In this exhibitor interview, we caught up with Ken Van Nimwegen, Global Sales Manager - TCS from Alkegen. 

Alkegen (formerly Unifrax and Lydall) creates high performance specialty materials used in advanced applications including electric vehicles, energy storage, filtration, fire protection and high-temperature insulation, among many others. Alkegen products are designed with the ultimate goal of saving energy, reducing pollution, and improving safety for people, buildings and equipment by delivering on their mission of helping the world breathe easier, live greener and go further than ever before. 

What do you think sets your company apart from your competitors?

Our high efficiency radiant heaters represent the next generation of heating technology for injection molding barrels.  The heaters control and contain the heat to reduce energy consumption by 40%, allow for faster start-up and improve the working environment for shop floor employees.  By reducing energy consumption our products also reduce CO2 emissions, a stated-goal of many world-class manufacturing sites.

Are there any new technology developments that your company is working on at the moment?

We’re continually evolving our product line based on customer feedback and market demand and will introduce some new design and implementation tools later this year.

What are the biggest challenges facing the injection molding industry today and how can this be overcome?

Reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions is on everyone’s mind, as it should be, and there are many technologies, both material and process related, to address these challenges.  Identifying the right projects to make the most impact, given limited resources, is real core challenge.

How do you see the sector developing in the next five to ten years?

Material changes, to employ reclaimed materials, while maintaining final product characteristics, and containing costs, will very likely be a key factor in most all five-year strategies.

You are exhibiting at the Injection Molding and Design Expo, what are you most looking forward to? 

Our goal is to raise market awareness of how impactful thermal management of barrel heating is on process consistency, manufacturing flexibility and energy consumption, and of course what can be done to improve on the traditional approach to barrel heating.