Page 53 - Plastics News Issue November - 2024
P. 53
TECHNOLOGY NEWS
ing to long-term sustainability. As a result, this As industries increasingly prioritize sustainability,
shift toward foamed bioplastics represents a adopting bioplastics that degrade faster and use
key step in addressing the global plastic waste fewer resources will be crucial. Moving forward,
crisis. foamed bioplastics will play a pivotal role in re-
ducing plastic waste and supporting a more sus-
Foamed biodegradable bioplastics, such as CDA, tainable future.
provide an innovative solution that balances ma-
terial efficiency and environmental protection. Source – Plastics Engineering
Tooling Digitalization: Basics
used to collect real-time data on tooling perfor-
mance, enabling proactive maintenance and life-
cycle management.
Today, tooling digitalization encompasses not
only monitoring and data collection but also ad-
vanced predictive analytics, artificial intelligence,
and machine learning. These innovations allow
manufacturers to optimize tooling processes,
improve quality control, and significantly reduce
ooling digitalization can be the solu- downtime, marking a substantial shift from tradi-
tion for today’s manufacturing systems, tional practices to data-driven, efficient opera-
Twhere the tool failures can cause as much tions.
as 20% downtime, leading to significant produc-
tivity and profit losses. The current diagnostic
Therefore, managing the lifecycle of the tool Despite the increasing significance, demand,
supply chain is essential for achieving the four and scale of tooling assets and the rise of digital-
main goals of advanced manufacturing: im- ization, traditional practices remain widespread,
proved quality, increased efficiency, reduced en- even in big and global companies. Many manu-
ergy consumption, and minimized pollution. facturers still rely on manual data management
for their tooling assets.
Tooling Digitalization Evolution
Plant and tooling managers submit Excel files,
As the 21st century progressed, the rise of Indus- often lacking a standardized format. This out-
try 4.0 brought further changes. Some of them dated method offers minimal strategic value and
were the integration of the Internet of Things is vulnerable to human error and manipulation,
(IoT), big data analytics, and cloud computing diminishing the reliability and usefulness of tool-
into manufacturing. Sensors were increasingly ing data.
November 2024 PLASTICS NEWS 53
