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Switching Purge Compounds Saves Molder $79,000 Per Year, Per Machine

Imagine cutting purging costs by $79,000 or more per year, simply by changing to a different process. That's how much a major Midwestern molder, which manufactures closures at high speeds, found they could save by switching to KLENZ purging compound from Slide Products.

For years, the molder used 100 lbs of an inexpensive purging material each time they cleaned the hot runner and barrel between color changes. Once the barrel was clean and the new resin color in place, they then had to mold at least 50 "test" parts before Quality Control would approve moving ahead on the next production run.

This was the standard, day-to-day process until Juan Grino, Factory Sales Rep at Slide Products, gave them some detailed calculations showing how much they were spending on every purge:

Machine downtime/operator costs - Two hours @ $200	$	400.00
Resin for molding 50 "test" parts	$	18.50
100 lbs of purging material	$	10.00
Cost per purge	$	428.50

Juan then offered to do a comparable color change on a 500-ton machine using KLENZ purging compound from Slide Products. "After running the barrel and manifold dry of the previous resin and making sure hot runner mold cavities were open and ready for purging, we ran 15 lbs of KLENZ through the machine until the barrel was empty," said Juan. Another 20 lbs of KLENZ were then added to the barrel and purged through the hot runner manifold while cycling the mold.

Compared to the previous process that the molder was using, the new purge process with KLENZ was done in a fraction of the time with less material waste, resulting in a significant cost savings:

Machine downtime/operator cost - 0.3 hours @ $200	$	60.00
Resin for molding 7 "test" parts	$	2.59
35 lbs of purging material	$	208.95
Cost per purge with KLENZ	$	271.54

"Using KLENZ would save the molder $156.96 per purge," said Juan. "If they purge just twice a day for 254 work days, it can save them $79,735.68 per year. And that's just on one machine."

A key part of the process is having the new resin color ready to go into the barrel as soon as it's dry so KLENZ can be pushed through the manifold in the mold. "The biggest thing to remember is to purge the barrel first, then purge through the mold," said Juan. "This will ensure that any garbage pulled out of the barrel will not contaminate the mold and hot runner areas."

One of the side benefits of KLENZ is that it helped the molder eliminate the color bleed causing 14 of 96 mold cavities to be shut off during production. "KLENZ helps keep residual material out, so all cavities can be utilized, improving productivity by almost 15%", said Juan.

KLENZ also helps streamline screw pulls. "The screw should be free of garbage before it's pulled," said Juan. "KLENZ removes this residue, drastically cutting the time needed for cleanup."

Find out how much you can save by using KLENZ purging compound. Just try a sample, free of charge. Then let us know how much you've saved.

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