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As a sector overwhelmingly made up of highly traditional small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the European plastic injection moulds industry sees new technologies as the singularly most important impetus for future growth. But ICT has long been out of reach for the majority of SME mould-makers due to a combination of high initial costs for the licensing of computer-aided design (CAD) programmes and the expense of having different platforms for different mould projects. This limited uptake of technologies has caused the European sector to decline in competitiveness at a time when Asian companies are dominant.
An IST-funded project, KBEMOULD, is looking to change that situation, using the know-how of a consortium of Spanish, Italian and French companies, associations and foundations to create an affordable, stand-alone design system that is accessible over the Internet and can handle the majority of mould designers' needs. KBEMOULD is a "great leap forward for SMEs," according to project coordinator, Francisco Ibanez of AIJU, a Spanish research association for the plastic injection moulds sector.
By compiling and combining their knowledge, the consortium realised that the terms used in different countries for different mould elements differs sometimes. The common Knowledge Book they created removes the risk of misunderstanding of any degree between Europe's mould-makers. This full and comprehensive expert encyclopaedia on plastic injection moulds has been a real achievement by the partners.
Savings in time and cost:
"According to the results of the trials, we estimate that KBEMOULD reduces mould design time by more than 80 per cent over traditional methods," says Ibanez, "therefore a project that would normally take six hours can be done in 20 or 25 minutes, resulting in increased productivity."
CAD platforms, while being the first step toward modernising the mould sector, are not affordable for the majority of SMEs. Those that do invest, most choose only one such system even though not all platforms are capable of doing all designs to the same standard. "Most SMEs have one platform, but platforms vary, some are better than others at designing specific mould types," says Ibanez, "but no - or at least very few - SMEs can permit themselves the luxury of having all the commercially available platforms."
User satisfaction:
SME users of the system, including eight pilot testers in Spain, France and Italy, have seized on the opportunities KBEMOULD has placed just an Internet connection away.
"KBEMOULD is a good step forward," says Matias Berbegal, a mould designer with TIRSA, one of the Spanish SMEs that tested the system. "It speeds up design processes and eliminates the repetitiveness of simple tasks."
More complex designs, however, are one of the limitations of KBEMOULD, which cannot handle multi-cavity, multi-partition moulds. Nonetheless, the universal format in which finished designs are presented allows more complicated forms to be downloaded and tweaked using CAD systems.
In addition, the system is relatively simple to use, allowing a junior designer to take over basic projects, while expert designers concentrate on more complex forms with higher value-added content. Because KBEMOULD is founded on knowledge-based engineering, companies do not lose expertise, experience and know-how when an expert designer leaves - all that information is contained in the system.
"It has helped to unify the criteria of different SMEs across Europe, making knowledge more accessible and ensuring that new, young designers have access to it," explains Agustin Chico of the Fundacion ASCAMM, a subcontractor of KBEMOULD.
"Ambitious and ultimately very successful," KBEMOULD, Chico indicates, is offering European SMEs that opportunity.
Promoted by: IST Results Service
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