Bigger and Better

Husky Injection Molding Systems Inc. unveils a new plastic injection-molding machine at its technical center in Novi, MI, that is designed to improve aesthetics and boost productivity at Tier 1 suppliers that make large plastic parts.

Called the Quadloc-Tandem-Index (QTI) injection molding system, the machine — the size of a small building — can mold large assemblies incorporating different materials and multiple components at the same time, which provides styling, quality and productivity advantages.

Among the benefits: the process can eliminate squeaks and rattles in interior parts because it fuses separate components tightly together during molding, replacing adhesives and fasteners. Because it also allows different types and colors of plastic to be molded together, it also can eliminate downstream painting and coating operations.

Interior supplier Lear Corp. is the first buyer. It will launch three production programs in the next two years using the machine.

Kenneth W. Shaner, Lear vice president-manufacturing engineering, says the QTI machine will enable the supplier to produce interiors for mid-range cars and trucks that will have superior fit and finish characteristics, yet be more cost-effective to produce.

Husky's Novi Technical Center has become the development hub for the company's automotive customers and ground zero for some of the auto industry's most adventurous projects involving plastics.

Until fairly recently the facility housed the world's largest dual-platen injection molding machine, twice the size of anything in the industry. It was capable of injecting more than 100 lbs. (45 kg) of thermoplastic at one time, enough to create half of a car body in one shot with thermoplastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) — the plastic used in pop bottles.

Developed in collaboration with the Chrysler Group in the late 1990s as part of an ambitious program to build plastic-bodied cars, the project eventually was sidelined by technical problems and a regime change at the auto maker.

A Husky official says the machine was used for numerous development projects with other customers after that and then was sold to a non-automotive company who has asked not to be identified. The new, considerably smaller QTI machine sits in its footprint at the facility.