Results of the October SimTech™ 2023 Injection Molding Challenge
First Place goes to Mahmoud Nasser of Stanley Works, and this month’s Company Spotlight features Scientific Specialties, Inc.. Congratulations to Mahmoud and to Team Scientific Specialties, Inc. and all who participated.
October 2023 SimTech™ Challenge Wrap Up
For this tightly contested challenge, we’re happy to announce the talented winners for our October Monthly Challenge, and Mahmoud Nasser of Stanley Works is this month’s Top Molder, followed by Corey Smith of Oatey, and Skyler Osborn of Lemo USA. Congratulations Mahmoud, Corey, and Skyler, and congratulations to all who participated and earned scores.
As for the Champions Leaderboard, our usual champion molding suspects graced the leaderboard with our former TOP MOLDER Andrea Bricola from Draexlmaier Automotive of America maintaining the top spot, but this time, Alexandru Crai, of OMS Besser Group bested Nick Vanspronsen of Toyota Boshoku for second place making Nick the owner of third.
And shining brightly in the company team spotlight this month are three exceptional molding companies with team Scientific Specialities Inc. in the top spot, followed by team Southwest Mold, Inc, and our consistent winning company team Falcon Plastics taking third. This group of individuals and company teams exhibit some serious molding skill! Congratulations!! Job well done everyone!
Good to Know: YES! You can put a team together. You only need 3 or more employees to make up a team and off you go? Join the fun and test your molding skill.
Special Insight on this Month’s Challenge
The top three Individual winners were separated by only 1.2 points so this month’s challenge was again tightly contested. The final winning setup from Mahmoud Nassar from Stanleyworks featured a process that minimized the material temperature entering the mold. A standard tapered heating profile with a slightly lower nozzle temperature was used because this month’s challenge featured a semi-crystalline material High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) with a smaller tonnage machine that was configured with a “general purpose” screw.
All top finishers utilized the fill rate control system on the SimTech molding machine, providing the fastest flow rate of the material into the mold without creating fill related defects. The top processes all featured a fill rate that started with a faster rate finishing the last 20% of fill with a slow fill rate to eliminate any burning on the part.
Additionally, the part had dimensional and sink mark issue that were solved using the pack pressure. Finally, the cooling time was set at a minimum by utilizing the mold temperature control settings providing adequate cooling rate for the final plastic part.
Well done molders!
Individual Winners
- 1st Place Mahmoud Nasser, Stanley Works 137.753
- 2nd Corey Smith Oatey 136.896
- 3rd Skyler Osborn, Leo USA 136.553
Company Spotlight
The COMPANY category consists of companies who have three or more employees participating, and for this month’s challenge, the top three winning companies included:
- 1st Place Scientific Specialties, Inc. 135.08
- 2nd Southwest Mold, Inc. 134.26
- 3rd Falcon Plastics 131.23
Champions Leaderboard Winners
- 1st Place Andrea Bricola, Draexlmaier Automotive Group of America 138.871
- 2nd Alexandru Crai from Oms Besser Group 138.834
- 3rd Nick Vanspronsen from Toyota Boshoku 138.821
The Set-up for Mahmoud Nasser, this month’s Top Molder.
To learn more about our monthly SimTech Molding Challenges visit details here. To see how you or your fellow molders ranked this month, check out the leader board by clicking here and select a month from the drop down menu.
As always, we’ll be announcing the over all 2023 ProMolder Champion after we tally all the scores from the entire year. Start earning scores!
In the meantime, get ready for the next month’s challenge! Take advantage and pre-signup. Don’t miss out. Get on the list to win! Until then, keep on learning!
Having Fun with our Competitions?
Imagine the team of skilled molders you could create if SimTech was in your plant 24-7? Your employees could be improving their molding expertise in a safe, low-cost environment, building critical thinking and troubleshooting skills. And you can stage your own friendly in-house competitions. It’s proven that molding simulation is the best and most cost-effective way to become a better molder. You don’t want your employees making their mistakes or trying new techniques on the production floor at an actual machine—now that’s a costly way to learn. The simulation of complex processes is quickly becoming the gold standard of skill development. SimTech is the answer for injection molding.
Here’s just a few of the applications you can employ with SimTech:
Hiring Qualified Employees – Before hiring a potential employee, test their knowledge and skills with problem solving exercises in Simtech.
Technician Promotion – Give your candidates for promotion a test before you make that decision.
In-plant Competitions to promote learning and discussion – Have your own competitions amongst your team. Have a discussion on what process settings work and why.
Just hearing about this? Want to join in on all the fun? Sign up and learn more here.
To learn more about SimTech and all the other skill development courses Paulson offers, visit PaulsonTraining.com or call 1-800-826-1901; or contact us via email info@paulsontraining.com.
