How to Optimize your Injection Molding Process despite the Skilled Labor Shortages

Whether it's tool setting, process optimization, or troubleshooting defects – today, there is often one thing missing at crucial interfaces in injection molding production: experience. The manufacturing labor shortage hits exactly where expertise is indispensable.

ENGEL is responding to this challenge with two powerful injection molding software solutions that support operators when it matters most:

• The process checklist – for systematic and traceable optimization

• The solution guide – for confident action in the event of alarms and component errors

Both tools bring expert knowledge directly to the machine – ensuring smooth production and enabling manufacturers to consistently produce high-quality injection molded parts, even with less experienced staff.

Production shops are running, molds are being changed, and new components are arriving. This is exactly where success is determined.

At a time of skilled labor shortages, the following challenging questions sometimes arise:

• Has the injection mold been set up correctly?

• Were all process optimization steps followed?

• When a machine malfunction occurred, was the correct response taken – or was the machine simply restarted?

In the past, experts routinely caught such errors. Today, these minds are missing – and with them, often the knowledge of what is "right" and "wrong." The consequences: scrap, tool damage, production delays.

The digitization of knowledge is becoming the key to closing this gap and continuing to produce error-free injection molded plastic parts.

The process checklist is your smart roadmap through every optimization at the injection molding machine. Directly within the machine control system, it guides you through all relevant steps – from initial setup to final fine-tuning:

• Which digital iQ products are active?

• What has already been optimized – what is still missing?

• Which measures lead most quickly to stable series production?

The process checklist can be flexibly adaptable to company-specific standards, offers transparent documentation, and is ideal for shift changes or series launches under time pressure.

Real-world example: A sampling technician starts the optimization – and his colleague can pick up exactly where he left off a few days later. No paperwork. No friction losses.

The result: less friction loss, less friction loss, greater repeatability, and higher reliability in the injection molding process – delivering high-quality injection molded parts even without experienced personnel.

The Solution guide is the smart answer to typical problems in everyday production.

• Which alarm occurred and what does it specifically mean?

• What steps must be taken now?

• Who is the right contact person? Setup personnel, an expert, or a shift supervisor?

• What happens if the expert is currently unavailable? Does the machine stop, or can production continue safely?

• What information or documentation is available directly at the alarm?

• What are the risks if the machine is simply restarted without a proper inspection?

• How can we ensure that good parts are produced directly after the restart?

• How can we prevent tool damage or production downtime caused by improper startup?

That is now a thing of the past. The solution guide links alarms to specific instructions and recommendations for action. Costly mistakes are prevented. The machine will not restart until the defined work instruction has been confirmed. Component defects from quality control can also be integrated.

Real-world example: A new employee is standing at the machine and notices that the part has not been fully ejected. But he doesn’t know what to do. Instead of simply restarting the machine, he can a message via a “Part defect – not ejected” button trigger on the control panel. The machine detects the error and automatically generates a part defect alarm. The appropriate instructions appear immediately in the solution guide for troubleshooting. The employee works through a checklist, carries out the recommended measures, and restarts production correctly and safely. This prevents someone from simply acknowledging the error, restarting the machine, and thereby causing mold damage, rejects, or production downtime.

Result: Standardized error elimination, informed action – and error-free injection molding of plastic parts, even without years of experience. Process knowledge is retained, and ENGEL now offers this capability.

In addition to the process checklist and the solution guide, ENGEL supports you with additional digital assistance systems and solutions in your production – to counteract the shortage of skilled workers and enable rapid process optimization.

iQ weight control plus noticeably reduces complexity during setup by cutting more than 40 process parameters down to just two values: pressure and time. This makes injection molding process optimization straightforward, especially for less experienced employees, since the system automatically manages complex control tasks. As a result, stable processes are reproducible and manufacturers can start producing high-quality injection molded parts without relying on years of specialist knowledge.

iQ process observer monitors up to 500 process variables simultaneously, detecting deviations before they become rejects. For companies facing the manufacturing labor shortage, this is a game changer and highlights how skilled labor shortage digitalization is reshaping production: the injection molding software analyzes processes, suggests improvements, and provides continuous oversight without requiring a permanent expert at the machine.

Parameter-Limits ensures that processes remain stable – even without constant monitoring. With Parameter-Limits, permissible tolerance ranges for process parameters can be precisely defined and stored directly in the control system. The function prevents unwanted changes by inexperienced operators and ensures that critical settings are not accidentally overwritten. This is a real safety anchor, especially in times of skilled labor shortages in production. Parameter knowledge is protected, process stability is guaranteed, and plastic parts are injection molded without errors, even with changing personnel.

What used to rely on years of experience is now backed by injection molding software. What was once individual knowledge is now accessible to the entire team. ENGEL brings expertise directly to where it’s needed: to the machine. In production. At night. At the start of series runs. In the event of a breakdown. During setup.

Digitalization creates a new level of reliability – helping ensure that injection-molded plastic parts can be produced detect-free even in the face of a skilled labor shortage.

Then check out the blog article, “Digitalization: a solution for skilled labor shortages & energy efficiency”, to learn about further digital tools, or discover our injection molding training courses, which will help you build expert knowledge and practical experience.