With a thermoforming area of 4600 x 2800mm, the latest thermoforming machine CREA Series is one of the world’s largest fully adjustable thermoformers ever made.
October 2, 2019
The project, developed in partnership with Cannon Deutschland for a German customer which produces thermoformed components for industrial and agricultural vehicles, was a real challenge for Cannon.
In June 2018, winning the German competitors, Cannon has signed a contract for the supply of a thermoforming machine able to produce automotive components of dimensions up to 4500 x 2500mm, 1000mm high, up to 100kg weight and with high aesthetics features.
These requirements have obliged Cannon Ergos to supply the customer with a highly customize CREA thermoforming machine: since the surfaces of the components to be thermoformed are so wide, the thermoforming area has been redesigned in order to reach the size of 4600 x 2800mm.
This thermoforming machine, the biggest we have has manufactured to date, is fully automated: the aperture (window) plates, clamp frame, and sheet loader can be automatically adjusted through the operator interface. Due to the weight of the components it will produce, human intervention has been completely removed: the HMI was created to guarantee safe operation.
To produce vehicle parts with the high performance required, both in terms of aesthetics quality and protecting the machine’s mechanical organs against shocks and debris, we developed specific heating and cleaning systems. The latter, are equipped to the thermoforming plant’s plates, remove solids or dust (down to 1 micron in size) from the thermoforming surface, ensuring each part is fault-free.
This large, high-performance thermoforming machine — whose overall weight exceeds one ton — took 4 days to transport to the German client’s headquarters.
Although the installed power is greater than 1 MW to meet peaks in material heating demand, the heating system’s architecture and our control and management system allow energy savings throughout the cycle.
The client, already using thermoforming technology, place their trust in our know-how and experience, acquiring — thanks to this new plant — the capability to produce one-shot components: before, they were producing the same parts in two pieces, glued together to form a single vehicle component afterwards.
Thanks to our state-of-the-art thermoforming system, the client has improved their production capacity, component performance and quality, and reduced overall costs.
Visit our thermoforming machine’s main page.
