In order to calculate a ball screw abrasion amount of an injection-axis ball screw or a mold-clamping-axis ball screw, a position of a ball nut fitted to the ball screw is photographed by a camera installed in an injection molding machine. Then, if the photographed position of the ball nut is found, as a result of analysis of an image captured by the camera, to be deviated from the position of the ball nut when a ball screw has no abrasion, it is determined that the ball screw is abraded.

A distortion sensor is provided on each of a plurality of tie bars and the extension amount of each tie bar is detected by the distortion sensor thereof, whereby a mold clamping force actually applied to a mold is measured. This measurement specifies the part of the mold that first opens and obtains a minimum mold clamping force that does not open the mold in that part. The minimum mold clamping force thus obtained is the minimum mold clamping force that does not open the mold without being influenced by factors such as the shape and the arrangement of a cavity in the mold and the mold clamping force balance of a mold clamping part of an injection molding machine.

A method may comprise generating a first electronic model of a workpiece to be manufactured using an injection-molding process. The first electronic model may then be analyzed and the workpiece in the first electronic model may then be selectively distorted according to the analysis. A second electronic model of the distorted workpiece may then be generated. The workpiece may then be injection-molded within a mold generated using the second electronic model. Thereafter, the workpiece may be cooled such that the injection-molded workpiece gradually assumes the shape or substantially the shape of the workpiece in the first electronic model.

A injection molding method involves measuring, using at least one external sensor, a change in a parameter of a mold side of a mold cavity, approximating a condition within the mold cavity based on the change in the parameter, such as pressure within the mold cavity or flow front position, and comparing the approximated condition to a trigger point,. If the approximated condition equals or exceeds the trigger point, activating a virtual cavity sensor having an optimal pre-defined pressure-time curve, and upon activation, the virtual cavity sensor tracks an approximated condition calculated from the change in parameter measurements measured by the at least one external sensor over time. In an embodiment, results of the approximated parameter tracking can be used in conjunction with an optimal pre-defined pressure-time curve.

A molding management system that manages production of a product in a production process including an injection molding process of the product by an injection molding device, the molding management system includes a server communicably connected to a terminal device, wherein the server includes a storage section configured to store one or more sets of lot information in which lot identification information for identifying a lot of the product and lot related information including one or more sets of information relating to the lot of the product are associated with each other and a control section configured to cause the terminal device to display a nonconforming product information addition image for receiving a nonconforming product information addition operation for adding, to the lot information that indicates a target lot that was selected from the lots indicated by each of one or more sets of the lot information stored in the storage section, nonconforming product information including nonconforming product quantity information indicating the number of nonconforming products.

A sensor device includes: a sensor that performs sensing, the sensor being disposed between a surface of a target object, which is a magnetic metal member serving as a sensing target, and a magnet, and being fixed to the surface of the target object by an adsorption force due to a magnetic force generated between the magnet and the target object; and a non-magnetic cover member that is fixed to the surface of the target object in a state where a plurality of members including at least the magnet and the sensor are stored inside the cover member as stored members.