Methods and apparatus for molding control

A method of forming plastic articles, comprising:

• operating a plurality of process stations comprising stations for dispensing molten molding material (102) and stations for forming molding material into a molded shape, wherein said operating comprises providing operating status communications from a controller (207), said communications identifying respective ones of said stations as having produced an output part, and ones of said stations ready to receive an input part to be processed;
• tracking an operating condition of each one of said plurality of process stations based on said communications;
• defining a path for each output part to a station ready to receive the respective input part to be processed;
• and
• moving each part along its respective route.

A method for use in molding articles comprising:

• moving each part of a plurality of parts along a respective selected one of a plurality of possible paths through a plurality of available process stations, wherein said process stations comprise dispensing stations (102) and molding stations, and each of said possible paths comprises a dispensing station and molding station;
• said selected one of a plurality of possible paths selected by, at a controller (204):
• tracking an operating condition of each of said process stations;
• selecting ones of said process stations capable of receiving a part for processing;
• identifying ones of said plurality of parts capable of processing at the selected process stations;
• assigning ones of said parts to ones of said process stations.

A molding system for forming plastic articles, the system comprising:

• a plurality of process stations each operable to receive an input part and produce an output part, the process stations comprising:
• at least one melt dispensing station (102) for dispensing molten molding material;
• and
• a plurality of shaping stations each for forming molding material into a molded shape;
• wherein output units from said at least one melt dispensing station are input units for said shaping stations
• a transport system (110) for selectively moving input and output parts between ones of said process stations;
• a controller (204) operable to:
• track an operating condition of each of said process stations;
• select ones of said process stations capable of receiving a part for processing;
• identify ones of said plurality of parts capable of processing at the selected process stations;
• assign ones of said parts to ones of said process stations.