Adding value to mouldings
November 1st 2007

AK Industries (AKI) provide high-tech injection moulding component and sub-assembly solutions to industry. IP&E finds out more

From its manufacturing facilities in Hereford, since its buy-out in 1996 from the US multinational Nalge Nunc International, AKI has been providing technically demanding, injection-moulded component and sub-assembly solutions to more than 50 industries. In many cases AKI does the jobs which no other supplier is willing or able to undertake. Joint managing director Allen Green comments: "By taking on the most challenging development projects, we have created a continuous learning culture which benefits all our customers."

AKI's air-conditioned manufacturing hall has a 60,000 sq ft site with some 30 injection moulding machines from 6 to 450 tonnes clamping force, plus a broad spectrum of robotic handling, ancillary and assembly equipment. Annual turnover exceeds £6.5 million.

In recent times five application areas have predominated – second-tier automotive; plumbing, heating and air movement; life sciences and biotechnology; electronics enclosures; and health and fitness. Some current major customers are Kohler Mira (showers), Harman Becker Automotive Systems (in-car entertainment, information and communication systems), Applied Energy Products (the Xpelair ventilation and Redring heating and shower equipment brands), Vision Alert (vehicle emergency beacons and light-bars), Malvern Instruments (particle analysis systems) and Biotrace International (bioluminescence trace detectors). Furthermore AKI has been working closely with Pera at Melton Mowbray as a "prime partner" on a number of leading-edge innovation projects.

AKI adds value to its technical mouldings through a wide range of in-house processes, assembly operations and finishes. At the same time materials choice extends over thousands of engineering and commodity plastics, from ABS, polyesters, polysulphone and polycarbonate blends up to high-temperature, high-performance polymers, such as copolyamides with special properties for special applications.

This flexibility and versatility lies at the foundation of the company's ability to provide design and manufacturing solutions for almost any moulded components.

For the earlier stages of a project, the company offers a complete programme of services to assist the design and development of new products and the productionising of designs. These resources and facilities embrace project management, design facilities such as SolidWorks and Moldflow, rapid prototyping from the CAD data and later production tooling.

Many of AKI's mould tools feature complex cores which operate at varying angles to the tool opening plane. This enables designers to incorporate undercuts and other complex features into their designs by value engineering methods, thereby simplifying or even eliminating secondary operations, to achieve faster production rates at lower cost.

Some toolmaking, and all maintenance, modification and management of over 600 current tools, are conducted in-house at AKI. The company also works with specialist outside toolmakers who are able to provide particular expertise. They may be selected according to the technical parameters of a project or the properties of the plastics material specified.

AKI procedures follow the 'Pentamode', a code-of-practice for managing new plastics products from concept to delivery, developed jointly by the British Plastics Federation, Gauge & Toolmakers Association (GTMA) and Institute of Materials (IOM) as part of the industry's 'Partnership in Plastics' programme.

Among its IT systems, AKI invested in 2000 in the electronic document management system Powerway to accelerate the implementation of such new product development and to record the data required for all quality assurance purposes, such as auditing and certification associated with ISO 9001 and ISO 13485.

In-house process technology and services include multi-component and multi-material processing (insert moulding and two-shot moulding), gas-assisted moulding, micro injection moulding, ultrasonic welding and cleanroom moulding and assembly. Product finishing takes in five-colour CNC tampo pad printing of text and logos onto flat or curved surfaces as well as polishing. Meanwhile plating and paint spraying – the latter whether for decorative, functional or EMI/RFI shielding purposes – are subcontracted to external partners on a project.

So what lies in store for the future? AKI is already supplying its added-value technical mouldings and all its associated services through manufacturing agreements and partnerships with Central European OEMs and subcontractors to open up new market opportunities. Examples are in the Czech Republic (with the German-owned component supplier Zlin Precision) as well as in Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. But these co-operative relationships will be expanded further.

What is more, AKI will be aiming towards new product applications for highperformance materials. These are likely to include the development with Pera of nanofilled polymers for medical uses (such as single-use, disposable, surgical instruments) and a broader spread of lowvolume applications in aerospace and defence, since AKI is an approved supplier to Britain's defence contractor BAE Systems. By the same token, we can be certain that AKI will be at the forefront of the future transformation as biodegradable, plant-based plastics literally grow in use to replace plastics based on the diminishing resource of crude oil.