PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2018

EDITOUR PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 05/18 www.petpla.net 26 Expanding the range of products into the global PET market Yudo goes global for PET by Kay Barton April 2018 Yudo considered expanding its product line to include PET moulds for many years before it did so. As customer demand for preform tooling increased, the recognition that Yudo’s existing product range naturally complemented the PET market made the decision inevitable. The result opened opportunities to deliver advanced performance technologies, with a commitment to fully service and support new PET customers across the world, the company says. Tour Sponsors: PiCOOL, Yudo’s patented post-mould cooling technology, uses a unique method to direct a spiral air stream onto the interior surface of preforms. This generates high levels of turbu- lence and more uniform distribution of cooling, making the process more effective. The company says that it achieves improved heat trans- fer during post-mould cooling and helps reduce cycle times, energy costs and tooling investment, as well as improving preform quality. It can be integrated into any machine equipped with post-mould cooling capability and works with all preform sizes and neck nishes. A privately-owned company founded in South Korea in 1980, Yudo designs and manufactures equipment for the injection moulding industry. It has grown from being a small hot runner manufacturer supplying local customers to a multi-national organi- zation that’s approaching the US$ billion mark. It has over 3 million square feet (280,000sqm) of highly automated manufacturing space and employs more than 3,500 people, 235 of which are dedicated R&D engi- neers. Yudo maintains that the foundation of its growth is its record of develop- ing and supplying leading edge hot runner technology for the automotive and consumer electronics industries. It claims that it is difcult to nd a hot runner in the consumer electronics world that is not produced by itself. A key element of its success is its patented and multi-award winning ISO Diffusion Bonding manufacturing process. A large portion of Yudo’s annual earnings is reinvested into research and development, in its drive to remain at the forefront of product advancement. Today, it has manufac- turing centres in 24 countries around the world and sales and service representation in more than 60. The company is continuing to develop and expand its offerings beyond hot runners. It has an extensive line of supporting equipment that includes hot runner temperature controllers, complementary auxiliary equipment, in-mould labelling systems, high speed linear robots, integrated factory automation and logistics control, as well as customised intelligent man- agement software packages for pro- duction monitoring and control. Yudo’s initial entry into the PET market was undertaken quietly, in 2009. It initially supplied only to the local market, with a small range of proprietary hot runner designs, and now produces complete mould tooling packages of up to 144 cavities. Yudo has taken the time to carefully prepare its entry into the global PET market and is now equipped to do so, accord- ing to Rick Unterlander, General Man- ager, Yudo ValuePro Lab Canada. Its entry strategy rests on two pillars: The company’s PETone range of PET products is designed to work with modern injection moulding machin- ery, as well as legacy platforms. These products include complete mould packages, mould conversion and replacement components, ISO Diffusion Bonded hot runners, and its patented PiCOOL post-mould cooling system. The second pillar is Otto Systems AG, which is a joint venture company with Otto Hofstetter AG. The Otto Systems team is focused on sup- plying and integrating turnkey sys- tems, including moulds, hot runners, machines, take-out robots, post mould cooling automation, and all related auxiliary equipment. The synergies between Yudo and Otto Systems AG strengthen its manufacturing capabili- ties and expand its worldwide pres- ence. Yudo’s ISO diffusion bonded hot runner technology, which is now available for all PET applications, utilises a solid-state diffusion process to construct its manifolds; wherein the atoms of multiple adjoining steel plates intersperse to become one. It was developed by Yudo speci- cally for hot runner manufacturing, to create a manifold system with inher- ent advantages for melt distribution. The process does not require solder, paste, brazing or welding; it facilitates the forming of precision machined and geometrically optimised melt ow channels without seams or edges. Jinho Yu, Engineering Manager, Yudo Co, says that it produces a more durable hot runner that does not use end plugs. Dead spots are elimi- nated, channel lengths minimised and channel surfaces polished, which all help to achieve reductions in colour changeover time, cavity to cavity weight variation, pressure drop, and AA generation. www.yudo.com