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Increasing the Environmental Sustainability of an Over-Injection Line for the Automotive Component Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Alexandre L. N. Vieira

    (School of Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, ISEP, 4249-015 Porto, Portugal)

  • Raul D. S. G. Campilho

    (School of Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, ISEP, 4249-015 Porto, Portugal
    INEGI—Instituto de Ciência e Inovação em Engenharia Mecânica e Engenharia Industrial, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal)

  • Francisco J. G. Silva

    (School of Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, ISEP, 4249-015 Porto, Portugal
    INEGI—Instituto de Ciência e Inovação em Engenharia Mecânica e Engenharia Industrial, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal)

  • Luís P. Ferreira

    (School of Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, ISEP, 4249-015 Porto, Portugal
    INEGI—Instituto de Ciência e Inovação em Engenharia Mecânica e Engenharia Industrial, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal)

Abstract

Thermoplastic injection is currently employed in different industrial fields. This process has significantly evolved over the years, and injection machine manufacturers are continuously forced to innovate, to improve the energetic efficiency, aiming to reduce costs, improve competitiveness, and promote environmental sustainability. This work focuses on the development of a novel, profitable, and environmentally friendly plastic over-injection equipment of small metallic parts for the automotive industry, to be applied in a bowden cable production line, to cover the zamak terminations with plastic, or produce terminations entirely made of plastic. The work is based on an over-sized existing solution. The operating parameters required for the work are quantified, and all machine parts are designed separately to achieve the required functionality. Known approaches are finally used to perform the cost analysis, calculate the return on investment (ROI), and energetic efficiency, to substantiate the replacement of the current solution. The new equipment was able to increase the energetic efficiency of the current assembly line while keeping the required injection rates. An efficient and sustainable solution was presented, with a ROI of 1.2 years over the current solution. The proposed design is also applicable to different automated production lines that require this technology. Nowadays, this concept can be extended to all fields of industry that employ injection molding in their processes, enabling to integrate new manufacturing systems, and increasing energetic efficiency while reducing production costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexandre L. N. Vieira & Raul D. S. G. Campilho & Francisco J. G. Silva & Luís P. Ferreira, 2021. "Increasing the Environmental Sustainability of an Over-Injection Line for the Automotive Component Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-21, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:22:p:12692-:d:680612
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elham Sharifi & Atanu Chaudhuri & Brian Vejrum Waehrens & Lasse Guldborg Staal & Saeed Davoudabadi Farahani, 2021. "Assessing the Suitability of Freeform Injection Molding for Low Volume Injection Molded Parts: A Design Science Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-19, January.
    2. Emmanuel Ugo Enemuoh & Venkata Gireesh Menta & Abdulaziz Abutunis & Sean O’Brien & Labiba Imtiaz Kaya & John Rapinac, 2021. "Energy and Eco-Impact Evaluation of Fused Deposition Modeling and Injection Molding of Polylactic Acid," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-15, February.
    3. Ana Elduque & Carlos Javierre & Daniel Elduque & Ángel Fernández, 2015. "LCI Databases Sensitivity Analysis of the Environmental Impact of the Injection Molding Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-9, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Francisco José Gomes Silva & Konstantinos Kirytopoulos & Luis Pinto Ferreira & José Carlos Sá & Gilberto Santos & Maria Carolina Cancela Nogueira, 2022. "The three pillars of sustainability and agile project management: How do they influence each other," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1495-1512, September.

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