At HTI, all of our raw materials come to us in a pelletized form, so – naturally, we love the stuff. But it’s a bit of an odd relationship… we can’t touch it. The integrity of a final plastic product depends in large part on the raw material being physically handled as little as possible. Because of this relationship, we use a custom designed, automated system to hold and distribute the raw plastics to our machines.  We partnered with Motan, for the HTI Plastics material handling system, who following our requirements built a system that handles our current capacity but is equipped to handle our future growth.

Into the System

Raw plastic is delivered into our silos by the truckload or it arrives in pallet-size boxes. As soon as raw plastic arrives at HTI, it enters our vacuum material handling system. The entire system is made with aluminum and stainless steel piping to maintain complete cleanliness and eliminate the chance of contamination. The system also includes filters that remove dust and fine particles, ensuring the highest-quality final product. The entire system is designed to not only improve quality but also to greatly improve our handling efficiency.

Sorting it Out

Different types of raw plastics are sorted and sent through the system to their designated holding bin to await distribution to a molding machine. An advanced manifold system allows us to send any material from any holding bin to any machine location. We use touch-panel controls to maintain order as materials are moved exactly where they go while avoiding human contact.

The Daily Grind

Depending on the raw plastic being used, we may need to place an individual plastic grinder at the machine location. A sprue picker removes the sprue, or runner, from the mold and deposits it in the grinder. It’s ground and then pulled back to the weigh scale blenders to be re-mixed at a predetermined percentage with virgin materials, colorant, or additives.

Once the raw plastic has been sorted, stored, distributed, and perfected by our vacuum material handling system, it’s ready to be molded into nearly any form by our state-of-the-art manufacturing machines.

The HTI Plastics material handling system has given us the ability for our current stage of business as well as offering the ability to grow, using the same systems we have installed today.