New York, Aug. 31, 2021 – ORBIS is a part of Menasha Corporation, one of the oldest family-owned manufacturers in the United States. ORBIS adopted and deployed M-Powered to address unplanned downtime and the “break-fix” approach to maintenance. Developed by Milacron, M-Powered is a predictive service solution that uses AI technology from ei3.
In the plastics industry, boosting machine availability is extremely important and can be achieved efficiently by increasing reliability through understanding and then reducing unplanned downtime.
With M-Powered Predictive Services, ORBIS digitally tracks and records the health of critical machine components and receives alerts indicating any degradation of the machines’ mechanical, electrical, and hydraulic assemblies. These alerts allow ORBIS to take prompt maintenance action and achieve the best economy and Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE). Based on the machines’ self-reporting, ORBIS can either replace components or engage Milacron technical service for remote diagnostics and troubleshooting.
Predictive insights provided by the AI-based algorithms in M-Powered also allow ORBIS to make smart maintenance decisions. The algorithms work by discovering links between critical machine operations and wear across components, such as heater bands, screws, or injection barrels. ORBIS can use these insights to determine the most effective maintenance cycles according to factors including productivity and energy consumption.
In addition, by measuring and managing energy usage in relation to the manufacturing of parts, M-Powered enables ORBIS to strengthen its environmental commitment and achieve its sustainability goals.
With M-Powered Predictive Services, ORBIS injection molding machines are experiencing more uptime and can maintain tighter cycle times. As a result, the measure of total production energy across all components decreases, saving both cost and resources.
One major source of savings for ORBIS relates to inventory. “We have hundreds of thousands of dollars of inventory on our shelves for spare parts. With M-Powered, I don’t have to hold any spare parts in my inventory for our fleet of machines. Instead, I can transfer that to Milacron because my machines are going to warn me before they fail. That’s a huge win for ORBIS,” says Hank Fuller, Sr. Manufacturing Engineer at ORBIS.
“Artificial Intelligence based data science is a powerful tool to create insights to operate machines to produce higher quality products in a safe and more sustainable way, and at a lower cost. We are delighted that ORBIS has been able to apply our technology to such great effect. This is just the beginning of the AI-based transformation of the manufacturing industry!”
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About ei3 Corporation
Founded in 1999, ei3 is the global leader in AI for manufacturing. With ConnectedAI, ei3 makes its experience and innovations available in an easily deployable format to help boost operational efficiency, save on costs, increase profitability, and implement new business models. Printing presses, injection molding machines, and packaging equipment are some of the company’s key market segments. ei3 is headquartered in New York with offices in Montreal, Zurich and Bangalore. For more information, please visit ei3 at www.ei3.com.
About ORBIS
Celebrating its 25th year in 2021, ORBIS — powered by Menasha — is built on more than 170 years of material handling expertise. ORBIS helps world-class customers move their product faster, safer and more cost-effectively with reusable totes, pallets, containers, dunnage and racks. Using a proven approach, ORBIS experts analyze customers’ systems, design a solution and execute a reusable packaging program for longer-term cost savings and sustainability. Using life-cycle assessments to compare reusable and single-use packaging, ORBIS also helps customers reduce their overall environmental impact. ORBIS is a part of Menasha Corporation, one of the oldest family-owned manufacturers in the United States. As a steward of sustainability, ORBIS is committed to a better world for future generations. Headquartered in Oconomowoc, ORBIS has more than 2,500 employees and 55 locations throughout North America and Europe. For more information, please visit www.orbiscorporation.com.
About Milacron
Milacron is a global leader in the manufacture, distribution, and service of highly engineered equipment within the plastic technology and processing industry. Milacron offers global solutions that include injection molding and extrusion equipment, plus a wide market range of advanced auxiliary technologies and breakthrough IIoT applications. For more information, please visit Milacron at www.milacron.com.
