March toward Intelligent Manufacturing through iMF 4.0 System
With the popularization of the concept of Industry 4.0, smart manufacturing has become the inevitable trend in the current machinery industry. Injection molding technology in Taiwan still relies on the sharing of experience and skills by skilled workers with new ones. Yet, given the shortage of human resources nowadays, the long-standing reliance on predecessors’ experiences in the industry is faced with challenges. In view of this, the industry seeks to convert the experience of experienced workers in traditional molding into quantifiable production data through digital technology, so as to transform Taiwan's injection molding technology. It is worth mentioning that Fu Chun Shin Machinery Manufacture Co., Ltd. (FCS), a leading manufacturer of plastic injection molding machines, has invested considerable resources in recent years to launch the FCS iMF 4.0 Intelligent ManuFactory System (hereinafter referred to as "iMF 4.0-Pro"). Capitalizing on its over 40 years of experience as an expert injection molding, FCS can provide a complete set of solutions to its clients to facilitate their software and hardware planning and education and training in data use and interpretation.

Photo/Composite image of the FCS iMF 4.0 System
 

New-generation Manufacturing Systems and Market Challenges
iMF 4.0-Pro contains two cores: smart factory and smart manufacturing. The iMF 4.0 system is based on cycle management and integrates the concepts of mold management, machine management, and material management, as well as the OPC international communication protocol to achieve an instant display of overall equipment efficiency (OEE) information and abnormal message statistics. Smart factory collects production data of machines to learn production obstacles. Then, appropriate resources are employed to address issues, raise production efficiency, and reduce costs. Comparatively, smart manufacturing is a more advanced application. Quality changes during production are understood through the production data collected by sensors and the adaptation of software and hardware. Moreover, the machine and peripheral equipment can be regulated to maintain the consistency of production quality.

Photo/Schematic diagram of the FCS iMF 4.0 System
 

At present, practitioners in the injection molding field in Taiwan are adopting the smart factory management model. Main issues can be identified through data collection and analysis. The effects on reducing waste at the production site, improving production efficiency, and reducing costs are prominent for production management personnel. In contrast, to adopt smart manufacturing, the overall production status of the client should be assessed beforehand. Meanwhile, the production team needs to have higher management strength to grasp this technology. In short, the threshold to use this technology is relatively high. 
Nevertheless, in the face of the rapid and complex changes in today's product market, besides the improvement in production efficiency, factory owners also need to strengthen development capability and overcome the disadvantage of traditional development of prototypes—time-consuming and inefficient. Smart manufacturing is an ideal solution to address such disadvantages. With digital technology, the development of new products will become more pertinent and consumes a shorter time, which is beneficial to responding to the ever-changing market. Nowadays, smart manufacturing has become a trend of industrial transformation. As of the end of 2022, FCS has sold nearly 20 sets of iMF 4.0-Pro. Its system monitors more than 250 injection molding machines in different factories. Furthermore, FCS has promoted its technology overseas, such as Vietnam and China. 

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Lightweight System Helps the Industry Upgrade Easily
FCS has launched the mobile business version, iMF 4.0-Lite, this year. Our clients can learn about the real-time operation status of their factories by mobile. The lightweight version allows management and on-site personnel to conveniently view the parameters of the molding process by mobile. Nowadays, just about everyone has a mobile phone. This mobile version lowers the threshold to use the system and helps terminal users employ scientific approaches to manage manufacturing. iMF 4.0-Lite supports a 4G connection. Compared with iMF 4.0-Pro, it requires the configuration of network cables in the workshop of injection molding machines to stabilize all data transmission. Meanwhile, the mobile version can be installed and deployed more quickly. It is suitable for small enterprises to conduct digital transformation and experience Industry 4.0. Furthermore, both Chinese and English interfaces are available, so global clients can use iMF 4.0-Lite conveniently. So far, iMF 4.0-Lite has been introduced in Mexico. 
Production management personnel can view, by mobile, the activation status of machines, production quantity, and the number of defective products, and set the upper and lower limits and mean value of Statistical Process Control (SPC) to calculate production yield and efficiency. This system, however, operates without work orders. Its data accuracy is determined by the SPC messages and cycle time set by the client for [all] molded products. Comparatively, iMF 4.0-Pro enables analysis by equipment and work order. As a result, iMF 4.0-Lite can be regarded as a stepping stone to upgrade. Management personnel can try and get familiar with the system first, and then upgrade it to iMF 4.0-Pro to unlock more analytical functions and usher in more business opportunities through data integration.

Photo/Mobile interface of iMF4.0-Lite

Photo/iMF4.0-Pro & iMF4.0-Lite Comparison Chart

Promote iMF 4.0 System and Popularize Smart Manufacturing
Besides the introduction of development systems to production sites, the progress of intelligent manufacturing is inseparable from talent training. iMF 4.0-Lite systems prompt production management personnel to be aware of the importance of science, so that they can accept and introduce the technology for mass production. Meanwhile, through the interpretation and understanding of data, production management personnel can monitor quality changes during production. Currently, FCS is vigorously and closely working with corporations, schools, and terminal clients to integrate data and continuously develop relevant technologies in this kind of domain knowledge. It intends to extensively apply smart manufacturing to injection molding in Taiwan in the context of Industry 4.0. 

Source: December 2022