Strategic Partnerships and Unprecedented Creativity Bring Success to Winzeler Gear York, Pa. March 18, 2014 Winzeler Gear, a truly one of a kind creative company, is expanding their capabilities yet again with the addition of five hybrid tie-bar-less ENGEL injection molding machines, enabling them to meet new business requirements. ENGEL North America, member of the ENGEL group, a world leader in the design and manufacture of injection molding machines and parts-handling automation, recently installed five ENGEL e-victory injection molding machines -- four ENGEL e-victory 200/65 models and an ENGEL e-victory 740/160 -- at the Winzeler Gear facility in Chicago, IL (www.winzelergear.com). Pride in ownership From the moment you step into the Winzeler Gear facility, their unique and creative brand is evident. From the gallery of Fashion Gear Art to a distinctive new machine design and the walls of their high-class facility, everything speaks to creative thinking, quality, precision and high performance. It is a visit you will not forget, and definitely fulfills the brand identity owner John Winzeler has developed for his company. A family owned business founded in 1940 as a producer of stamped metal gears, Winzeler Gear is now internationally known as one of the premier designers and manufacturers of high-precision high-tolerance molded plastic gears for the automotive, lawn and garden, and office automation industries.
Winzeler Gear has been guided by highly defined core values / core culture; which when combined with managing their brand, guides John and his team to make the best business decisions. When you tour the plant you see the influence of modern art, fashion, design, and contemporary engineering in all aspects of the business. Optimized molding process control and quality Winzeler Gear has adopted the principals of Scientific Molding as a foundation in their business model. These principals are used to develop and control 100% of all molding processes, ensuring minimum variability in gear dimensions and material integrity. With full corporate investment, all their process engineers are trained and certified by RJG Inc. -- international leader in injection molding training, technology and resources -- to assure they understand the science of molding and the scientific approach to process development and control (www.rjginc.com). This specialized training in scientific and decoupled molding allows Winzeler to develop and maintain a precision production process for all gears manufactured in their facility. To develop the process, cavity pressure sensors are used at the prototype molding phase of each program. If gears molded with the prototype process meet dimensional and durability requirements, Winzeler can ensure a smooth transition from prototype to production by matching the pressure fill curve template. When in production, the RJG computer must accept the process every cycle before the gears are allowed to flow into a good part container. The approval signal is stored on a production server, providing a record of 100% process validation by cycle with a date stamp. This systematic approach to molding is the core of Winzeler Gear s philosophy to
maximize quality and consistency without subjective intervention. Tie-bar-less design for the ultimate flexibility All gear production is performed on horizontal ENGEL machines, with over 50% of the 39 machines in the facility being tie-bar-less. The ENGEL tie-bar-less design provides us with the ultimate flexibility when designing our automation, and is the only machine we purchase says John Winzeler, President of Winzeler Gear. The molding plant dynamics would be changed completely if we had to rely on conventional machine designs. The company uses a combination of linear and six-axis robots when automating their systems, along with automated box loading with bar coding traceability. The focus on automation is to ensure consistency of production and eliminate human intervention. The highly automated molding plant facilitates producing consistent quality for the 120 million gears shipped annually today. The hybrid ENGEL e-victory is the new machine of choice for Winzeler. With the highprecision servo-electric injection unit and tie-bar-less hydraulic clamp, the machine keeps all the benefits of the tie-bar-less design (large mold space, efficient mold changing and easy integration of automation), with the flexibility for peripheral power, and energy-savings similar to an all-electric machine. The best of both worlds for their business.
More than quick mold change Winzeler Gear engineers have taken ENGEL s quick mold change system which is utilized on all machines to a new level, developing a plant wide mold transfer and storage system. The team designed the system, including a mold cart, with storage centers located near the machine cells. Each storage center (or mold rack) holds approximately 10 molds, which are stored within easy access of the machine they run on as opposed to one large central storage area. This allows for a much quicker mold change and improved efficiency. Collective intelligence Strategic partnerships are core to the company s business model and their partners have contributed significantly to the success and growth of Winzeler Gear. By using the power of strategic partnerships from gear design through manufacturing processes, innovative solutions are developed in less time to bring more value to demanding global clients. Their two key partners -- ENGEL and DuPont have been working together with Winzeler Gear for over 30 years. As their prime material partner, 90% of all the company s molding material is supplied by DuPont, with the majority of that material being Delrin acetal resin, which has excellent properties for gear applications. The two companies also work closely on research and development and global marketing. ENGEL is Winzeler s machine supplier of choice; their only supplier.
The ENGEL machines are durable and reliable, which serves us both well, says John. Re-qualifying machinery for the automotive business is difficult, and the long life of the ENGEL press means that we seldom have to go through the procedure. Winzeler Gear produces high-quality, high-precision gears, and for that we require an injection molding machine that meets the same standards. Winzeler Gear recently installed four ENGEL e-victory 200/65 injection molding machines to meet new business requirements. (photo: Winzeler Gear) Everything in the Winzeler Gear facility speaks to creative thinking, quality, precision and high performance including the paint design for their newest ENGEL machines.
The ENGEL tie-bar-less machine design provides Winzeler Gear with the ultimate flexibility when designing their automation, making it their machine of choice. Winzeler Gear engineers have developed a plant wide mold transfer and storage system, including a mold cart, with storage centers located near each machine cell. ENGEL North America From facilities in the United States, Canada and Mexico, ENGEL North America provides its customers a single source for design and manufacture of injection molding machines for thermoplastics and elastomers, a full range of plastics processing technology modules and a full scope of automation solutions. With eight production plants in Europe, North America and Asia (China, Korea), subsidiaries in 17 countries and representatives in over 70 countries, ENGEL North America provides is customers the global support they need to compete and succeed with new technologies and leading-edge production systems. For more information, visit www.engelglobal.com/na.
Press Contacts: Kleta Childs, Manager of Marketing and Sales Administration, ENGEL North America 3740 Board Rd., York, Pa., 17402, Tel.: 717.764.6818 ext. 4250, fax: 717.764.8093 Email: Kleta.childs@engelglobal.com Gerd Liebig, Group Marketing Director, ENGEL AUSTRIA GmbH Ludwig-Engel-Strasse 1, A-4311 Schwertberg/Austria, Tel.: 011 43 50 6200, Fax: 011 43 50 620 3009 Email: gerd.liebig@engel.at Susanne Zinckgraf, Manager Public Relations, ENGEL AUSTRIA GmbH, Ludwig-Engel-Straße 1, A-4311 Schwertberg/Austria, PR-Office: Theodor-Heuss-Str. 85, D-67435 Neustadt/Germany, Tel.: +49 (0) 6327 9769902 Fax: +49 (0) 6327 9769903 E-mail: susanne.zinckgraf@engel.at