As ultra large machines becoming popular, Haitian adds one in France | Plastics News

Bellignat, France-based Belli SAS is manufacturing products for home, garden, leisure and environmental uses on a much, much grander scale both physically and strategically.

Founded in 1957, the family-owned company has bolstered its capacity big time with arguably among the largest and most powerful injection molding machine on the planet: a 27.2-meter-long (89.2-foot) Haitian JU88000V with a clamping force of 88,000 kN (8,800 tons), an injection capacity of 134,000 cubic centimeters and a 300millimeter-diameter screw.

"I wanted to have no limits on the injection volume and told myself I would take the largest machine in the world so that I could produce very, very large parts," Belli's Managing Director Eric Chanal said.

Company officials plan important work for the impressive press's inaugural project.

Job No. 1 for the JU88000V is to support the water supply in regions of Europe with little rainfall, Chanal said. Belli is producing large plastic tanks to collect and store rainwater in drought-stricken areas, which are plentiful.

The European Union's Drought Observatory says some places have been dealing with drought conditions since 2018, particularly eastern Spain, southern Italy, southeast Poland, Greece, Ukraine, Southern Russia, Cyprus, Malta, Mediterranean islands and extensive areas of Turkey. In severe areas, receding waters have hampered food and energy production and some aquatic species have lost habitats.

Ultra-large machines are finding spaces on more factory floors, Ruan Jianbo, Haitian technical engineer, said in an email.

In the past, large unique machines tended to be dedicated to a specific project, but the JU88000 offers flexibility, Jianbo said. Custom molders like Belli SAS can use it for different products and projects.

For example, for HDPE material, the amount of material injected into the mold cavity during a single cycle can be up to 98 kilograms (216 pounds).

"These larger machines are addressing complex designs with precision and accuracy. The big machines often allow molders to consolidate separate parts to gain production efficiency," Jianbo said.

Also, newer machine designs are passing the test for structural integrity and durability, even under intense force and pressure, Jianbo said.

While 88,000 kN is the rated clamping force of the JU88000, it can reach a maximum of 100,000 kN, Jianbo said.

He teased about plans for Haitian's next big feat.

"The success of JU88000V has gained us valuable experience for the development and manufacturing of ultra-large, two-platen machines for Haitian," Jianbo said. "The world's largest application of a 300-millimeter-diameter screw and barrel has also provided a benchmark for the industry."

The two-platen JU88000V machine-building process took a year, and the outcome is practical verification of Haitian technology, according to Jianbo.

The footprint of the giant machine is 27.2 by 9.5 by 6.1 meters (89.2 by 31.1 by 20 feet).

The clamping platen is 5,560 by 4,920 by 1,990 mm (18.2 by 16.1 by 6.5 feet) and weighs 138 tons.

The injection unit is 13,498 by 2,514 by 2,665 (44.3 by 8.2 by 8.7 feet) and weighs 85 tons.

The machine bed weight of the clamping unit is 40 tons, and the injection unit is 9 tons with a total weight of 630 tons.

The JU88000V can handle a range of mold sizes thanks to the maximum tie-bar distance of 3,400 by 2,820 mm (133.9 by 111 inches) as well as mold thicknesses from 1,000 to 3,500 mm (39.4 to 137.8 inches).

There is no precise data of wires, but about 26,000 meters (about 16 miles) was used.

Jianbo said Haitian adopts communication technology to improve response speed and reduce the volume of wires used to build machines.

The JU88000V was designed and built in China, then disassembled and shipped to Belli SAS in France and reassembled.

Talks about the tall order started in October 2022, when Belli officials expressed interest in a large-tonnage JU88000.

Haitian International put together a team of staff experts to organize the research and development work.

After the order was placed in December 2022, four months of design demonstration, partial testing and verification followed to develop the entire machine.

The builders got to work and completed the giant press in October 2023 — one year from the design phase.

Pouring and processing the platen casting was difficult, Jianbo said, with the weight of a single platen casting being more than 140 tons.

"The platen lifting and flipping were matched with lifting tools, and the most experienced and professional team was deployed to accomplish this," Jianbo said.

The JU88000V was handed off to Belli from Haitian's headquarters operations in Ningbo, China, in October 2023.

Haitian staff then had to get the product to the customer, setting what company officials said was another milestone for a large-scale machine being shipped from China to a European industrialized country.

"The transportation of oversized and overweight components posed a huge challenge, and a customized dismantling and packing transportation plan had to be developed," Jianbo said.

The moving operation began with 17 trucks hauling the machine and peripherals parts weighing a total of 800 tons to port. The cargo left Taicang Port, Shanghai, China, to Foss, France, by ship and then was transported to the customer site in Oyonnax through the inland canal.

"Such logistics always provide challenges, of course. But the coordination and planning in the end turned out to be really detailed and well organized," Jianbo said.

Haitian staff from China and Europe, primarily SAS Haitian France, were among the engineering and manufacturing personnel on the technical team. They worked continuously for five weeks on the installation.

"The height of the machine exceeds 6 meters (19.7 feet), which poses significant safety requirements for the entire assembly process," Jianbo said. "We configured high-altitude operation tools, safety protection tools, etc., to assemble the machine safely."

The installation team included Hu Zesong, Wang Kai, Lai Xuewei, Zheng Boyu, Zhou Jiawang, Toledo Melvin, Titouan Rameaux and Swen Koller.

Haitian first exported an injection molding machine to Europe in 1989 to a customer in Greece, and now the company has sales, service and customers in almost every country in Europe.

"With the JU88000 project, Haitian has earned trust from European customers to successfully implement special projects in addition to our standard machines," Jianbo said.

Haitian International Germany GmbH

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