Electronics For Industry was started in 1982 and has been producing high quality electronic equipment ever since.
Below is a timeline giving an overview of our company's history, all the way from being founded in 1982 to the modern day.
Electronics For Industry was started in 1982 producing, as the name suggests, electronic equipment for industry. To start with, this included a wide variety of machinery, including: CNC Routers and speed controllers, some of which are still in use today.
Prompted by a local moulding company, EFI, as it quickly became known, designed and manufactured its first hot runner controller, the 7004, which is still in use today.
1989 saw the introduction of the first mass produced hot runner controller from EFI - the C8000.
This controller pioneered the use of a modular design for the main circuit functions and the separation of the high current manifold zones to use off-board high current switching. This simplified the design and significantly eased maintenance, a design criteria that still applies today.
With the introduction of the successful 8000 range, EFI decided to concentrate solely on hot runner controllers and produced a number of variants, including a version compatible with Seiki Spear moulding tools.
In 1999 came the introduction of the XP8. A new system based on the same modular board concept of the 8000 series. However, the XP8 was designed for use with a high-clarity, 12 inch LCD display (still one of the largest on the market) and be able to be easily scaled up to 128 zones of control.
The XP8 also incorporated many new features, including: Toolguard water failure detection, automatic softstart, cavity boost and more, all in a cabinet that was designed to withstand the rigours of mouldshop floors.
With the XP8, EFI rapidly grew to become the second largest hot runner controller company in the UK. The XP8 controller becoming the controller of choice for many of the country's leading caps and closure moulders.
The design of the XP8 was refined and became the CM8 in 2001, solidifying EFI's position as the fastest growing manufacturer of hot runner controllers in the UK.
The CM8 is available in designs up to, and above, 128 zones, and can be supplied in any configuration of high and low current cavitation.
CM8 systems are also available for control of Ewikon, Seiki Spear and Plasthing mould tools.
In 2005, EFI introduced the DUO, a low-cost, 2-zone controller incorporating much of the design philosophy of the larger controllers.
And it doesn't stop there. EFI are continually working on improving the abilities of the CM8 as well as designing the next generation of hot runner controllers.
Introduction of the waterflow control technology embedded in the CM8 controller.
Introduction of the Linux based new software offering better User Interface and more functionalities.
Introduction of new ultra robust CM8 HMI Interface with intuative touch interface. Our Top box is now completly touch screen, removing the buttons from the right hand side of the screen.
EFI has always been a high cavitation specialist. We needed to address the needs of customers using sub 24 zone controllers. This leads to the introduction of the CM9, our low zonage solution.
Completed our new building renovations, marking EFIs transition from Lowestoft to Norwich complete.