Much has changed in the 25 years since our founding. Back then there were only about 100,000 websites, whereas today there are over half a billion! Smartphones had not been invented yet and the electric and autonomous car was only a feature in an Asimov story.
Developments in injection quality control
Plastic injection and injection sub-contracting in which we specialize also advanced significantly during this period. The products we manufatured in the past were simpler, did not require high-level precision measurement, and tolerance to changes in the product was much higher. Moreover, quality control was documented manually and decisions regarding the measurement results were based on less accurate parameters. At Rion and Plastokit there are still people who remember this period and who have accompanied the company and the changes in this field. Our Quality Control Manager at Plastokit, Alina, has worked at the company for over 20 years and has accompanied it from manual recording back then all the way to currently available optical scans and accurate spatial measurements. “Today our department at Plastokit is comprised of seven team members. Four are quality inspectors working down on the production lines and the others service the laboratory. This tight quality control enables us to rapidly detect defects and to reduce scrap and rejects to a minimum. Our plant engineer, Dimitri Gorenstein, also joins the undertaking and provides support with the advanced equipment we received recently”.
We will note here that Rion’s quality control team includes eight controllers, managed by Mazal Rosillio, in addition to quality production line inspectors headed by Rami Subih.
Outfitted with new equipment
Recent changes in the quality control field provide new capabilities to the entire Rion Group. The two new CMM – Coordinate Measuring Machines (XYZ) we received in recent months, are the highlight. These very days the quality control team at Plastokit, along with the plant engineers Dimitri and Elad, are preparing them into ongoing operation at Plastokit and Rion. “The new equipment was obtained owing to the demands of our customers who are transitioning to more complex and precise products that require tighter quality control. The machine is intended for quick and accurate measurement of relatively large parts and for simultaneous measurement of several products in multi-cavity molds. This saves significant work time and provides improved quality results compared to what we were used to in the past when we only worked with manual measurement and gauges. Another advantage is the reduced dependence on the quality of the inspector, and we increasingly rely on more objective methods”, says Dimitri.

Integrating technology for optimal measurement
The new equipment joins the optical measuring machine acquired for Plastokit about two years ago. This machine is intended for smaller parts and can provide rapid and good information about the external contour of the part and other visible contours. For example, let’s take a specific product that has 96 sockets for test tubes. In the past, the quality control inspection time was two hours, using gauges and manual measurement devices for each socket. Now, owing to the optical equipment, quality control of this product takes only 8 minutes and is more accurate. These two technologies complement each other and constitute a quantum leap for Rion Industries with respect to quality control measurements.

It is important to note that Rion also has an x-ray machine that helps detect internal voids in the injected part. Thus, the combined measurement of the external part along with x-ray measurement of the internal injected parts provides a complete picture of both the measurements of the external part and the quality of the internal injection.
Accurate measurement without smart analysis – is only half the job!
At Rion, innovative equipment and advanced measurement is not enough. The company added another significant process in recent years – smart analysis of the measurement results, in order to find the sensitive points and understand which routine measurements are no longer needed. This process saves precious time for both Rion and the end customer.
This is carried out using advanced software developed in Israel by Amos Shavit and is already in use by several leading companies in Israel: DTMA – Dimension Tolerances Measurements Analysis. Amos, one of the leading injection experts in Israel, has worked with Plastokit for many years. He also accompanies the company’s quality control and measurement management. “Obtaining measurement results without their smart analysis is only part of what is needed. Combining advanced equipment with software for analyzing the measurement results enables us to streamline and improve our quality control”, says Amos. He goes on to add that “Even though production at the plant has increased significantly in recent years, this improved efficiency enables us to meet the growth without having to expand our quality control team. Tests that took hours to perform are completed within a few minutes. The time saved for every product is significant and quality is not impaired, on the contrary, it improves”.
Both quality and efficiency
Thus, by combining advanced measurement capabilities and innovative data analysis capabilities we take quality control at Rion to a new level. In fact, we enjoy the best of both worlds, both streamlining the process and improving the ability to meet tolerances and product quality requirements.
