PFFC - January 2008 - (Page 39) WEB HANDLING Picking Up the Pace Innovations in web handling equipment often come down to just one thing: speed. By Edward Boyle, Contributing Editor A s press manufacturers continue to introduce presses that can run faster in theory—but not necessarily in practice—it falls to the manufacturers of register controls, web guides, and other ancillary equipment to get those presses literally up to speed. “In reality, we are driven by the machine builders,” explains Paul Smith, VP of FMS, a German-based manufacturer of closed-loop control systems for web tension and web guiding equipment. “We don’t necessarily drive the technology of the industry, but we adapt what we offer to meet the demands of the industry. Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter what the material is, it’s all about speed and, consequently, cost.” The ability to control the web is the key to getting a press that is able to run at 1,000 fpm to actually run anywhere near its potential. So the onus oftentimes falls on the manufacturers of web handling equipment to make the converting process as “operator-free” as possible. “Automation is generating a lot of improvement,” says Smith. “The more you can take the operator out of the decision-making process, the better that machine ultimately runs. Clearly that’s what we want to do, automate the process. Whatever the process is, we’re making it better. It doesn’t mean we don’t need operators, but it means removing them from the process decision perspective.” Innovations in web handling can come both in new product development and in inventive ways to utilize existing technologies. Smith says equipment manufacturers are addressing improved registration by placing tension controls throughout the press rather than just at the unwind and rewind stations. While that is hardly unique, Smith says it is becoming more commonplace on all forms of web equipment. For optimum registration, “anywhere there’s an infeed, there should be a register control,” he says. “The more aspects of the machine you can control, the better off you are and, ultimately, the faster you can run.” Consequently, there are more tension zones than ever before. “Where a machine builder historically may have done tension control off the unwind and that’s it, now they’re adding zones to control tension throughout the different processes: through the print head, at rewind, wherever, so there are more and more places where tension controls are used because of the need to have more control.” built to run [paper] at 1,000 fpm now may be expected to run 1,000 fpm with a 2-mil film. Obviously, that’s changing as well.” Safety Measures Do You Have a Need for Speed? This month our website includes a special bonus online exclusive feature on new web handling products. To learn more, visit www.pffc-online.com. To find additional suppliers of web handling equipment on our site, click on Directories. Quality Still Counts Tom Jonozzo, general manager of guiding systems for North American Mfg. Co., says the emphasis on increasing line speeds while, at the same time, reducing the number of operators has left it to the equipment manufacturers to develop the processes necessary to maintain quality. “When that happens, your web handling becomes more critical because you just can’t handle variations in process like you could at slower line speeds. So, maybe where you had one guide on the process line, now you need three.” Smith says most of the improvements in web handling are converter- rather than supplier-driven, “typically from the perspective of ‘What is required from me? Do I need to deliver more product? Do I need to deliver better product? Do I need to deliver better product and more of it?’ But some of the modifications that are required are substrate-driven, because machines that were Joe Connelly, product manager for Parkinson Technologies, a manufacturer of winding and web handling equipment for the nonwovens, plastics, and paper industries, says that manufacturers of web handling equipment also focus on the safety aspects of the converting process. They do so by developing equipment that minimizes operator contact with the web or reduces the size of the rolls coming off the press. For example, Parkinson recently developed a new winder design for the contractor and consumer roll market that produces “marketready” rolls that come off the rewinder with no further converting required. The winder includes a traversing mechanism that incorporates a hot melt glue dispenser and knife to adhere the web to the core automatically, cut the web at a specified lineal distance, and then adhere the cut end to the finished roll. Parkinson also developed a slitter that fits on the end of a plastic sheet line and cuts master rolls into 13 individual, 2.5-in. rolls. “One of our concerns is safety,” says Connelly, “and as the machine gets faster, it’s not really practical to expect the operator to cut the material while it’s moving and transfer it to a new core. So we developed a machine to do that without the use of an accumulator, which is another expense that would be required if the web was stopped.” Art & Science Jim Ephraim, vibration monitoring product manager for Hardy Instruments, a manufacturer of process weighing, tension control, and vibration monitoring equipment, suggests there remains a blend of “art and science” involved in all aspects of web handling. In practice, an experienced operator can produce high quality using even the most basic equipment that monitors but does not control variables such as speed, tension, and temperature. JANUARY 2008 | 39 WWW.PFFC-ONLINE.COM http://www.pffc-online.com http://WWW.PFFC-ONLINE.COM
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