Brazilian Injection Molding Factory Case Study: 44% Energy Savings with ZILLION Hopper Dryer and Crusher System
Location: Sao Paulo State, Brazil | Industry: Plastic Injection Molding for Consumer Packaging | Equipment Upgraded: Industrial Hopper Dryer, Heavy Duty Plastic Crusher, Vacuum Autoloader
A medium-sized injection molding facility located in the industrial corridor of Sao Paulo State — Brazil's largest manufacturing hub — operates 22 injection molding machines ranging from 80 tons to 850 tons clamping force. The factory employs 280 workers across two production shifts and produces plastic packaging components for the food and beverage, personal care, and household products industries. Founded in 2008, the company has grown steadily to become one of approximately 3,500 injection molding companies operating in Brazil's $28 billion plastics processing industry.
By early 2023, the factory faced a combination of cost pressures that were compressing margins across the Brazilian plastics sector: rising electricity costs driven by the worst drought in decades affecting Brazil's hydroelectric generation capacity, increasing competition from imported finished packaging products entering Brazil at aggressive price points, and a 23% devaluation of the Brazilian Real against the US dollar that was driving up the cost of imported raw materials and equipment.
A comprehensive operational and financial review conducted in April 2023 identified three cost centers that together represented the most significant opportunities for margin recovery:
The factory's 14 smaller injection molding machines (80-350 tons) were equipped with individual desiccant hopper dryers that had been installed when the machines were originally commissioned — in some cases over 12 years ago. These legacy dryers operated on fixed heating cycles regardless of the actual moisture content of the material being processed, resulting in significant energy waste. Testing with a moisture analyzer revealed that the dryers were consuming an average of 35% more energy than was necessary for the material grades in regular production.
Brazil's industrial electricity tariffs — among the highest in Latin America at approximately BRL 0.85 per kWh (~$0.17 USD) following the 2022-2023 drought-driven tariff increases — meant that the excess energy consumption of the aging dryers was directly translating to a measurable cost disadvantage. The combined energy consumption of all hopper dryers was averaging 127 kW during production, representing a monthly electricity cost of approximately BRL 81,500 ($16,300 USD).
The factory used a combination of manual bag-fed material loading and a central pneumatic conveying system for its larger machines. The manual feeding process — in which operators transported 25 kg bags of virgin resin from the storage area to each machine's hopper — was creating three distinct problems. First, operators were frequently overfilling hoppers, causing material spillage on the production floor that created slip hazards and attracted pest activity. Second, the inconsistent feeding rates from manual operation were contributing to batch-to-batch variation in part weight and quality. Third, the repetitive lifting tasks were generating ergonomic strain injuries: the factory's occupational health records showed an average of 4 work-related musculoskeletal injury incidents per year directly attributed to manual material handling, at an average cost of BRL 12,000 per incident including sick leave and medical treatment.
The factory's 22 injection molding machines generated approximately 18 tons per month of sprues, runners, and start-up reject material. This material was collected by a licensed industrial waste contractor and transported to a landfill. With Brazilian regulations on industrial waste disposal becoming more stringent — and landfill fees in Sao Paulo increasing by an average of 18% per year since 2020 — the monthly cost of waste disposal had risen from BRL 14,000 ($2,800 USD) in 2020 to approximately BRL 22,000 ($4,400 USD) per month by early 2023. At this trajectory, costs were projected to reach BRL 30,000 per month by 2025.
Following a competitive tender process in Q2 2023, the factory selected ZILLION to supply and install a comprehensive material drying and recycling upgrade. The evaluation criteria weighted three factors equally: energy efficiency specifications, total installed cost including Brazilian import duties, and the supplier's track record with injection molding applications in Latin America.
The ZILLION solution comprised:
The ZILLION system was designed around a centralized drying architecture: each new ZL-150KG hopper dryer was connected to the factory's existing central resin storage silos via the ZLAL autoloaders, with the dryers mounted directly at each machine position. The variable-cycle PID control system continuously monitors the moisture content of the material being processed and automatically adjusts the drying cycle — eliminating the over-drying that had been characteristic of the legacy fixed-cycle dryers.
The three ZL-PC400 crushers were installed at dedicated stations within the production area, each serving a cluster of 7-8 injection molding machines. The crushed recycled material from the crushers is fed back into the production stream via the autoloader system, replacing an equivalent amount of virgin resin in the machine feed at a blend ratio of up to 25% recycled to 75% virgin — a ratio that the factory's quality team verified as acceptable for all product grades through laboratory testing.
The ZILLION equipment was shipped from Dongguan to the Port of Santos and cleared through Brazilian customs with the support of ZILLION's Brazilian import agent, who handled all INMETRO certification documentation and federal import duty classifications. Total delivery time from order confirmation to arrival at the factory was 11 weeks.
Installation was completed over three phases between August and October 2023, with each phase targeting a specific group of machines to minimize production disruption. The first phase (machines 1-8) was commissioned in late August, the second phase (machines 9-16) in September, and the final phase (machines 17-22) in October. Operator training was provided on-site over 5 days, covering dryer operation, PID cycle adjustment, crusher blade maintenance, and autoloader troubleshooting.
The ZL-150KG dryers with variable-cycle PID control demonstrated average power consumption of 5.2 kW per unit during production — compared to 8.1 kW for the legacy dryers operating continuously at full heating power. Across the 10 installed units, the combined average power consumption was 52 kW versus 81 kW for the previous dryers — a reduction of 36% in absolute power consumption, or 44% when normalized to the production output (kWh per kg of finished product processed).
The monthly electricity cost for the drying system fell from BRL 81,500 ($16,300 USD) to BRL 45,600 ($9,120 USD) — a reduction of BRL 35,900 ($7,180 USD) per month. Annualized, this represents approximately BRL 430,800 ($86,160 USD) in energy savings.
With the ZL-PC400 crushers processing sprues and reject material back into the production stream at a 25% recycled blend ratio, the factory reduced its consumption of virgin resin by approximately 5.2 tons per month — equivalent to approximately 26.5 tons annually. At an average virgin resin price of BRL 18,500 per ton (~$3,700 USD), this represents an annualized material cost saving of approximately BRL 96,200 ($19,240 USD).
It is notable that this saving was achieved without any reduction in finished product quality: tensile strength testing and dimensional inspection data from the factory's QC laboratory showed no statistically significant difference between parts produced at the 25% recycled blend ratio and those produced from 100% virgin material.
The installation of ZLAL vacuum autoloaders eliminated the manual bag-fed material loading process for all 22 machines. Operators were retrained and redeployed to machine tending and quality inspection roles. In the 12-month period following full commissioning (November 2023 to October 2024), the factory recorded zero work-related musculoskeletal injuries from material handling — compared to an average of 4 per year in the preceding three-year period.
The occupational health improvement also generated a quantifiable financial benefit: avoiding the average 4 injuries per year at an average cost of BRL 12,000 per incident represents an annual saving of approximately BRL 48,000 ($9,600 USD) in incident-related costs.
With the ZL-PC400 crushers processing approximately 15.5 tons per month of sprues and rejects back into the production stream, the volume of material requiring external waste disposal fell from 18 tons per month to approximately 2.5 tons per month. Monthly waste disposal costs fell from BRL 22,000 ($4,400 USD) to BRL 3,700 ($740 USD) — an 83% reduction representing annualized savings of approximately BRL 219,600 ($43,920 USD).
Against total project investment (hoppers, crushers, autoloaders, installation, commissioning, import duties, and INMETRO certification) of approximately BRL 1,280,000 ($256,000 USD), the combined annualized savings from energy reduction (BRL 430,800), material cost reduction (BRL 96,200), injury prevention (BRL 48,000), and waste disposal savings (BRL 219,600) totaled approximately BRL 794,600. The simple payback period was 11.2 months — comfortably within the factory's two-year capital investment criteria.
| Metric | Before | After | Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dryer Power Consumption (10 units) | 81 kW | 52 kW | 36% reduction |
| Energy Cost per kg Processed | Baseline | -44% | 44% reduction |
| Annual Energy Savings | — | BRL 430,800 | $86,160 USD |
| Virgin Resin Reduction (annual) | — | 26.5 tons | 25% recycled blend |
| Annual Material Cost Savings | — | BRL 96,200 | $19,240 USD |
| Material Handling Injuries (annual) | 4 incidents | 0 incidents | 100% reduction |
| Monthly Waste Disposal Volume | 18 tons | 2.5 tons | 86% reduction |
| Annual Waste Disposal Savings | — | BRL 219,600 | $43,920 USD |
| Total Investment | — | BRL 1,280,000 | — |
| Total Annual Savings | — | BRL 794,600 | 11.2-month payback |
The factory's operations director cited four factors in selecting ZILLION:
Following the success of the Phase 1 upgrade, the factory has budgeted for Phase 2 in 2025 that will extend the centralized autoloader system to the remaining 12 machines not covered in Phase 1, and evaluate the installation of ZILLION MTCs to replace the aging temperature controllers on the factory's precision tooling machines.
Operating an injection molding or plastic manufacturing facility in Latin America? Contact the ZILLION team for a free production audit and customized proposal tailored to your material drying, material handling, and recycling requirements.
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