Feature Articles - Wilden Plastics

Wilden Plastics Uses Multiple Mold-Vac Systems to Assure Product Quality

Wilden AG, headquartered more than 50 years ago in Regensburg, Germany, heralds a credo of “quality in plastics.” It manufactures products for the automotive, technical, medical, cosmetics, and consumer health care industries. Wilden AG’s sales reached over $300 million in 2005.

The company established Wilden Plastics in Peachtree, GA in 1993. Darrin Radcliffe is manager of quality and engineering at the site that manufactures automotive and medical device components. It employs approximately 60 people at its plastic injection molding facility.

Radcliffe reports that Wilden Plastics installed Mold-Vac gas and air evacuation units to eliminate an unacceptable production problem – knit lines created from gas bubble formation during plastic injection molding of a medical device. Mold-Vac units eliminate molding problems cause as a direct result of gas or air entrapment. Exclusive to Mold-Vac is its blowback control that cleans vented pins after every cycle. “The knit lines posed a significant problem for us and our customer and it was incumbent upon us to remedy the situation,” says Radcliffe. “That’s when we implemented a Mold-Vac system in the mold to improve product quality.”

“The knit lines posed a significant problem for us and our customer and it was incumbent upon us to remedy the situation,” says Radcliffe. “That’s when we implemented a Mold-Vac system in the mold to improve product quality.”

The customer’s device was a medical diagnostic card that is configured with several wells. In the field, the card is filled with media -- human samples such as saliva or blood for diagnoses. The sample fills the card wells. “It’s a sophisticated Petri dish,” adds Radcliffe. “It provides health care workers and technicians with information about the patient’s medical condition.”

Mold-Vac benefits

“Prior to using the Mold-Vac system, we experienced a lot of rejections due to the knit lines on the product surface. With the knit lines present, the fluid or the media can flow into each of the wells instead of separating into specific cavities. Since implementing the Mold-Vac units, we eliminated the knit lines and, ultimately, the issue that was causing part rejections.”

Wilden Plastics currently uses five Mold-Vac 4000 units at its facility. They are dedicated systems to specific machines. Radcliffe is expecting two more units this year. He says they are very easy to install and operate. In addition, Radcliffe and his colleagues are very satisfied with CAE Services, the Mold-Vac distributor. “The company is very responsive and reliable. We have no complaints. The Mold-Vac units are so robust that we’ve never had any problems with them and we will continue buying them as needed.”