Plastic Injection Molding How to Harness Opportunities for Productivity Growth

Weiss Kunststoffverarbeitung continues to drive automation forward: This year, the focus is on post-injection molding processes. Solutions developed in-house now handle 100% inspection of even the smallest parts and the packaging of finished components and modules.

Weiss will purchase four new injection molding machines this fiscal year. In doing so, the company is meeting the demands of projects that are ramping up. However, a large portion of the investment—totaling approximately one million EUR—will also be directed toward automation of the process steps following injection molding. Robert Heller, M.Eng., Technical Operations Manager: “We regularly design automated lines and cells because we see great potential here for increasing efficiency, productivity, and the quality of injection-molded products. And because we are increasingly taking on downstream process steps such as assembly, marking, machining, and inspection, which we integrate into a line or cell in a fully automated manner whenever possible.”

Integrated Image Processing and Packaging

In a current project, automated manufacturing cells for surface inspection using image processing and for packaging the components are being integrated into the injection molding process. Robert Heller: “This means the entire process is now automated—from demolding to the final packaging of the finished injection-molded parts. Barcode-based label printing also prevents any mix-ups with the packaging labels.” Furthermore, according to Robert Heller, visual inspection of such small, complex components is no longer feasible without automation.

Weiss has already integrated robot-assisted visual inspections into other production lines and cells. An image-processing system checks the surface quality of components or, for example, the quality of markings applied in the previous process step.

Collaborative Robots in Action

Weiss also uses collaborative robots—which were likewise designed using “in-house resources”—that work alongside assembly personnel without a protective barrier. Robert Heller: “In many cases, this is a smart division of labor: The robot works precisely and without fatigue, while the employee is more flexible and can adapt immediately to new circumstances.”

Weiss is currently working on “end-of-line” automation—that is, packaging—in several projects; this is a key area of investment for 2026. Robert Heller: “Many customers receive our parts in reusable containers. All we have to do is place the components or modules inside—either using a robot or manually. However, we also ship parts in cardboard boxes, which we plan to fold, prepare, fill, and seal largely automatically in the future. This will free up our staff to focus on other tasks, and we’ll further increase our efficiency and productivity.”

Jürgen B. Weiss, Managing Partner: “We are consistently pursuing the path of automation and expanding our internal capabilities for plant design—including our workforce. We continue to see potential here for optimizing processes. At the same time, we know that automation isn’t always the best approach—it requires a certain volume of production. That’s why we manufacture small to medium-sized production runs with manual work at our plant in Győr, Hungary.”

In-house expertise in project planning, programming, and commissioning

Weiss also has extensive experience in the design and large-scale production of—in some cases highly complex—components for passenger cars and mobile machinery (ventilation nozzles, chain tensioners, shift boxes, tire pressure sensors, and control housings for pneumatic truck level control systems), Weiss has extensive experience.

The same applies here: What counts is in-house expertise in the design, programming, and commissioning of robots for applications such as parts handling and component inspection. These are tasks that Weiss accomplishes using in-house resources and many innovative ideas. sl