Injection molding quality survey.Nearly 450 molders rated 31 performance characteristics of machines and supplier services. The results provide some interesting comparisons of today's North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. models versus the imports. One person's preference in injection molding machines Injection molding machine (also known as injection press) - a machine for making plastic parts. Manufacturing products by injection molding process. Consist of two main parts, an injection unit and a clamping unit. is a subjective subjective /sub·jec·tive/ (sub-jek´tiv) pertaining to or perceived only by the affected individual; not perceptible to the senses of another person. sub·jec·tive adj. 1. judgment--about as valid to generalize generalize /gen·er·al·ize/ (-iz) 1. to spread throughout the body, as when local disease becomes systemic. 2. to form a general principle; to reason inductively. as one's choice of which car to drive. Still, three-fourths Noun 1. three-fourths - three of four equal parts; "three-fourths of a pound" three-quarters common fraction, simple fraction - the quotient of two integers of molders surveyed by PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY last year said they'd they'd 1. Contraction of they had. 2. Contraction of they would. they'd have ~would like to know more about what other molders think about different injection machines and suppliers. That was the genesis of a just-completed survey, whose results are presented here. We mailed an eight-page questionnaire questionnaire, n a series of questions used to gather information. questionnaire, n a form usually filled out by patients that provides data concerning their dental and general health. together with our June June: see month. issue to all our 18,550 injection molding injection molding n. A manufacturing process for forming objects, as of plastic or metal, by heating the molding material to a fluid state and injecting it into a mold. readers in the U.S. and Canada Canada (kăn`ədə), independent nation (2001 pop. 30,007,094), 3,851,787 sq mi (9,976,128 sq km), N North America. Canada occupies all of North America N of the United States (and E of Alaska) except for Greenland and the French islands of , asking them to rate numerically nu·mer·i·cal also nu·mer·ic adj. 1. Of or relating to a number or series of numbers: numerical order. 2. Designating number or a number: a numerical symbol. 14 machine performance characteristics and 17 supplier services for the injection machines that they had direct experience with in the last five years. We restricted our questions to machines purchased new from 1987 on, because that year saw the beginning of a sea-change in American American, river, 30 mi (48 km) long, rising in N central Calif. in the Sierra Nevada and flowing SW into the Sacramento River at Sacramento. The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill (see Sutter, John Augustus) along the river in 1848 led to the California gold rush of machine design, prompted largely by the onslaught of import competition. By the end of July July: see month. , we had received 613 responses, 445 of them from readers who had worked with machines purchased new since 1987. Results were tabulated for us by an outside market-research firm. We intended to report back to you the average numerical numerical expressed in numbers, i.e. Arabic numerals of 0 to 9 inclusive. numerical nomenclature a numerical code is used to indicate the words, or other alphabetical signals, intended. quality ratings by brand name and perhaps even by type of clamp clamp (klamp) a surgical device for compressing a part or structure. rubber dam clamp a metallic device used to retain the dam on a tooth. clamp n. , control system, and model series, where they appeared relevant. However, the low response rate of 3% does not permit us to publish the data in that fine degree of detail and still be confident that the results are fair and accurately representative of the spectrum of molder mold·er v. mold·ered, mold·er·ing, mold·ers v.intr. To crumble to dust; disintegrate. v.tr. To cause to crumble. See Synonyms at decay. opinion. As you can see from Table 1, we did receive molders' ratings on 61 brands of injection machines--including some that we had never heard of before. But for all except a small handful of brands, the responses were so few that to publish a ratings comparison would run the risk of being irresponsible ir·re·spon·si·ble adj. 1. Marked by a lack of responsibility: irresponsible accusations. 2. Lacking a sense of responsibility; unreliable or untrustworthy. 3. and misleading. On the positive side, we were advised by a professional Ph.D. statistician and graduate-school professor of marketing that despite the low response rate, the demographic profile A demographic or demographic profile is a term used in marketing and broadcasting, to describe a demographic grouping or a market segment. This typically involves age bands (as teenagers do not wish to purchase denture fixant), social class bands (as the rich may want of respondents In the context of marketing research, a representative sample drawn from a larger population of people from whom information is collected and used to develop or confirm marketing strategy. fits quite closely the profile of the total molder population as measured by four criteria criteria (krītēr´ē  ),n. : size of plant, geographic geographic /geo·graph·ic/ (je?o-graf´ik) in pathology, of or referring to a pattern that is well demarcated, resembling outlines on a map. geographic pertaining to geography. region, custom or captive captive said of naturally wild or feral animals kept in captivity for educational and scientific investigation with no attempt being made to domesticate them. , and primary job function. Even though that is not enough to guarantee a truly random and representative sample, we do think the opinions, based on experience, of 445 molders should be of some value and interest. Therefore, we decided to provide a coarser comparison of machines and suppliers, based on dividing the data into larger groups--most particularly, by domestic or overseas origin. We also believe we can do a better job of getting you the actual brand-name comparisons you want--next time. WHAT COUNTS MOST? Figure 1 shows what were unquestionably un·ques·tion·a·ble adj. Beyond question or doubt. See Synonyms at authentic. un·ques  tion·a·bil respondents' top three
criteria for choosing an injection machine. The fourth-place choice
(overall operating precision and repeatability) came up less than half
as often as did number three. Uptime The time during which a system is working without failure. Contrast with downtime. See availability. reliability or dependability dependability - software reliability not
only came up the most frequently among respondents' top three
choices--it was also their most frequent choice of "most important
criterion
Likewise, service and spare parts Spare parts, also referred to as Service Parts is a term used to indicate extra parts available and in proximity to the mechanical item, such as a automobile, boat, engine, for which they might be used. Spare parts are also called “spares. came up most often as "second most important." And price was usually ranked third. G-P G-P Gel'fand - Pinsker (channel code) MACHINE RATINGS Molders were asked to use a one-to-10 quality rating scale, where 10 is "best in its class," one is "lowest in its class," and five is "average." On this scale, Table 2 shows that general-purpose gen·er·al-pur·pose adj. Designed for or suitable to more than one use; broadly useful: a general-purpose loan. general-purpose Adjective molding machines (Woodworking) A planing machine for making moldings (Founding) A machine to assist in making molds for castings. See also: Molding Molding from each of the four regional categories score 7.0 or better in the majority of performance criteria. Note that the figures are averages for between five and 11 different brands in each group, weighted according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the number of mentions for each brand. Keep in mind that a difference of 0.2 or less between any two figures in the table could be the result simply of rounding-off. Our admittedly unscientific unscientific Unproven, see there feel for the numbers is that a ratings difference of less than 0.5 is probably not significant. How do North American-made machines stack up stack n. 1. A large, usually conical pile of straw or fodder arranged for outdoor storage. 2. An orderly pile, especially one arranged in layers. See Synonyms at heap. 3. against the overseas competition? In Table 2, the average ratings difference for all machine characteristics was less than 0.5 between North American and either Japanese Japanese (jăp'ənēz`), language of uncertain origin that is spoken by more than 125 million people, most of whom live in Japan. There are also many speakers of Japanese in the Ryukyu Islands, Korea, Taiwan, parts of the United States, and , "Other Asian" (Taiwanese, Hong Kong Hong Kong (hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. , Korean Korean, language of uncertain ancestry. It is thought by some scholars to be akin to Japanese, by others to be a member of the Altaic subfamily of the Ural-Altaic family of languages (see Uralic and Altaic languages), and by still others to be unrelated to any known ), or Italian machines. The German/Austrian/Swiss machines did average 0.5 points higher overall. TABLE 1--MANUFACTURERS OF INJECTION MACHINES PURCHASED NEW IN 1987-92 General-Purpose Machines (100-999 Tons) Supplier No. of Mentions Arburg 2 Bata Shoe 1 Battenfeld 7 Boy 1 Bucher 1 CLF 3 Cincinnati Milacron 76 Continental 1 Dong Shin 1 Engel 26 Excel 1 Fu Chen Shine (FCS) 1 Gluco 1 HPM 31 Hettinga 1 Hull 1 Husky 10 Italtech 1 Japan Steel (JSW) 11 Jon Wai 1 Kawaguchi 12 Klockner 4 Krauss-Maffei 1 Lucky Goldstar 2 Mannesmann Demag 5 Mitsubishi 7 Nan Rong 1 Negri Bossi 4 Netstal 4 Newbury 15 Niigata 1 Nissei 26 Presma 1 Remu 1 Multiplas 1 Rutel 1 Sandretto 6 Shinwa Seiki 4 Sumitomo (SHI) 1 TMC 4 Techmire 1 Toshiba 18 Toyo 5 P.H. Trueblood 1 Ube 3 Union 2 Van Dorn 78 Victor 1 Welltec 1 Yoshida 1 Precision/Tight-Tolerance Machines (100-999 Tons) Supplier No. of Mentions Arburg 1 Battenfeld 3 Boy 1 CLF 1 Cincinnati Milacron 25 Dong Shin 1 Engel 11 Gluco 1 HPM 9 Hull 1 Husky 2 Japan Steel (JSW) 5 Kawaguchi 2 Klockner 2 Krauss-Maffei 1 Mannesmann Demag 8 Mitsubishi 3 Negri Bossi 2 Netstal 10 Newbury 4 Nissei 9 Sandretto 3 Shinwa Seiki 1 Sumitomo (SHI) 2 Toshiba 9 Toyo 7 Ube 1 Van Dorn 23 High-Speed/Thin-Wall Machines (100-999 Tons) Supplier No. of Mentions Battenfeld 2 Boy 1 Cincinnati Milacron 3 Engel 1 Husky 10 Japan Steel (JSW) 3 Klockner 4 Krauss-Maffei 1 Mitsubishi 1 Netstal 5 Nissei 1 Sumitomo (SHI) 1 Techmire 1 Toshiba 1 Van Dorn 5 Vimm 1 Small Machines (Under 100 Tons) Supplier No. of Mentions Arburg 51 Autojectors 7 Battenfeld 8 Boy 33 Bucher 1 Butler 1 CIC Ralphs 1 Chen Hsong 1 Cincinnati Milacron 12 Continental 1 Engel 23 Gluco 2 HPM 5 Hatoge 1 Illinois Precision 2 Jaco 4 Japan Steel (JSW) 2 Kawaguchi 3 Klockner 3 MCP 1 MIR 1 Mannesmann Demag 4 Multiplas 2 Negri Bossi 1 Netstal 3 Newbury 11 Niigata 1 Nissei 18 Presma 1 Sandretto 4 Shinwa Seiki 1 Sumitomo (SHI) 1 Techmire 1 Toshiba 3 Toyo 9 P.H. Trueblood 1 Van Dorn 22 Large Machines (1000 Tons & Up) Supplier No. of Mentions Battenfeld 3 CLF 1 Cincinnati Milacron 11 Engel 2 Fu Chen Shine (FCS) 1 HPM 5 Husky 3 Japan Steel (JSW) 3 Kawaguchi 1 Klockner 1 Krauss-Maffei 1 MIR 1 Mitsubishi 1 Netstal 1 Niigata 1 Nissei 1 Toshiba 1 Ube 2 Van Dorn 19 More significant perhaps are comparisons of ratings for individual criteria, which different molders may consider of more or less importance. Respondents rated Japanese and German/Austrian/Swiss machines at least 0.5 points higher than North American machines in several characteristics--especially uptime reliability, precision and repeatability, precision and repeatability, injection unit performance, and controls. On the other hand, Japanese machines were rated lower in average cycle speed than those from the U.S. and Canada. Survey respondents evidently believe all imported machines to be significantly quieter than North American models. However, machines from Italy Italy (ĭt`əlē), Ital. Italia, officially Italian Republic, republic (2005 est. pop. 58,103,000), 116,303 sq mi (301,225 sq km), S Europe. come in for criticism of uptime reliability, ease of maintenance and ease of mold mold, name for certain multicellular organisms of the various classes of the kingdom Fungi, characteristically having bodies composed of a cottony mycelium. The colors of molds are caused by the spores, which are borne on the mycelium. installation and setup See BIOS setup and install program. . Machines from "Other Asia" also rated comparatively low in dependability, precision and repeatability, speed, and both clamp and injection unit performance. PRECISION MOLDING MACHINES Table 3 compares machines used in tight-tolerance or precision molding molding, in architecture, furniture, and decorative objects, a surface or group of surfaces of projecting or receding contours. A molding may serve as a defining element, terminating a unit or an entire composition (e.g. . Here, ratings fell below 7.0 for five criteria on North American machines, four for Italian, three for German/Austrian/Swiss, and none for Japanese. Only Japanese machines averaged more than 0.5 points difference from North American ones for all categories. Japanese machines came in more than 0.5 points ahead of North American on 12 of 14 characteristics. German/Austrian/Swiss and Italian machines were rated 0.5 points or more higher on half as many criteria. Both of the latter were rated somewhat lower in ease of maintenance, and Italian models also ranked somewhat lower in range of control features and other options. (Note with caution that the Italian averages are based on very few responses; and there were too few to report Other Asian at all.) Again, all the imports were rated quieter than North American presses. HIGH-SPEED high-speed adj. 1. Operated or designed for operation at high speed: a high-speed food processor. 2. Taking place at high speed: a high-speed chase. 3. MACHINES Respondents' machines for high-speed, thin-wall molding came mainly from two areas, with only a few Japanese models mentioned. The verdict again was that imports are quieter. Japanese and European European emanating from or pertaining to Europe. European bat lyssavirus see lyssavirus. European beech tree fagussylvaticus. European blastomycosis see cryptococcosis. machines ranked somewhat higher than North American models in several areas and lower in a few, but the overall average differences were minute. LARGE MACHINES Presses of 1000 tons (Transparent Optical Networking Services) A marketing term for providing dark fiber to a customer. The customer is responsible for generating the transmission signal and interpreting it at the other end. See dark fiber. and over were ranked separately. The number of responses was small, especially for imported machines. That caveat aside, respondents gave at least 0.5-point higher ratings for Japanese machines on nine of 14 characteristics, and German/Austrian/Swiss machines were ranked at least 0.5 points higher on all 14 criteria. SMALL MACHINES Injection presses under 100 tons are another special case, where German/Austrian/Swiss machines understandably predominate. All three categories of imports scored at least 0.5 points higher than North American models on nine of 14 criteria. Areas where all three groups of imports averaged higher were precision and repeatability, clamp and injection unit performance, range of standard features, control features, and energy efficiency. HIGH OVERALL SATISFACTION Table 7 summarizes the quality ratings for all brands of machines together, separated only by clamp tonnage TONNAGE, mar. law. The capacity of a ship or vessel. 2. The act of congress of March 2, 1799, s. 64, 1 Story's L. U. S. 630, directs that to ascertain the tonnage of any ship or vessel, the surveyor, &c. and type of molding. Respondents indicate a high degree of satisfaction overall with virtually all characteristics of all machine groups. Relative to general-purpose machines See general-purpose computer. , the only two areas that ranked at least 0.5 points lower were operating safety for high-tonnage presses and range of standard features for small machines. DOES CLAMP TYPE MATTER? For general-purpose machines, no significant differences were seen in the average ratings for all brands between toggle To alternate back and forth between two states. toggle - To change a bit from whatever state it is in to the other state; to change from 1 to 0 or from 0 to 1. This comes from "toggle switches", such as standard light switches, though the word "toggle" actually refers to and hydraulic clamps (just the first six criteria in the tables were considered). TABULAR tab·u·lar adj. 1. Having a plane surface; flat. 2. Organized as a table or list. 3. Calculated by means of a table. tabular resembling a table. DATA OMITTED The very few respondents who mentioned hydromechanical-clamp models rated them on average at least 0.5 points higher than toggles or hydraulic clamps on three to four of six criteria. However, respondents rated hydromechanicals at least 0.5 points lower than the other two in uptime reliability.
TABLE 3--TIGHT-TOLERANCE/PRECISION MACHINE QUALITY RATINGS
(100-999 TONS)
Avg. Rating (1-10)
By Supplier Origin
Germany,
North Austria,
America Japan Switzer. Italy
Number of Mentions 71 49 40 6
Uptime Reliability 7.1 8.5 7.1 7.2
Ease of Maintenance 6.6 7.7 6.0 5.8
Precision, Repeatability 7.1 8.7 8.0 7.7
Avg. Cycle Speed 7.4 8.3 7.9 7.2
Speed, Ease of Mold
Installation, Setup 7.0 7.6 7.4 8.0
Clamp Unit Performance 7.5 8.3 8.0 6.3
Injection Unit Performance 7.0 8.2 7.6 6.5
Easy-to-Use Controls 6.9 8.3 6.5 7.2
Full-Featured Controls 7.5 8.5 8.0 8.0
Energy Efficiency 6.9 8.1 6.9 8.5
Machine Quietness 6.8 7.8 7.8 8.3
Range of Std. Features 6.9 7.6 7.3 7.5
Range of Avail. Options 7.9 8.0 8.2 6.7
Safe to Operate 8.4 8.4 8.5 9.0
TABLE 4--HIGH-SPEED/THIN-WALL MACHINE QUALITY RATINGS (100-999
TONS)
Avg. Rating (1-10)
By Supplier Origin
Germany,
North Austria,
America Japan Switzer.
Number of Mentions 23 5 16
Uptime Reliability 7.4 8.4 6.8
Ease of Maintenance 7.3 7.4 6.9
Precision, Repeatability 7.9 8.0 8.4
Avg. Cycle Speed 8.2 8.6 8.2
Speed, Ease of Mold
Installation, Setup 6.9 7.0 8.1
Clamp Unit Performance 8.1 7.8 8.3
Injection Unit Performance 8.0 8.2 7.8
Easy-to-Use Controls 8.1 7.0 8.0
Full-Featured Controls 8.2 7.8 7.2
Energy Efficiency 7.2 8.0 7.0
Machine Quietness 6.8 7.6 8.2
Range of Std. Features 6.6 6.4 7.9
Range of Avail. Options 8.3 7.4 8.2
Safe to Operate 8.0 8.6 8.5
For precision molding, toggle clamps were mentioned by twice as many respondents, but there was little difference in the ratings, excepting greater ease of maintenance for hydraulics hydraulics, branch of engineering concerned mainly with moving liquids. The term is applied commonly to the study of the mechanical properties of water, other liquids, and even gases when the effects of compressibility are small. . In high-speed machines, hydraulic clamps were mentioned twice as often as toggles, and were rated at least 0.5 points higher in uptime reliability, ease of maintenance, and ease of mold installation (especially in the last two). Hydraulics, however, were rated 0.5 points lower than toggles in cycle speed. A very few respondents cited hydromechanical clamps, rating them well below toggles and fully hydraulics in uptime reliability, but no clear patterns emerged for other criteria. In large machines, hydraulic clamps predominated; there were relatively few toggle machines and no big difference in the ratings. Even fewer hydromechanicals were mentioned, but respondents rated them at least 0.5 points higher than either of the other two in all six criteria. In small machines, respondents rated toggles and hydraulics equally satisfactory.
TABLE 5--LARGE INJECTION MACHINE QUALITY RATINGS (OVER 1000
TONS)
Avg. Rating (1-10)
By Supplier Origin
Germany,
North Austria,
America Japan Switzer.
Number of Mentions 32 9 8
Uptime Reliability 6.7 7.7 7.9
Ease of Maintenance 6.9 7.4 7.4
Precision, Repeatability 7.1 7.8 9.1
Avg. Cycle Speed 7.2 7.7 8.2
Speed, Ease of Mold
Installation, Setup 6.9 7.3 8.0
Clamp Unit Performance 6.9 7.1 8.1
Injection Unit Performance 6.8 7.4 9.0
Easy-to-Use Controls 6.7 7.8 8.5
Full-Featured Controls 7.3 7.3 8.8
Energy Efficiency 6.1 7.6 8.0
Machine Quietness 6.4 7.7 8.4
Range of Std. Features 7.0 7.6 8.6
Range of Avail. Options 7.3 7.1 9.0
Safe to Operate 7.6 7.9 8.8
TABLE 6--SMALL INJECTION MACHINE QUALITY RATINGS (UNDER 100
TONS)
Avg. Rating (1-10)
By Supplier Origin
Germany,
North Austria,
America Japan Switzer. Italy
Number of Mentions 71 35 145 7
Uptime Reliability 7.0 8.2 7.8 5.7
Ease of Maintenance 7.1 7.5 7.1 6.2
Precision, Repeatability 6.9 8.1 7.8 7.6
Avg. Cycle Speed 7.2 7.6 7.6 8.0
Speed, Ease of Mold
Installation, Setup 7.4 7.5 7.5 7.1
Clamp Unit Performance 7.1 7.6 7.7 7.6
Injection Unit Performance 7.0 7.7 7.6 7.7
Easy-to-Use Controls 7.1 8.1 7.2 7.1
Full-Featured Controls 6.9 7.6 7.4 8.1
Energy Efficiency 6.7 7.5 7.4 7.4
Machine Quietness 6.7 7.9 7.4 6.6
Range of Std. Features 5.9 6.8 7.3 8.3
Range of Avail. Options 7.1 6.9 7.6 7.7
Safe to Operate 8.0 7.7 8.4 8.7
TABULAR DATA OMITTED TABULAR DATA OMITTED HOW DO SUPPLIERS RATE? Table 8 shows average ratings for 17 categories of machine supplier services. Differences are more apparent here than they were for machine quality characteristics. All overseas suppliers scored a good deal lower than North American in spare-parts service, though Other Asian and Italian were the lowest. The latter two also scored lowest in speed of repairs, help with processing problems, responsiveness responsiveness Medtalk The ability to respond to a stimulus. See Airway responsiveness. to complaints, speed and timeliness of machine deliveries, installation and start-up Start-up The earliest stage of a new business venture. assistance, documentation of machine operating and maintenance procedures, and quality of sales reps. Overall, Other Asian suppliers scored well below North Americans on all 17 criteria, and were rated below average (5.0) on seven characteristics. Italian machine suppliers averaged at least 0.6 points below North Americans on 10 of 17 criteria, but came in highest of all suppliers in willingness to customize machines. Japanese suppliers were strongest relative to North Americans in responsiveness to complaints, installation and start-up assistance, and knowledge of the latest materials and processing technology. Their weakest ratings relative to North Americans were spare-parts availability, customizing, and ability to provide turnkey systems A complete system of hardware and software delivered to the customer ready-to-run. In other words, just "turn the key" and go.  A Turnkey Video System . German/Austrian/Swiss suppliers scored relatively low only on spare parts. Their biggest strengths (relative to North Americans) were knowledge of the latest materials and processing techniques, and machine documentation. TABLE 9--PRIMARY JOB FUNCTIONS OF RESPONDENTS Primary Job Function Respondents Production or Mfg. Engineering 56% General or Corporate Management 30% Design or Design Engineering 7% Purchasing 2% Quality Assurance 2% Sales, Marketing 0.4% Other 1% No Answer 1% WHAT MOST NEEDS CHANGING? We asked respondents, "What would you like most to see changed or improved" about the machines they had purchased. For general-purpose presses, improved controls (easier use, added features, changed location, more networking interfaces) were by far the favorite recommendation. Hydraulic-system improvements came second, followed closely by clamp and ejector-system changes and improved overall reliability. (Ejector-system improvements accounted for nearly 40% of all suggested changes in the clamp end of machines.) In precision molding, improved controls again topped the list, followed by better service and spare parts, overall reliability, and clamp/ejector systems. For high-speed machines, the order was controls, service, and clamp/ejector systems. Better controls and hydraulics were tied for first in large presses, followed by clamp/ejector improvements. And in small machines, the order was better controls, clamp/ejector systems, and parts and service, with hydraulics and overall reliability close behind. WHAT'S THE BOTTOM LINE? When all is said and done we asked, would you buy a similar class of machine from the same supplier again? Figure 2 shows that a majority of respondents said yes in every case, except for Other Asian general-purpose machines. With that exception, greater willingness to buy again was shown for imports than North American machines in the g-p category. One or another group of imports was favored over North American presses in every other machine category, as well. Who Answered the Survey Despite the low overall response rate of 3-4%, the returns do conform quite closely to the overall population of molders in PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY'S circulation. This is evident from five demographic See demographics. criteria: * Size of plant--Forty percent of respondents' plants had one to nine injection machines, 30% had 10-20 machines, 22% had 21-50 machines, and 7% had more than 50 presses. These are almost precisely the figures for all the population surveyed (45%, 27%, 22% and 6%, respectively). Average and median size of respondents' plants were 19 and 13 injection machines, respectively, vs. 19 and 11 for the population surveyed. * Geographic distribution--The correspondence of respondents with the overall population was even closer than the plant-size comparison above. It's it's 1. Contraction of it is. 2. Contraction of it has. See Usage Note at its. it's it is or it has it's be ~have worth noting that although questionnaires were mailed to more than one subscriber subscriber, n the person, usually the employee, who represents the family unit in relation to the prepayment plan. Other family members are dependents. Also called certificate holders or enrollees. at many plants, over 90% of responses came from unduplicated locations. * Custom/captive ratio--Over 64% of respondents came from plants that do some custom molding, compared with nearly 67% of plants overall. * Primary job function--Table 9 gives the distribution of respondents. Compared with the overall population surveyed, these figures are somewhat biased toward production or manufacturing engineering Manufacturing engineering Engineering activities involved in the creation and operation of the technical and economic processes that convert raw materials, energy, and purchased items into components for sale to other manufacturers or into end products for , and away from R&D, which seems appropriate to the subject of the survey. * Job titles--Three groups of titles accounted for 69% of respondents. They were, in order: chief executives (CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , owner, president, general manager); heads of manufacturing (production or manufacturing manager or director, molding manager, operations director, plant manager); and manufacturing engineers The profession of manufacturing engineer is defined as a person having the education and experience to understand and control manufacturing systems such as processes and/or automation, including industrial processes and equipment used to produce goods. or technicians. The percentage frequency of such job titles, and others, very closely matched those of the overall population surveyed. HOW INVOLVED? Eighty-eight percent of respondents said they are involved in some way in making injection machine purchases: 69% help determine the need for a new machine, 70% help select the type, 72% recommend or select a supplier, and 46% actually approve a purchase. Figure 3 shows that 96% of respondents have been "closely involved" with operating injection machines in the last five years, and 89% have been closely involved in maintenance of such machines. Only 3% said they were closely involved with neither. RELATIONSHIPS WITH SUPPLIERS The data in Fig. 4 came from questions suggested by injection machine builders as ways of evaluating the closeness of a customer/supplier relationship, which can affect a customer's opinion of the supplier and its machines. A slight majority of respondents had bought some machines in the last five years from suppliers or representatives, rather than from the original manufacturer. The list included 45 of the 63 brands purchased in 1987-92, including nine of the 13 North American suppliers. Overall, half the "yes" answers were for North American-built machines. Not surprisingly, respondents were 10 times as likely to have bought small machines through distributors or reps than large-tonnage machines. Seventy-two percent of respondents said their plant's personnel had received some training from suppliers of machines bought in the last five years. Only 41 of 63 brands were represented among the "yes" answers, 51% came from North American machine builders, 27% from European, 19% Japanese, and 2.5% Other Asian. TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES Figure 5 shows answers to three other questions suggested by machine suppliers as possibly shedding shedding, n See exfoliation. shedding 1. exfoliation of entire skin, called also ecdysis, exuviate. 2. falling out of haircoat. 3. putting animals into a shed. 4. some light on molders' opinions of injection machinery. Since ease of maintenance was an important concern of respondents, it's interesting to note that 87% of respondents said their plants perform routine scheduled maintenance on their presses, while 11% do not. For plants with up to 10 machines, the average ratio of injection machines to maintenance personnel servicing those machines was three machines per person. For plants with more than 10 machines, the average was a pretty consistent 6-8 machines/person, regardless of plant size. Only 39% of respondents' plants have an in-house In-house In the context of general equities, keeping an activity within the firm. For example, rather than go to the marketplace and sell a security for a client to anyone, an attempt is made to find a buyer to complete the transaction with the firm. training department for molding personnel. And just 50% of respondents claimed that their plants ever measured or analyzed an·a·lyze tr.v. an·a·lyzed, an·a·lyz·ing, an·a·lyz·es 1. To examine methodically by separating into parts and studying their interrelations. 2. Chemistry To make a chemical analysis of. 3. energy consumption of injection machines. This might indicate that machine ratings on energy efficiency should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt. |
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