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Case Study / Mold Maintenance and Repair 32 MoldMaking Technology —— APRIL 2017 Toolroom Systems Boost Safety, Productivity By Cynthia Kustush Opening molds for repairs, preventive maintenance or other work is straightforward and safe, right? Maybe. Those who must do it every day might argue the point, especially when dealing with larger molds. In addition, discovering water leaks in molds after they have just been repaired adds to the frustration—and downtime. While the first issue can cause injury and strained muscles, both issues negatively affect pro- ductivity. This is a tale of two systems that eradicated these problems and boosted safety, productivity and more at 3M's New Ulm, Minnesota, manufacturing plant: the Die-Sep Mold Separator and the Die-Sep Mold Water Leak Tester. Mold Separation Anxiety Safety is the number one prior- ity at 3M, according to David Youngblom, plant engineering supervisor, but sometimes it takes a fresh pair of eyes to bring a potential issue forward. So when he noticed three members of his mold shop's team struggling to pry open a 3,800-pound injection mold for wire connec- tors, with one of the guys standing on the tool, he says he knew he had to find a solution that would prevent an acci- dent and injuries from occurring. 3M's New Ulm plant comprises two buildings: One houses the mold shop, which employs 11 moldmakers, and it is also where most of the plant's rubber injection molding and extrusion operations take place. The second building is where all the plant's injection molding and product assem- bly operations happen. Youngblom says the New Ulm plant supports 465 molds ranging in size between 65 and 6,300 pounds. At this plant alone there are roughly 37,000 SKU numbers, meaning there are that many products or compo- nents for products being molded there. "We avoided a safety incident just by luck that day," Youngblom says. "It was quite clear that someone was going to get hurt at some point, because it required three guys just to try and flip that tool over." To avoid future safety haz- ards, 3M purchased its first mold separator machine from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin-based Die-Sep. Youngblom says a second, larger Die-Sep mold separator was purchased just 18 months later for use in the second building. It wasn't difficult to justify the investment. Youngblom says he convinced the front office by taking a video of the guys disassembling a mold, which entailed laying the mold down flat and then lifting one side of it up while the other side remained on the bench. "But that was problematic," he says. "The tool would want to tip or cock, and then bind, and as soon as that happens, something has to give." That "something" was typically leader pins and bushings, pins for cams and other alignment components. While it's not detrimental to the tool because alignment is what those components are for, Youngblom says that when you work with a high number of molds those commodity items add up fast. "We weren't monitoring the use of these items, but if I were to guess, I'd say there was probably a few thousand dollars' worth of alignment products that wore out prematurely each year due to the previous mold separating process." "We avoided a safety incident just by luck that day." Chris Ulrich, a toolmaker at 3M's New Ulm, Minnesota, plant, operates one of the company's two Die-Sep mold separator machines, which were purchased to simplify the process and, more importantly, provide a more ergonomic and safe alternative to opening molds manually. VIDEO Access video at end of article. 3M NEW ULM, MINNESOTA PROBLEM: Concern for employee safety when opening and closing molds, and frequent downtime due to undetected water leaks after maintenance. SOLUTION: Two new Die-Sep mold separator machines and one new portable Mold Water Leak Tester. RESULTS: Safe, ergonomic mold open/close with less mold damage, and more productivity due to the reduction of mold downtime from water leaks.