Partnership with FCS, a leading supplier of manufacturing equipment will deliver the GENTREX system, a full factory integrated solution for the first time.
A full technical description of the advanced integrated system will be presented at the Polymers in Footwear Conference held November 29 to December 1.
(Trexel, Inc., Wilmington, MAOctober 6,2022) …Trexel has been at the forefront of foaming applications to facilitate the conversion from established EVA chemical foaming processes to the use of thermoplastics TPU physical foaming for the production of shoe mid-soles. This effort goes back more than 10 years, with the first commercial introduction by New Balance and operating volumes in excess of 1,000,000 parts per year. Today MuCell® foaming is being applied in several shoe manufacturers around the globe for development and production. More than 20 systems have been shipped and installed.
The motivation by brand owners has been the desire to supply an environmentally friendly injection molding solution at a total cost of manufacturing below that of non-recyclable and non-reclaimable EVA’s. The MuCell Process has repeatedly delivered a cleaner and less labor-intensive option with equal or superior proven performance characteristics with a density as low as 0.15g/cc for TPU’s and excellent vertical resiliency, compression set, and long-term durability.
Not only is the shot-to-shot precision of the process a key factor in achieving superior quality in every mid sole, but Trexel’s proprietary and patent-pending Variable Dose Capability solves the problem of molding different shoe sizes on the same machine and adjusting gas dose automatically on the fly. This feature, which is critical to high volume shoe manufacturing provides a major productivity and quality enhancement beyond any system in the market presently.
Although Trexel has been supporting many shoe suppliers for years, there was no single integrated system solution available previously, leaving each supplier to design piecemeal and partial solutions individually. Trexel will continue to support shoe supplierswho choose to customize their own approach.
However, as a result of thepartnership with FCS (Fu Chun Shin Machinery Manufacturing Co., LTD), a Taiwan based multinational injection molding company, a fully integrated shoe manufacturing system has now been introduced to the market with the cell manufacturing, cell automation and a mold system provided by Tien Kang Co., Ltd. The GENTREX system has optimized overall production cycle time, while the integrated MuCell system assures unsurpassed repeatability to achieve the highest product quality.
Tien Kang was founded in 1982 and has spent 40 years in shoe sole equipment development and production. It is a global top 3 shoemanufacturing machinery provider, supplying equipment to 90 countries with more than 12,000 systems supporting over 25 major international footwear brands.
FCS was founded in 1974 with 48 years’ experience in development and production of injection molding machines. It has become a global company, with headquarters in Taiwan, 5 production sites, 30 direct sales office and 21 agents in 95 countries. It has sold more than 50,000 systems to over 8000 customers.
About Trexel, Inc.
Trexel, Inc., headquartered in Wilmington, MA, has led the development of the MuCell® microcellular foaming injection molding technology and has pioneered many plastic processing solutions. The MuCell® technology provides unique design flexibility and cost savings opportunities by allowing plastic part design with material wall thickness optimized for functionality and not for the injection molding process. The combination of density reduction and design for functionality often results in material and weight savings of more than 20%. The numerous cost and processing advantages have led to rapid global deployment of the MuCell® process in automotive, consumer electronics, medical, packaging and consumer goods applications. Process deployment as well as equipment is supported by teams of highly qualified engineers through Trexel subsidiaries in North America, Europe, and Asia.
For more information, please visit www.trexel.com.
MuCell® is a registered trademark of Trexel, Inc
GENTRX System pictured above with sample midsole shown below.
