What Our Customers Have to Say About the VDU^® Control
For Van Dorn Legacy Machines

We recently upgraded our 500 ton HT press with a VDU control. This upgrade has provided us with many benefits unavailable with the old controller. Through the use of injection profile we have virtually eliminated burns, shorts, and splay. Our process time has been optimized through our ability to accurately control mold movement speed and positioning. This also improves the life of toggle bushings, platen ways, and tie bars. Also, the ability to back up process parameters on external flash drives has reduced the downtime associated with reprogramming lost data. All in all, the VDU upgrade has given us a great productivity increase and has rapidly paid for itself.

Scott Hall
Progressive Dynamics Inc.
Marshall, MI

Zack Brigman (left) and Chuck Forcum of Country Plastics, Inc.

We had a 1992, 500-ton HT sitting basically idle in the plant. The VDU brought it back to life   — it gave us another usable machine. Our old HT now has all the new control capabilities. It’s an open platform, updatable system so they can email us software updates or add-ons for special requirements and we can just upload them on the spot.

The VDU is very straightforward and it has a large touchscreen that's easy to use. You can get all sorts of documentation — it’s 100 times better. It stores all the setup info, notes, flow-charts, etc. We’re molding about 18 different parts with it and mold setup and changeover are a lot faster now.

Not only do we have another viable machine, but we’re making cycle time improvements on our parts because we can make finer adjustments, like parameters on injection steps, and we can fine tune things on the fly. We’re able to improve precision, too, because we can set and mold within tighter tolerances.

From a productivity standpoint alone, we would estimate the VDU would pay for itself in about a year. But for us, the payback was immediate.

Chuck Forcum
Country Plastics, Inc.
Woodlake, CA

This has to be the best control on the market. Our new VDU has taken an older machine and instantly raised its production value to that of a brand new machine for a tenth of the cost. For Process Molding it controls exactly how you want it, and everyone in the shop really enjoys using the machine. We've seen up to a 12% reduction in cycle time with basically zero scrap. We wish we would have done this long ago! Every job we put in there runs flawlessly, and restarts are making good parts within 1 to 2 shots.

Brian Vrankar
Endura Plastics
Kirtland, OH

There was a significant decrease in cycle time after the installation of the VDU — documented cycle time went from 65 seconds to 50 seconds. The VDU is more user-friendly, has easier displays for navigation, and it is easier to track your process and cycle data. Because of its user- friendliness, it takes all of the guesswork out of it — an inexperienced person can walk over and easily load a setup. The VDU makes it much easier for maintenance to track down problems due to ease of visibility of inputs and outputs.

Mike McKinley
Pier-Mac Plastics
Portland, IN

The serviceman came in, pulled off the old controller and had the machine back up and running by the end of the week. Our operators like it a lot better.

Jerry Wilson
Emerson Appliance Control
Frankfort, IN

Haven't had any issues — running smooth from day one.

Matty Tramuto
Van Blarcom Closures, Inc.
Brooklyn, NY

The VDU has been working out real well — we love it. It has been very easy for newer operators to learn.

Victor James
Utex Industries, Inc.
Houston, TX

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