MPI Turning Innovation into Profit
MPI Inc., the worldwide leader in wax-room equipment, once again finds itself on the cutting edge of wax-room innovation. MPI is continually integrating higher levels of automation into their patented pattern assembly systems. Their Automated Pattern Assembly System (APAS) is the world’s first fully automated, high-accuracy pattern assembly system and is considered the most innovative product in the investment casting industry today.
The benefits of automation are substantial – not only in terms of productivity and uniformity, but also in terms of the dramatic impact it can have on profitability. With automation, you can eliminate the skilled labor necessary for manual pattern assembly.
MPI’s integrated robotic systems offer automated pattern processing from tool to tray. It can automatically remove patterns from a die, trim the pattern from the runner and accurately index the trimmed pattern onto a conveyor belt or tray, dramatically improving wax-room efficiency.
“Total automation means that assembly variations are completely eliminated, which improves throughput and increases casting yields,” said Bruce Phipps, President of MPI. “Automation allows you to achieve cycle times that are two to five times faster than with manual assembly, and you will experience high-quality welds one hundred percent of the time.”
Automation has proven time and again that a robotics-based machine can outperform manually created assemblies in accuracy, repeatability and efficiency.
Automation Helping to Revolutionize the Industry (continued)
With APAS, the number of wax patterns placed on a runner can be substantially increased because robotics allows for highly accurate and repeatable placement, dramatically increasing overall casting yields by 10 to 30 percent. Utilizing this technology, APAS can create 36 perfect welds in just 3 minutes and 12 seconds.
This highly versatile machine offers quick-change tooling. Changeovers from job to job can occur in less than 5 minutes, and the APAS can easily convert from a high-volume setup to a low- volume setup in 5 minutes or less. Other benefits of APAS include excellent fillet welds, elimination of wax dripping, reduced pattern drop off and reduced shell inclusions.
The team at MPI offers a free wax-room evaluation. MPI engineers will tour your facility and perform an exhaustive review of your current process to help you understand what type of return on investment (ROI) you may experience as a result of increased performance and cost savings. MPI can also perform an APAS demonstration at MPI’s world headquarters in Poughkeepsie, NY, where customers can see firsthand how the APAS can continuously produce high-volume, consistent, repeatable, accurate, high-quality wax assemblies.
For more information, visit MPI at booth 48 at the Investment Casting Institute show on October 10 – 13, 2010, in Dearborn, MI.
About MPI:
MPI has been the worldwide leader in wax-room equipment for over 38 years, having produced over 1600 wax-injection machines with 98.5 percent still in active service. As the acknowledged leader in wax-room innovations, MPI has developed and introduced more systems and products than all their competition combined. To learn more, contact MPI directly.