The vertical injection molding machine market and development background from Seung-Dong Park, Director of LS Mtron R&D Center

LS Mtron Co., Ltd. will start a vertical injection molding machine business in response to the rapidly increasing demand for vertical injection molding machines. LS Mtron, which introduced two models of 150/250-ton vertical injection molding machines last year, plans to build a full lineup this year and speed up its entry into a low-bed vertical injection machine market.  

▲Seung-Dong Park, Director of LS Mtron R&D Center

LS Mtron will start a vertical injection machine business 

With the rapidly rising market demand for insert injection molding around the electric-vehicle battery industry, users" demands for vertical injection machines are rising. Accordingly, LS Mtron Molding Machine Division (hereinafter LS Mtron) is preemptively responding to such changes in the market and customer needs by launching a new vertical injection machine, WIZ-VR Series.

LS Mtron produces different sizes of products from 30-ton small injection molding machines to 4,000-ton super-large injection molding machines. The lineup is also equipped with hydraulic, hybrid, and electric types depending on driving method, and it is recognized as a comprehensive injection molding machine maker by manufacturing and selling a wide range of injection molding machines from a standard lineup to exclusive and special injection molding machines.

▲LS Mtron"s vertical injection molding machine ‘WIZ-VR Series"

Respond to customer needs  

In the meantime, the domestic vertical injection machine industry has grown centering on small and medium-sized manufacturers. LS Mtron also didn’t release these kinds of products because they had thought it was in the domain of SME. However, as the demand for insert injection molding has increased recently, the demand for vertical injection molding machines has risen among the users of existing LS Mtron injection molding machines.

Director Seung-Dong Park said, “Many injection molding sites, including the electric-vehicle battery industry which is showing remarkable growth, are using both vertical and horizontal injection molding machines. Also, the customers, who have already used LS Mtron’s horizontal injection molding machine for a long time, often inquired about vertical injection machines to solve the inconvenience of purchase and operation due to the separated brands and to receive reliable follow-up service.” With the constantly increasing demand from our customers, we have launched WIZ-VR Series.”

Maximize user convenience 

Although the resources of the two companies leading the domestic injection molding machine industry were concentrated in WIZ-VR Series, they are definitely latecomers in the vertical injection molding machine industry. Accordingly, Director Park Seung-Dong felt the need to develop the products from the perspective of customers. He said, “As a latecomer, the way to give greater satisfaction to customers is to develop user-friendly products for the users who have used ready-made products. “Our sales division, service division, R&D center, and even actual customers joined the development of WIZ-VR Series.”

Director Park Seung-Dong emphasized that WIZ-VR Series focused on customer convenience rather than productivity. According to him, that’s why they actively listened to the opinions of actual users and established the development plan. In fact, the core competitiveness of WIZ-VR Series is closely related to the user"s work convenience.

The first thing to notice is a working table that gets lower than existing low-bed vertical injection molding machines. The low-bed structure is a technology that has emerged as a new trend in vertical injection machines for several years. It is a structure that has solved an existing problem that workers had to work on a pallet due to a high working table. But, most vertical injection molding machine brands are currently including it in their lineup. LS Mtron took a step forward by lowering the height of the working table to 840mm because the height of 900mm, which has been adopted by many low-bed vertical injection molding machines, is still inconvenient for workers.

▲WIZ-VR Series focusing on user convenience

In addition, the problem of oil leakage, which is a chronic problem of vertical injection molding machines, has been improved. As the company started with the concept of minimizing oil leakage from the development stage, they put various efforts to minimize oil leakage in WIZ-VR Series. In order to solve the issue of durability while adopting an integrated casting structure instead of a prefabricated type, the personnel with master"s and Ph.d. degrees at the R&D Center conducted optimal structural analysis and reflected it in the design. In this process, the size of the vertical injection molding machines is also reduced as much as possible, which becomes another strength in terms of space efficiency. Director Park Seung-Dong said, “The ultralow-bed structure minimizes worker fatigue and relieves stress caused by oil leakage, while achieving a compact appearance and high durability. The area has been reduced by about 23% compared to other vertical injection molding machines in its category, whereas the height is 22% lower.” 

On the other hand, the fact that the controller can be adjusted up and down considering the heights of workers is also another feature of user friendliness.

Top-level performance in Korea  

The improvement of user convenience is important, but productivity is the first-priority because it is a value directly linked to the competitiveness of clients. LS Mtron has also made efforts to increase the productivity of WIZ-VR Series.

First of all, the size of turntable has been expanded to be available for large molds. Several benefits can be expected by adopting the largest turntable compared to existing products in its category. It is possible to produce larger-sized products while increasing added value, and it is also advantageous to multi-cavity injection molding.

▲WIZ-VR Series optimized for productivity improvement

Besides, turntable rotation time is remarkably reduced even though the size of the turntable is bigger. “The fastest rotation time among domestic vertical injection molding machines in its 250-ton category is 2.0 seconds. On the other hand, WIZ-VR Series has achieved a rotation time of 1.8 seconds by reducing 0.2 seconds more. Currently, the official number is 1.9 seconds, but we expect that we can reduce the time to 1.7~1.8 seconds in the future.” said Director Seung-Dong Park.

Jump to a true comprehensive injection molding machine maker  

LS Mtron, which launched two models of 150-ton/250-ton vertical injection molding machines last year, will build a full lineup of vertical injection machines this year to start its business in earnest. It is currently developing 110-ton and 350-ton models and plans to have a lineup from ultra-small to 400-ton models within the year.

Director Seung-Dong Park said, “The transition to low-bed structure vertical injection molding machines is expected to accelerate further due to various strengths, such as improved worker convenience, excellent space efficiency, and automation interface including robots.” “Although we are a latecomer in the vertical injection molding machine sector, LS Mtron will be able to lead a low-bed vertical injection molding machine market. We will dominate the market by rapidly carrying out our business in this field and become a truly comprehensive injection molding machine manufacturer by expanding our lineup from horizontal to vertical injection molding machines.” 

Inquiries: LS Mtron Molding Machine Division  https://www.lsinjection.com/en/service/s-online.html

edit : handler   http://www.ihandler.co.kr