Case Study
Rocheleau Tool’s Blow Molding Machines “Only Have to Run Forever”
First Released December, 2020
Rocheleau, a blow molding machine OEM out of Massachusetts, has a company motto: “fear no task”. It goes back four generations for the Rocheleau family, and it’s not just a statement. It’s a challenge: to innovate and make better products that bring new benefits to customers. And since the 1980s, Mitsubishi Electric has been their trusted partner.
Fear No Task
The company motto – Fear No Task – goes back four generations for the Rocheleau family. For them, it’s not just a statement. It’s a challenge: to innovate and make better products that bring new benefits to customers. As one of the top manufacturers of blow molding machines for the plastics and packaging industry, this motto has served them well.
Another thing that’s served them well? When they find a provider that consistently delivers the highest quality products, they tend to stick with them.
Rocheleau has been using Mitsubishi Electric controls exclusively since they moved from relay logic systems to programmable logic controllers (PLCs) in the late 1980s. Mitsubishi Electric controls are in every piece of equipment they produce. And they reliably control every aspect of operation:
- Motors
- Temperature
- Pneumatics
- Hydraulics
- And more
Kevin Hastings, Electrical Engineering Manager, 3rd Generation Co-Owner, and grandson of Rocheleau’s founder, says controls are like tires on a car. “No matter how well you build the car, if you have a flat tire it’s not going to drive down the street.” Kevin says, “Controls are even more important to machines than tires are to cars. If they break down, nothing is going to work at all.”
“Mitsubishi Electric products have proven to be extremely reliable and help us ensure that our equipment will keep on working as intended—and that our customers will keep on getting trouble-free operation.”
- Kevin Hastings, Electrical Engineering Manager
Rocheleau
If you drink juice or milk, put sugar in your coffee, use household cleaning or personal care products, you’ve probably used one of the containers created on Rocheleau machines. And these containers are created incredibly fast — especially when they are created on Rocheleau’s flagship machine: the RS-90 extrusion blow molding machine.
The Next Generation of Efficiency, Power and Speed
Rocheleau introduced its next-generation extrusion blow molding machine at the same time they celebrated their 80th year in business. This first-ever 6-head, 1-gallon blow molding machine fills a need in high-volume packing applications. It tackles tubs and larger bottles at significantly faster cycle times. How fast? It runs a six-cavity high-density polyethylene gallon in the mid six seconds range.
Mitsubishi Electric’s iQ-R Series PLCs ensure high productivity and consistent product quality.
Quality You Can Count On
On a handful of occasions, a customer for whatever reason asked Rocheleau to build a machine using a different brand of controls. Fortunately, in each case Kevin was able to talk them out of it. And the customers loved the machines and ordered more. The question of using different controls never came up again.
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Product and Solutions
Rocheleau Tool
- Founded: 1938
- Business: ROCHELEAU designs, builds, services, and operates highly productive and efficient blow molding machinery that is simple in design and exceptionally versatile.
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