ABB Robots in Injection Molding: Press to Full Cell

From hand-fed plastic presses in 1964 to Arburg's Fakuma 2026 cell, and how ABB IRB 4400 and IRB 1600 robots load inserts, unload molds and pack parts.

INDUSTRIAL ROBOTICS

Chat With Robot

9/25/20261 min read

In 1964, the Dutch photographer Willem van de Poll visited a small plastics factory at kibbutz Mishmar Ha'emek and caught a worker reaching into an open press. For decades that was how moulding worked. The machine shaped the part, and a person opened it, took the part out and got the next cycle going.

Black and white photo of a man with a moustache reaching into an open plastics press

A worker at a plastics press in the factory at kibbutz Mishmar Ha'emek, 1964. Photo: Willem van de Poll / Nationaal Archief via Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Modern injection moulding machines run on their own for hours, and simple pick-and-place arms took over part removal on most of them. The jobs around the machine mostly stayed manual. Someone still loaded metal inserts, trimmed sprues, checked parts and packed them into boxes.

Green and grey Arburg Allrounder 370 A injection moulding machine on an exhibition stand

An Arburg Allrounder injection moulding machine at a trade show, 2026. Photo: Bricetofly / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Machine builders now want the whole cell automated. At Fakuma in Friedrichshafen next month, Arburg will run a cell built around a vertical Allrounder 475 V that moulds car key fob covers from recycled PC/ABS. The covers are decorated in the mould, laser-marked and then finished by a six-axis robot on the same line.

Orange ABB robot holding a gripper with moulded parts next to a green injection moulding machine

An ABB IRB 4400 unloads parts from an ENGEL injection moulding machine in a Spanish plant. Photo: ABB

ABB has built cells along these lines for years. In one Spanish plant, a single ABB IRB 4400 serves an ENGEL 350-tonne machine. Before each shot it loads a screw into each of the four mould cavities, and after the shot it unloads the parts and puts them into plastic cases.

White ABB IRB 1600 robot inside a glass-walled injection moulding cell

The vision-guided ABB IRB 1600 in Limac FormPlast's moulding cell in Sweden. Photo: ABB

The same robot flips the empty cases, lays six parts per layer and puts a divider over each layer. After an operator loads a pallet, the cell runs for 75 minutes without help. At Limac FormPlast in Sweden, a vision-guided ABB IRB 1600 loads earmuff parts into a mould and removes the sprue.

Orange ABB robot with a tall gripper placing parts into grey plastic cases

The same IRB 4400 cell packs moulded parts into plastic cases on a pallet. Photo: ABB

My guess is that the next cells get smaller and quicker to set up, helped by ABB software like RobotWare Plastics, which cuts programming time. Desktop injection moulders already sell to small workshops. Put a compact arm beside one and a garage could turn out short runs of replacement parts for things around the house.

Black plastic injection moulded housing with round openings on a white background

A black injection moulded part. Photo: Stevenchengcn1 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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