An Implementation of Concurrent Engineering Concept to Injection Molding

Abstract

Injection molding is known to be the most effective process for producing discrete plastic parts of complex shape to the highest precision at low cost. The concept of Concurrent Engineering (CE) is also recognized to be the way to accomplish the highest performance in a manufacturing enterprise. This paper presents a proposed plan to implement the CE concept to injection molding. IMS (Integrated Molding System) is a new initiative launched at CIMP (Cornell Injection Molding Program) to achieve this goal. The paper reviews the state-of-the-art in all three major functional components in injection molding, i.e. part design, mold design and manufacturing, and process control. Some preliminary results in optimization are presented and discussed in the paper.