Dieffenbacher adds equipment

Dieffenbacher North America, Inc. (Windsor, Ont.) is adding capacity at its plant with two CNC-controlled machining centers costing $5.5-million and two gun drill machining centers costing $2.5-million. In addition, the company is to start building machinery for long-fiber compression molding technology that can make large, flat panels for automotive and other applications.
Previously, global markets for LFT-D equipment were supplied by the company's German parent, but in future, the compounding and compression moulding machinery for Canada, the US and Mexico will be made in Windsor. This technology is currently used for underbody panels, wheel covers, panel and front-end carriers, and instrument panels.
"The LFT-D process was developed in conjunction with Germany's Fraunhofer Institute," says Peter McCormack, Dieffenbacher’s North American sales manager. "It involves a compounding methodology as well as compression molding."
Its advantages, he says, include there being no need for semi-finished products, as is necessary with glass-mat processes, and there being only one heat-history in the process. Issues with warpage and knit-lines, which occur when injection molding is used for large panels, aren’t a concern with LFT-D.
Glass fibers and glass rovings are typically used, but McCormack says the process is versatile, and could also employ organic fibers or other reinforcements. It can also be used with such methods as gas-assist and in-mold decoration.
"There are around 40 of these systems around the world now, and a half-dozen in North America" McCormack says, "so it's proven technology. It's an important method for reducing weight in vehicles, and all the major automotive OEMs are interested in it."