Client Profile: A Leading Supplier of Recycled Pallets
Pallets help enable the global supply chain by carrying and protecting a range of products during transport. They are a crucial yet often overlooked component of the logistics industry.
Greystone Logistics is a manufacturing and logistics company that provides large shipping pallets made from 100% recycled plastic. With more than 5 million pallets delivered, Greystone has become a leading supplier of high-quality, low-cost pallets for many industries, including food and beverage, automotive, consumer goods, chemical, and pharmaceuticals.
Greystone purchases recycled material and they regrind their own plastic scrap. They convert this resin into 100% usable recycled plastic pallets. Reusing this scrap enables them to significantly lower costs, generate sustainable plastics, and reduce environmental waste.
The Need: Quality Improvement and Operator Efficiency
Greystone began working with iMFLUX to address some specific issues that were affecting their bottom line.
These issues are commonplace with the conventional approach to injection molding operating with high injection pressure and challenges to balance of fill.
The conventional process is not ideal for final product quality utilizing recycled resins. If viscosity increases too much, the mold will produce a short shot (i.e., not completely filled). On the other hand, if viscosity decreases, the resulting part will have flash — plastic leaking outside the bounds of the mold. Other quality shortcomings include warping and dimensional issues, which in turn cause problems during pallet assembly.
Operators at Greystone’s manufacturing facility found themselves making multiple manual adjustments to the molding process throughout the day to accommodate these variations. Naturally, Greystone wanted to cut down on the need for operator intervention and alleviate these product quality issues.
The Solution: Low-Constant-Pressure Injection Molding
Searching for an alternative, Greystone Logistics reached out to iMFLUX to leverage their low-constant-pressure injection molding technology. Unlike conventional molding, the iMFLUX platform continually and automatically adjusts the injection screw to maintain a constant pressure set point based on reading the exact melt pressure of the plastic. These adjustments have resulted in a higher-quality final product with less manual effort required throughout the molding process.
To evaluate iMFLUX’s low-constant-pressure molding platform, Greystone agreed to purchase five iMFLUX processing control systems equipped with the Auto Viscosity Adjust™ (AVA) feature. AVA enables the molding process to adapt to viscosity changes in real-time and without operator adjustment.
“Running recycled and reprocessed materials is hard to do… iMFLUX adjusts the process, keeping parts consistent and in quality spec without operator time sitting at the monitor — all while avoiding scrap.”
—Joe Carter, operations & maintenance manager, Greystone Logistics
The Impact: Higher Quality and Energy Savings
By embarking on this pilot project with iMFLUX, Greystone achieved the following benefits:
- Eliminated frequent operator interventions and significantly reduced scrap while cutting cycle time.
- Achieved higher product quality by addressing the root cause of flash and short shots.
- Gained over 30% energy savings on large-tonnage machines due to the lower pressures of iMFLUX technology and the ability to quickly perform mold changes and startups.
Greystone Logistics was thrilled with the project’s results and immediately issued a second purchase order for eight additional iMFLUX process controllers. In addition, they have since followed up by purchasing a Milacron injection molding machine with iMFLUX technology already onboard.
“Our customers care about cost and quality. iMFLUX gives us peace of mind for both.”
—Joe Carter, operations & maintenance manager, Greystone Logistics
iMFLUX: A Partner in Improving Business
Greystone Logistics is just one of many iMFLUX customers who have realized significant advantages by implementing this revolutionary technology. To learn more about how low-constant-pressure injection molding can benefit your company, get in touch with iMFLUX today to discuss your business needs and objectives.