An overview of the Kistler production system

The Kistler group creates equipment for the control of parts that can enter into the constitution of medical devices. Medical Plastics News spoke with them at MD&M West to see what devices they had on display.

Kistler is well known for its range of process monitoring and measurement solutions for medical device manufacturing which were showcased at MD&M West were no exception.

Reviewing the machines, Curtis Krick, Head of Plastics and Advanced Manufacturing at Kistler Group, said: “What you want to do is see and understand how the defects have arisen. So you have a root cause that you can then identify and say, I can re-simulate them. Once you reset, assess the faults, then you can set the criteria to prevent it from happening again. And you are able to control the process.

“You want to know those specific conditions that caused this problem. We have systems that would be considered AI because they have intelligent learning capabilities and these models say, “This is what we predict the problem will just be based on estimates of what the conditions might be. specific”.

Process monitoring systems play such an important role when creating medical technology devices; they can prevent something from going wrong, ensure there are no defects, make manufacturing more efficient and avoid recalls. Kistler machines help manufacturers meet the demands of the healthcare market, making production much more efficient.

The company introduced ComoNeo, which supports injection molding. Kistler says the system is more accurate than before and supports users through the validation process with its new features. User management and tracking functionality helps maximize security while its extensive user interface provides reliable data transmission to the injection molding machine.

Test automation for continuous materials is essential for manufacturers and this is where the company believes the KVC 621 has its advantages. This universal video measurement system focuses on individually adjustable high speeds. Kistler insists that this machine is reliable and operates with a processing speed of up to 6,000 measurements per minute.

“You can know exactly where something was wrong or wrong, but then you can have all that information. We can go back to what was wrong with those parts. So you can go back and look all of that and seeing that part was good and that part was bad.” Kyle Fischer, IPC Field Sales Engineer at Kistler Group, explained. “And then you have the exact data, so you can see exactly where you have heard it was bad, or if it took more force or whatever to put it together a bit, you can go back and say “okay, you did it wrong, fix that.”

Kistler’s goal is to ensure that the entire production cycle is covered. They seem to have machines that can test every element, from design to manufacturing the finished product, which greatly simplifies the work of the manufacturer.

“You industrialize it through process, validation, qualification, everything, and then you start production.” Stephan Vogel, Head of International Business Development at Kistler Group, said. “If we need vision inspection or if they want more properties or different properties, we offer all of that as well.

“So we have all the interfaces needed today with all the industrial power passes; you get it all from one hand with consistent data quality and data management, which is the biggest advantage our customers have. In process monitoring, it is not just about product testing, process monitoring, but the entire breeding value chain. »