Vietnamese Injection Molding Factory Case Study: 28% Energy Cost Reduction with ZILLION Auxiliary Equipment
Location: Binh Duong Province, Vietnam | Industry: Plastic Injection Molding | Equipment Upgraded: Industrial Chiller, Mold Temperature Controller, Plastic Crusher, Vacuum Autoloader
Established in 2015, this Vietnamese injection molding factory specializes in producing plastic components for the automotive and electronics industries. With a workforce of 120 employees and a production floor housing 12 injection molding machines ranging from 180 tons to 1,000 tons clamping force, the company supplies major manufacturers across Southeast Asia and the Pacific region.
By early 2024, the factory was operating at near-full capacity — producing approximately 850 tons of finished plastic parts per month — but faced mounting pressure from rising energy costs and increasing quality demands from their OEM customers.
During a comprehensive operational audit conducted in March 2024, the factory management team identified three critical inefficiencies:
The factory relied on a 15-year-old water-cooled chiller system with a nominal cooling capacity of 480 kW. The unit operated at an average energy efficiency ratio (EER) of 2.8 — significantly below modern standards, which typically achieve EER values of 4.0 or higher. The chiller consumed approximately 171 kW of electrical power during normal operation, contributing to monthly energy costs that had risen by 34% compared to the same period two years prior.
The factory's eight smaller injection molding machines (180-350 tons) were equipped with aging open-loop temperature controllers. These units lacked precise feedback control, resulting in mold temperature fluctuations of ±8°C during production runs. This inconsistency directly contributed to a defect rate of 3.2% — well above the 1.0% threshold demanded by their automotive industry customers. Monthly scrap costs averaged $4,800, and quality rejection penalties had begun to appear in customer chargeback reports.
Plastic raw materials were manually transported and loaded into each machine's hopper by two dedicated operators per shift. This approach created inconsistent feeding rates, material contamination risks, and limited the ability to run lights-out production on selected machines during off-peak hours.
Following a competitive tender process, the factory selected ZILLION as their auxiliary equipment supplier based on the equipment specifications, EXW pricing from Dongguan, and the availability of technical support in Vietnam through a regional distributor.
The upgrade package, installed between April and June 2024, included:
The ZILLION technical team worked alongside the factory's maintenance engineers during a planned maintenance shutdown in May 2024. Each MTC was installed and PID parameters tuned for the specific mold configurations in use. The new chiller was piped into the central cooling circuit, replacing the legacy unit. Autoloaders were connected to the existing material storage silos with new conveying lines installed to each machine position.
Total installation and commissioning took 18 days across two phases, with only 3 days of total production downtime — primarily during the chiller swap-over.
After a three-month stabilization period, the new ZILLION ZL-80HP chiller demonstrated a verified average power consumption of 67 kW — a 61% reduction from the previous system's 171 kW. Normalized to production output, the cooling energy consumption per kilogram of finished product fell from 0.201 kWh/kg to 0.079 kWh/kg.
At the factory's electricity rate of $0.09 USD per kWh, the annualized cooling energy savings amounted to approximately $74,500 USD. Payback on the chiller investment alone was achieved in under 11 months.
The installation of ZILLION MTCs with PID-controlled temperature regulation reduced mold temperature fluctuation from ±8°C to ±0.5°C across all eight upgraded machines. This dramatic improvement in process stability had immediate quality benefits:
With more stable mold temperatures, cycle times on the affected machines decreased by an average of 12% as temperature-related defects (short shots, flash, warpage) were eliminated. Combined with the reliable, continuous material feeding from the ZLAL autoloaders, the factory achieved an 18% increase in monthly output — from 850 tons to over 1,000 tons — without investing in any new injection molding machines.
The two operators previously dedicated to manual material handling were retrained and redeployed to quality inspection roles, supporting the expanded production volume with no net headcount increase.
| Metric | Before | After | Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chiller Energy Consumption | 171 kW | 67 kW | 61% reduction |
| Annual Cooling Energy Cost | $266,000 USD | $191,500 USD | 28% reduction |
| Mold Temp Fluctuation | ±8°C | ±0.5°C | 93% reduction |
| Product Defect Rate | 3.2% | 1.0% | 68% reduction |
| Monthly Scrap Cost | $4,800 USD | $900 USD | 81% reduction |
| Monthly Output | 850 tons | 1,003 tons | 18% increase |
| Equipment Payback Period | — | 11 months | Within warranty |
The factory's procurement manager cited three decisive factors in choosing ZILLION:
Following the success of Phase 1, the factory has approved a Phase 2 upgrade for 2025 that will extend ZILLION MTCs to the remaining four larger machines (500-1,000 tons), add two additional crushers for their growing recycled material processing line, and install a centralized cooling tower system to serve the entire facility.
Ready to explore how ZILLION auxiliary equipment can reduce your production costs? Contact the ZILLION engineering team for a free equipment audit and customized proposal for your injection molding operation.
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