Reliable, Sustainable Manufacturing Machinery Through Innovation Partnership

Industrial manufacturing is turning to more energy-efficient machinery, without sacrificing reliability and production output. Husky Technologies and HARTING both have pioneering and innovative DNA, so collaboration is a natural fit.

Together, the two companies have demonstrated the power of co-engineering and innovation between two global manufacturing leaders.

Husky Technologies was founded in 1953 as a small machine shop in Toronto, Canada. Since then, the company has grown into a global leader in the development and manufacture of injection molding technology and solutions. Today, Husky operates in over 140 countries, with 35 locations around the world and a workforce of over 4,000 employees.

With its focus on finding ways to meet the world’s sustainability goals, Husky has become the go-to manufacturer for high-performance systems for packaging, medical, and consumer goods. One example is their next generation HyPET®6e, the flagship injection molding system which combines their proven technology with unprecedented standards in energy reduction and sustainability.

“We see it as our role to lead the message globally with our customers [that] we’re going to make equipment that is the lowest carbon footprint material,” says Husky CEO, Brad Selleck.

“That’s why we’ve designed our new HyPET®6e to use 100% recycled content,” he says. “Our focus is around that sustainable and circular economy and how to make sure that we’re designing all our equipment to … reduce the overall impact to the environment while minimizing natural resources.”

To meet these goals, Husky leverages HARTING custom cable assembly kits for quick and easy installation. HARTING’s rugged connectors and cordsets are used for power, signal, and temperature readings to ensure maximum efficiency. Their reliability also helps to extend the life of Husky machines, maximize uptime, and reduce maintenance time.

“HARTING and Husky are committed to providing innovative, sustainable technology, and our long-standing partnership emphasizes how collaborative efforts lead to better results,” adds Selleck.

Built into Husky’s product design processes is an aggressive approach to innovation. The company keeps a regular cadence of evaluating their equipment to stay ahead of new trends and manufacturing technologies.

“Innovation is very important for Husky,” Roman Pirog, Vice President, Innovation and Sustainability. “Husky is a technology company, and we actually keep a cadence of 18 to 24 months on innovating our products to keep our customers always in the lead.”

Real-Time Monitoring for Optimized Machinery

All of their newer systems, including the HyPET®6e, are equipped with the remote monitoring service Advantage+EliteTM. With this platform, systems report real-time, proactive, and predictive performance analytics to users.

“As we monitor and detect that something is not [operating at optimal performance], we call [the customer],” explains Pirog. “Uptime is [vital] for our customers; they require reliability and performance from our systems.”

More Performance in Less Footprint

The innovation teams at Husky often work with their HARTING counterparts to find inventive solutions to common challenges. Increasing output in less physical space is a growing puzzle for many manufacturers.

“Space constraints have become a challenge in the last few years,” says Pirog. “With smaller format connectors, HARTING solutions have made us manageable in terms of finding space for our product and making it work.”

Future-Proof Designs

A consequence of so much industrial innovation is that facilities evolve over time. Husky has found that HARTING’s connectors, especially its Han® Series, allows manufacturers to easily and quickly modify their plant floors without risking connectivity issues.

“Where HARTING assists us is that we have customers that do many tool changes and require equipment for fast-changeover and not having to troubleshoot connections is important,” says Pirog. “That’s where reliable connectivity is important.”

Setting the Standard for Controllers

Husky’s Industry 4.0-ready Altanium® Mold Controllersalso heavily rely on HARTING connectors, electrical inserts, and full cable assemblies. The most integrated platform available, these mold controllers offer single-point operation and control of hot-runner temperature, mold servo, and valve gate sequencing. The two companies have worked to advance this specific product portfolio over their partnership, significantly pushing controller intelligence for the whole molding industry.