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1000th dosing and mixing system handed over to Lego

The order of the century gets bigger still
1000th dosing and mixing system handed over to Lego

The so far largest single order in the history of injection moulding ancillaries continues to grow. In September 2011, as part of the production inauguration ceremony at the Lego plant in Monterrey, Mexico, the 1000th Gravicolordosing and mixing system was ceremonially handed. Initially, motan-colortronic supplied the fully automated and centrally monitored raw materials handling system for the Lego production location Monterrey – from 24 silos right to the material feeding zones for the 700 injection moulding machines. This massive first order was commissioned in April 2011 with outstanding success. This was the reason why Lego awarded follow-up orders to motan. An order for a further 100 Gravicolorsystems extends the project into the spring of 2012.

The carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen founded his company Lego in 1932, still owned by the family and with Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen at the helm today. His grandfather asserted his conviction “det bedste er ikke for godt“, translated “only the best is good enough“. This motto, not just relevant to the product quality, but also to ethical base values, is still the guiding principle of the Lego Group to this day.

On January 28, 1958 Godtfred Kirk Kristiansen, son of the company’s founder and then CEO of Lego, registered the patent for the legendary plastic building blocks. Today, the Lego Group manufactures 3,900 different types of building blocks in 58 colours, with more than 915 million different combination possibilities.
The company has changed over the past eight decades – a small joinery has grown into a modern globally established company, now the third largest toy manufacturer in the world. Today, the Lego Group’s colourful building blocks and teaching materials for children are available in over 130 countries. All Lego toys are manufactured in company-owned factories in Denmark, Hungary, the Czech Republic and in Mexico. Thus the organization can guarantee a constantly high quality of all the raw materials and products and can contribute to increased safety in the toy sector.
Inauguration of the so far largest Lego factory
In the presence of all the most important project partners, the production facility in Monterrey, Mexico, was officially opened by the Lego owner Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen in a special ceremony on September 30, 2011. As part of the ceremonies, motan-colortronic officially handed the 1000th Lego-specific Gravicolordosing and mixing system which was desired to look like a tower entirely constructed of Lego building blocks. This unit completes the major order of the entire injection moulding periphery, awarded to motan-colortronic by the Danish toy manufacturer in June 2010. Ulrich Eberhardt, CEO of the motan Group reflects: “This unique project was a challenge for us, as – there is no doubt – 50 large containers are not sent to Mexico every day. The inauguration today confirms that we have fulfilled the trust placed in us as partners. The successful implementation is primarily due to the optimal performance and competence of our members of staff who have worked and cooperated as one team, right from the design, to procurement and production to sales and logistics.” The question, why Lego has placed an order of such magnitude with one single manufacturer, is answered by Henrik Priess Sorensen, senior director at Lego: “We have worked with motan now for the last 10 years or so and were able to rely on motan’s competence and reliability with other projects. But also further criteria, such as technology, full automation, energy efficiency as well as operational and industrial safety within the production process were essential factors in our decision making process. If nothing else, this manufacturer of ancillary equipment is fully geared towards achieving such volumes.”
Brief look back at the large order
In June 2010, the Lego Group ordered ancillary equipment for its injection moulding operation in Mexico. Here, the Danish company mainly manufactures the well-loved toy building blocks for its markets in North, Middle and South America.
The volume of the motan-colortronic order – a centralised raw materials handling system with storage, drying, conveying, dosing and mixing – starts with 24 external silos on load cells (total capacity 1,320 m³), right to the material feeding zones at the 700 injection moulding machines with clamping forces of between 400 and 1,500 kN. Between these two points there are material feed lines with a length exceeding 100 km. LUXOR dryers, positioned in two rows of eight and comprising 104 drying bins, process the raw material (ABS, PP, PC, PE, PA, among others). Altogether 48 Metrolink central distribution stations deliver the material to the target positions; and 1,500 METRO material vacuum loaders as well as initially 500 Gravicolordosing and mixing stations ensure that the material flow guarantees sustainably economical and failure-free injection moulding. A Controllnet process management system controls and monitors the entire raw material handling centrally.
The challenges
Detlev Schmidt, sales director at motan-colortronic gmbh, responsible for this project since 2009, remembers: “If you see this massive facility fully functional, in the two halls of approximately 100 x 150 m each – a little larger than a football pitch – you ask yourself how this could possibly have been achieved, particularly in such a short period of time.“ A stainless steel material feed pipe bundle system of some 100 km had to be newly designed, using 3D CAD feasibility simulation technology. Curves, radii, differences in height as well as the coordination of the pipe delivery and its installation posed a considerable challenge for supervisor Raphael Zepada and his twenty strong expert assembly team. The Gravicolordosing and mixing stations were also redesigned to suit the fast material and colour changes. The mobile gravimetric equipment is situated adjacent to the processing machines and thus guarantees effective and fast changes for the next material and colour batches.
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