Don’t Let the Web Guide You

In an industry that has little time to waste, web guides are critical in determining how long job setups will take. And, with costs always on the minds of business owners, web guides can help keep waste to a minimum. Without these systems, a job can still be completed. But, the important questions is, “Do you want to finish it before the next guy, and at a lower cost?” Here’s how three converters learned to love web guiding systems.

Look ma, no hands!

Cardinal Health—a global company serving the health care industry with pre-packaged medical products—recently purchased a custom fill, form, and seal machine to enhance packaging of medical instruments in form-molded plastic trays with protective film covers. The Dublin, Ohio-based company found that pre-printed film being fed through the machine was straying from its desired position prior to sealing, resulting in mis-feeds and time-consuming film rethreading. The company’s operators had to constantly watch and adjust the web.

Seeking a simple web-guiding solution, Cardinal purchased an all-air web-guide system from Coast Controls. Immediately after installing the RDG5 automated web guide in December 2007, Cardinal says it realized benefits in the form of improved quality and productivity. The all-air unit, powered by low-pressure, plant-supplied air (3 to 6 psi), consists of an anodized aluminum frame, guiding rollers, an air-actuation cylinder, and a friction-free servo controller. Self-cleaning pneumatic edge detectors work with all opaque and transparent webs, including paper, film, foil, and nonwoven materials.

Vance Cook, maintenance manager at the company’s Mannford, Okla., facility, says Cardinal was attracted to the simple setup and ease of maintaining the Coast Controls all-air web guide. “Our operation needed a guide that’s clean and oil- free,” explains Cook. “Installation was very easy—no electronic wiring or controls were needed—I just added our plant air and we were in operation.” With the guiding system, the company produces more than 10,000 packages daily and has eliminated the need for operator supervision and/or adjustments of the film.

The Coast Controls RDG5 web guide was positioned after the registration roller and before the transport chains to ensure proper seal alignment to the packaging machine’s plastic trays, says Cook. A standard 2-stage air filter system designed to remove oil, water, and particulates down to 0.01 micron was also installed to ensure that plant air remains uncontaminated.

Waste control

In April 2004, General Converting bought and installed a slitter/sheeter at its Bolingbrook, Ill., plant. A few months later, the company realized that it needed a solution to help eleviate tedious web-guiding procedures. “When General Converting first installed the sheeter, it was equipped with a manual single roll guiding system for each [unwind] roll stand,” says Michael Johnson, technologies manager. “We had to use the roll stands and the manual single guide rolls to try to center one roll to the slitter. We would then thread the second roll over the top of the first roll, trying to keep it centered exactly before it went through the center slitter.”

With makereadies averaging about 45 minutes and with the added inconvenience of constantly monitoring the two rolls, General Converting faced productivity hurdles. “If we encountered a loose wound roll, we had to stop production and run the rolls as singles, therefore doubling the production time and increasing waste,” says Johnson.“The average waste of the operation was between 100–150 linear feet per makeready.”

So, the converter shopped around for a solution, and later purchased a web-guide system from North American Manufacturing Co. (NAMFG) that would fit its sheeter configuration. The customized dual web guide—with a complete engineered mounting stand and designed to General Converting’s specifications—was installed at the end of 2004. NAMFG handled all of the design—building a walkway above existing equipment, adding a convenient location for operator controls and width positioning, and pre-wiring electrical connections to a junction box for simple power connection hookup.

“Since the installation, it has been a very reliable piece of equipment. Our average makeready time has been reduced to 15 minutes. The system can handle loose wound rolls up to 2˝ in either direction from center without moving roll stands,” says Johnson. “The only waste we incur [comes from] the core wraps and [accounts for] about 20 linear feet at start up. Without web guiding, waste would be very hard to control, and sheet quality would vary during the run and from roll to roll.”

Hitting the brakes

Inteplast Group’s XF Plant (World-Pak Division) recently took on the task of building a custom printing press. The company, which manufactures cross-laminated film, then started searching for braking systems to incorporate on the press. After reviewing various systems, the company decided to use DoubleE USA’s RE Combiflex CX 250 pneumatic brake with EP.25 T-One integrated controllers and CF.120.200 load cells.

“We felt that the RE Double E system provided the best bang for the buck so to speak,” says Daniel Montgomery, Inteplast Group, Ltd. “The system provided all required functionality, fast response time, and easy operation and setup.”

Inteplast constantly develops new films with varying physical properties for various applications. Some of its films tend to be softer and more delicate than others, while others can develop a flat spot on the bottom of the roll after lengthy storage at the plant.

“These films were being stretched too much during the converting process. The older brake systems did not have adequate adjustment control, producing either too much or too little tension. We have also had heavier films that needed higher tension levels that we could not reach with the original brake systems,” explains Montgomery. “We needed a braking system that had a higher resolution control to fine tune the tension in order not to over stretch the film. The RE system is capable of handling this situation with its PID control and fast response time.

“No other braking system in our plant can handle this situation as well as the RE brake system. The other systems have to be constantly monitored and adjusted to try and handle the situation. If not, the print can be affected to the extent that quality goes down and scrap occurs.”

Montgomery says that Inteplast estimates the RE brake system will pay for itself in about six months, taking into account the previous issues with machine downtime, lost production, labor for repairs, and wasted man-hours for the operators. Because the RE system helps eliminate waste, operators can direct their focus toward quality-control duties. “Waste or scrap management is an important factor in the everyday operations of our manufacturing plant. With profit margins as tight as they are, we are always looking for ways to reduce the scrap rate and increase our yield rate,” he says. “Higher yields equate to lower operating costs and higher profits.” pP

Need to brush up?

Check out some upcoming events where you can learn about or get refreshers on web handling.

Maxcess University; www.maxcessu.com:
March 5-7—MAGPOWR Torque and Tension Control Seminar; Oklahoma City, Okla.
March 27—Differential Winding E-Seminar
April 21-25—Maxcess University Conference Week; Philadelphia, Pa.
May 22—Maintaining Web Alignment E-Seminar
Sept. 11—The Latest in Dancer Control E-Seminar

Sensor Products’ Seminars for Engineers; seminarsforengineers.com:
April 8-9—Web Handling 2: Understanding Winding and Slitting; Lexington, Ky.
June 17-18—Web Handling 1: Understanding Web Handling Systems; Montreal, Canada
July 25-26—Web Handling 2: Understanding Winding and Slittling; Hilton Head, S.C.
August 19-20—Web Handling 1: Understanding Web Handling Systems; Raleigh, N.C.
Oct. 14-15—Web Handling 2: Understanding Winding and Slitting; Chicago, Ill.
Dec. 9-10—Web Handling 1: Understanding Web Handling Systems; Chicago, Ill.

Web Handling Research Center; www.engext.okstate.edu:
March 16-19—Applications Seminar on Web Handling; Stillwater, Okla.