Frimo showcases tooling innovations for PU market

As it celebrates 50 years of operation, Frimo highlights its latest  developments in polyurethane tooling and equipment

By Louise McHenry, senior reporter

Plastics technology company Frimo has launched a new 'Type 7' polyurethane tool, which uses the power of gravity as a way of saving energy. Frimo showcased the updated version of its large-scale series of electric tool carriers for instrument panel moulds at its 50th anniversary event, held at the company's headquarters in Lotte, Germany, 19-20 Sept.

Typically, only the upper part of a tool carrier moves, which leads to wasted energy when the part is lowered, Frimo said. With the new Type 7, the upper and lower parts move toward one another instead. This "drastically" reduces the drive power, because the drive no longer has to apply lifting forces, but rather only acceleration forces, Frimo said. The German company claimed that closure time can be cut by half against conventional systems, increasing productivity.

The tool carrier was one of a series of deve-lopments presented at the German company's anniversary event, which had 450 participants representing 140 companies from 20 countries across the world.

In his inaugural speech, Frimo ceo Hans-Gunter Bayer noted that in order to have a successful company, it is important to have a strong workforce. Bayer reiterated this notion over the course of the event, noting that Frimo's progression from a small garage-run operation to a Û150-million company with 1200 employees in 15 locations was thanks to its staff. He added that the company would only be able to reach Û200 million if it had the right balance of "resources, key people, new technologies and skilled engineers," though he did not give a timescale for this.

Speaking at a press conference during the event, Bayer noted that some 80 percent of Frimo's turnover in Lotte is PU-related. Including business in China and the US, Frimo's polyurethane tooling and equipment business is worth Û50 million worldwide. He cited major projects including $20 million PU spray equipment and tooling venture in the US "for just one customer."

Bayer also said that although 90 percent of the company's business is in the automotive sector, Frimo is trying to develop the non-automotive sector but "we have so much automotive business that it's hard to put our resources anywhere else." Within the automotive market, Bayer noted that the major markets for growth will be North America and China in both traditional businesses and new technologies such as composites and lightweight structures. Bayer added that there is great potential for new technologies such as composites in Europe also.

 Growing in the US

In the US, where Frimo has been operating for some 25 years from its base in Wixom, Michigan, the company is expanding in the non-automotive market, where there are "strong opportunities," commented Jeff Daily, president of Frimo's US subsidiary, Frimo Inc. In the US, Frimo is the market leader for PU tooling, Daily noted, but in terms of equipment - metering machines, spray heads and mould carriers, for example - there is still a lot of room for growth.

Frimo aims to model its Chinese subsidiary, opened in 2007, on the US unit by having local manufacturing. Transfer of technology is a strong focus for the future, Bayer commented. "There is still a lot of support out of Europe," Bayer noted, though Frimo aims to have a self-sufficient Chinese site in the future. The initial goal for Frimo China was turnover of Û30 million by 2010, but the company only achieved just over Û20 million.

The executives noted that an advantage of PU is that it also pushes other technologies to innovate, with developments such as scoring and infrared technology generating even more business for the company. Frimo has big plans for the future. "We are not the same level as KraussMaffei and Hennecke but we are travelling very fast in this direction," Bayer concluded.

Among other developments presented at the event was Dummyskin, a spray skin that is pulled off the component once it has been back-foamed, and which can produce several variants of instrument panels on a single machine.

Otto Wiesmayer, ceo of Kunststofftechnik Wiesmayer GmbH, and Stefan Hamburger, key account manager, Frimo, showcased the company's PURe Liner development, which was first announced at the end of 2011.

PURe Liner is a semi-permanent mould liner made of a self-releasing plastic compound, which was first patented by Wiesmayer of Neustadt, Germany, but was further developed by Frimo for polyurethanes. The material eliminates the need for mould-release agents.

Wiesmayer and Hamburger noted that surface structures can be applied directly in the injection moulding process, and are then transferred to the polyurethane component, which allows for specific designs, such as a "leather-like" grain pattern. Frimo claims PURe Liner can cut costs by up 20 percent.