is classified into 3 categories, ‘flow’ analysis for

shrinkage estimation, ‘cool’ analysis for cycle time

estimation, and ‘warp’ analysis for deformation

estimation. Table 1 shows the classification of

injection molding flow analysis available in the

developed engineering hub.

2.3 Molding Trial Analysis

The molding trial process is located at the end of the

mold making process and verifies the quality of

manufactured injection molds just before delivery.

Despite their important role in determining the

quality of molds, due to low degree of interest, the

molding trials are managed carelessly and as a result

the similar defects, which can be eliminated easily if

the cases of solutions to the mold quality problems

through molding trial are managed carefully, are

repeated.

The molding trial stage generates lots of

technical information, because it involves mold,

resin, injection molding machine, and the injection

operator. The process of the molding trial consists of

the following 4 stages: injection of a product with

the proper molding conditions; inspection of defects;

analysis on the defects; and derivation of the method

to modify the mold to correct the defects. One of the

most important outputs is the injected product itself.

The injected plastics are generally the final goods,

and in order to be assembled accurately, the shape

accuracy must meet the desired specification. In

addition to this basic functionality, as the aesthetic

appearance of the final goods is becoming more

important, the injected parts should meet the

designer’s requirements.

The result of 3D shape measurement is the

beginning of the inspection of the injected parts.

Like the aforementioned CAE analysis, molding trial

analysis is started in accordance with the request of

the mold maker or mold purchaser via the

engineering collaboration hub. The analysis process

is almost identical, but in the case of molding trial

analysis, the expert engineer visits the field at the

scheduled time and gathers the information related

to the molding trial such as injection molding

condition, mold and product temperature captured

by thermal imaging camera, and field operator’s

opinion about the trial products. The expert engineer

also brings the trial products and measures them

with expensive equipment such as a 3D scanning

device. He or she analyzes the gathering information

and produces the report containing the cause of

defects, counter-plan, and proposal of mold

modification.

WEB-BASED COLLABORATIVE ENGINEERING FOR INJECTION MOLD DEVELOPMENT

161

3 CAD/CAE/CAI

VISUALIZATION AND WEB

BASED CONFERENCE

Because analysis reports are printed materials in

general, mold makers cannot understand the exact

phenomena of resin injected into the molds. In

addition, because all steps from requesting the

analysis to receiving the results are conducted via

the Internet, there might be a communication

limitation between requesters and analyzers. In order

to cope with these problems, CAD/CAE/CAI

visualization and a web based conference system

was implemented in the engineering hub.

The common data format which supports the

CAD/CAE/CAI was designed and implemented.

General CAD data such as UG, CATIA, and Pro/E

can be translated to the developed common data

format and visualized by an exclusive viewer which

can be downloaded anywhere and anytime. The

analysis model created through the CAE analysis

tool and the result data are converted to the data for

the visualization of the CAE. In addition, the results

created from the product inspection equipment (3D

measurement equipment) and analysis tool

(Inspection S/W) are also analyzed and converted.

That is, users can see the designed data, the result of

injection molding flow analysis such as resin flow

pattern, and the result of 3D inspection analysis

using the converted data for visualization regardless

of the CAD/CAE/CAI tools and equipment. This

system also allows a conference to be held between

expert engineers and mold designers or between

product designers and mold designers, helping them

to communicate clearly and to jointly review

questionnaires. The modified and discussed items

are stored in the database automatically during

conferencing. Figure 2 is an example of the

developed common viewer, which shows the result

of the injection molding flow analysis.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The engineering collaboration hub was constructed

from 2005 in a step by step manner and numerous

collaborations were executed. For example, in the

case of injection molding flow analysis, 407

analyses were progressed by using the engineering

collaboration hub for 33 SMEs for about two and a

half years and among them, 42% is the “Warp”

analysis and 21% is the “Basic” analysis. Complete

collaborative projects were surveyed as to which

Figure 2: CAE Visualization.

kinds of experts’ suggestions were helpful to

moldmakers, and the accepted suggestions lied in

the order of gate location, runner balance, and warp,

etc. As a result, the average number of molding trials

was reduced by 1 and total direct economic effect is

estimated to be 2 million dollars. The main cost

reduction comes from the reduction of the number of

molding trials and accompanying fast deliveries. It

also includes the material cost reduction due to

decrease of resin consumption and the change of

resin type, as well as the operation cost reduction

due to injection cycle time.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research has been conducted as a part of the

project “i-Manufacturing” supported by the Ministry

of Knowledge Economy, Republic of Korea.

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