5 process and quality challenges for injection molding, and how Predisys in Azure Marketplace helps

In this guest blog post, Robert Fink, Executive Vice President at Predisys, discusses the challenges that have prevented injection molders from implementing statistical process control and how to overcome them with the Predisys Analytical Suite in Azure Marketplace.

Statistical process control (SPC) has long been essential for manufacturers to maintain and improve quality in their manufacturing processes. In the past two decades, data analytics has drastically changed decision-making in many industry sectors. However, the injection molding industry remains largely ignored by SPC and quality analytics software developers.

5 challenges for SPC and quality analytics in injection molding

Why is this the case? Several interconnected reasons contribute to this situation:

1. High-volume nature of injection molding: Injection molding is known for its high production volumes, which complicates the implementation of SPC and quality analytics. Unlike industries that allow for individual item inspection, injection molding often relies on sampling because of the sheer scale of production. In addition, injection-molded parts must cool or rest post-production, and risk of contamination during this part of the lifecycle is a unique production concern.
2. Complexity of sampling in quality control: Given the high speed of production and contamination risks, inspecting every item is impractical. Manufacturers turn to statistical sampling, inspecting a certain percentage of the output. Although common, sampling adds complexity to SPC metric calculations, making it difficult to derive actionable insights and ensure data validity. The reason for this analytical struggle is straightforward – you are working with less data.
3. Need for multivariate analysis: SPC is most effective when both single-variable (univariate) and multi-variable (multivariate) data are analyzed. While univariate analysis is easier to incorporate into SPC software, multivariate analysis poses a significant challenge that has been largely overlooked in injection molding. Injection molding is unique because numerous process parameters influence product quality. Important factors include cushion, fill pressure, injection velocity, barrel temperature, injected volume, cavity performance, and machine performance. For SPC and analytics software to be truly useful, it must correlate these factors with quality outcomes like pass/fail rates and adherence to specifications. Many existing solutions either focus on process inputs or final outcomes, without effectively connecting the two.
4. Lack of integrated solutions: Historically, injection molders have had to choose between niche solutions for specific parameters or broad platforms that measure only quality outcomes. There is a lack of comprehensive solutions that capture process data, analyze it in real time, and provide actionable insights for optimization. Additionally, some niche solutions on the market – measuring cavity pressure, for example – can be costly. It gives the end user or organization an important metric but only one piece of a much more complicated puzzle.
5. Challenge of data democratization: SPC software design often fails to consider the diverse stakeholders in injection molding operations. Different roles and levels of seniority require access to different metrics, and a successful SPC solution must address these varied needs. Executives are focused on profitability, emphasizing scrap reduction and yield improvement, with key performance indicators (KPIs) like defects per million parts and overall equipment effectiveness being priorities. Quality engineers and technicians need detailed analysis tools to interact with real-time data, examine specific runs, receive alerts about potential issues before they escalate, and prepare reports to satisfy customer requirements. Manufacturing engineers need cavity-specific data to determine whether the mold requires modification (steel change), or if a process change is required to resolve quality-related issues. Traditional SPC software hasn't fully addressed these diverse needs, limiting its effectiveness in the injection molding sector.

Why is this market overlooked?

The complexities outlined above clarify why injection molding has been neglected by SPC and quality analytics software vendors:

1. Complexity of implementation: Creating effective SPC solutions for injection molding is challenging. The process involves numerous interconnected variables, making it difficult to design software that provides meaningful insights. Almost all traditional SPC software solutions on the market do not analyze cavity-specific data, making them ineffective in addressing the unique needs of the injection molding market.
2. Market visibility and perception: The global injection molding market is vast yet often overlooked. Without thorough market research, vendors might underestimate its size and potential, choosing instead to focus on markets they are more familiar with.

What is changing and what has enabled change?

Things are changing for injection molding organizations looking for SPC and quality analytical solutions. There are now solutions that enable injection molding organizations and users to:

• Effectively connect process inputs to quality outcomes;
• Utilize both univariate and multivariate analytical tools in real time; and
• Democratize quality data so all key stakeholders can have visibility into the quality metrics that are important to them and drive those metrics to desired performance levels.

What has enabled this change? Certain providers have recognized the size of this market and brought injection molding expertise in-house to architect a tool configured specifically for this market. One example is the Predisys Analytical Suite, designed for the injection molding industry and available in Azure Marketplace.

Continued technological advancements from Microsoft have also helped tremendously in both easing the cost of implementation and accelerating the ability of Microsoft partners such as Predisys to respond to market needs using Microsoft technology. This has allowed for the release of technology for the injection molding space that had been available in other markets and rapid catch-up in certain key areas of deficiency such as the use of artificial intelligence.

To elaborate on this:

• Predisys deploys its solution in the customer's Azure tenant. Using Azure not only reduces cost by not relying on physical servers, but it also enables eligible customers to apply application costs to their Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC). This results in a savings on the server side, with far less required internal IT support. It also opens the door for further economic benefits.
• The Predisys Analytical Suite integrates with the Microsoft technologies below, which either increase the ability for data to be democratized or shared, or what the customer can do with their data, since they own and control it in their tenant:

o   Microsoft 365: alerts and notifications;

o   Microsoft Teams: alerts and notifications, corrective actions, and resolutions; and

o   Power BI: creation of additional reports and dashboards.

• Lastly, and possibly mostly exciting for injection molding organizations, is that with solutions of such as the Predisys Analytical Suite, these organizations can begin to embark on an AI journey as it relates to quality manufacturing data. With data denormalized, and placed into readymade data marts, the Predisys Analytical Suite enables Microsoft Copilot to begin leveraging the power of machine learning (ML)/AI across voluminous data sets, while further enabling these organizations to understand “where to work,” and in which ways their efforts might have the most impact.

The injection molding space had been underserved for far too long from an SPC and quality data analytics perspective. This is no longer the case. It is a bright new day for injection molders, as they can now harness the power of SPC and quality data analytics in real time and begin to contemplate more advanced endeavors such using AI in their pursuit of quality beyond conformity.

Request a demo to see how the Predisys Analytical Suite can help your injection molding operations thrive.