Plastics News Daily Report - May 9, 2018 - 38

38 ‹ PLASTICS NEWS DAILY REPORT ‹ May 9, 2018

R&D/Leverage sees improved performance with vacuum dryers
R&D/Leverage improved machine startup and changeover
times and cut energy consumption at a plant in Sutton-in-Ashfield, England, after buying vacuum dryers from Maguire Products
Inc.
In August 2016, the specialist in
tooling for injection stretch blow
molding of PET bottles sought
the assistance of Summit Systems
Ltd. of Tamworth, England, about
updating its material drying process. R&D/Leverage was then using desiccant dryers.
Summit represents Maguire,
and it assisted in supporting vacuum dryer trials that started in
September 2016 and concluded in
March 2017. Maguire's European
unit worked closely with the customer providing technical support and operator training during
initial trials and the subsequent
commissioning program.
In June 2017, R&D/Leverage
placed an order for seven LPDbrand vacuum dryers through the
Tamworth distribution center of
Maguire Europe.
Maguire Products built the vacuum dryers in one of the plants
at its headquarters location in
Aston, Pa., and delivered the
equipment to R&D/Leverage in
Sutton-in-Ashfield in August.
The dryers were installed for
operation with seven injection

R&D/Leverage photo

By Roger Renstrom
Plastics News Correspondent

R&D/Leverage sought the assistance of Summit Systems Ltd. to
update its material drying process.
stretch blow molding lines from
Nissei ASB Co. and Aoki Technical
Laboratory Inc.
In addition, R&D/Leverage
acquired and installed a Maguire weigh-scale blender to meet
evolving customer requirements
for more recycled content. The
blender can deliver precisely

measured batches of virgin and
recycled polymers, colorants and
additives.
R&D/Leverage's molding lines
in England do trials with new
molds and typically undergo five
or six tool changes per week.
The improved performance impressed Alan Tolley, managing di-

BOOTH S32079
R&D/LEVERAGE
rector for R&D/Leverage Europe.
In particular, he liked the dramatic savings in time.
The desiccant dryers needed
five to six hours to dry material,
Tolley said. The Maguire LPD vacuum dryers take 80 minutes from
a cold start and can do the job in
40 minutes in subsequent drying
cycles.
Further, a vacuum dryer can
consume up to 80 percent less energy than a desiccant system, said
Paul Edmondson, managing director for Maguire Europe. Edmondson noted that drying polymers
can account for about 15 percent
of the total process energy for a
molding operation.
Tolley said the LPD dryers allow flexibility for testing different grades of resin on one tool.
The Sutton-in-Ashfield plant in
Nottinghamshire operates an
expanded product solutions laboratory that provides sampling,
tool development and customer training, but it is not a production-scale facility with long
product runs.
According to Tolley, desiccant
dryers posed problems with drying material properly and compounded the need for the tooling
specialist to be expeditious when
customers visiting for on-site tri-

als came from significant distances such as China or South America.
Tolley said the LPD dryers improve resin filtration minimizing
contamination and enhancing
bottle clarity and aid throughput
control for a single-cavity pilot
tool vs. high-cavitation production molds.
Quick and efficient drying can
impose less stress and less heat
history on the material.
Historically,
R&D/Leverage
needed to change desiccant after
six months because of the multiple equipment starts and stops.
The changes added both cost and
maintenance, Tolley said.
Many R&D/Leverage customers
ship their own polymers for use in
producing sample bottles. R&D/
Leverage can use up to 10 different colors at varying percentages.
Edmondson said vacuum drying can enable toolmakers and
short-run labs to make productivity gains but the capabilities vs.
desiccant systems are also available to processors in full-scale
production.
Edmondson noted that the always-in-demand energy savings
and higher productivity position
vacuum drying machines to be
the dominant means of drying
polymers.
R&D Tool and Engineering was
founded in 1976 and has been
based since 1978 in Lee's Summit,
See Dryers, Page 40

CUSTOM
RESEARCH

RESEARCH

DATA

PRODUCTS
* Resin Pricing * Rankings & Lists

CONTACT TO LEARN MORE
KELLEY TROST, RESEARCH DIRECTOR
313.446.6761 * KTROST@CRAIN.COM

MARKET

INTELLIGENCE
* Market Trends Reports

PLASTICSNEWS.COM/RESEARCH

http://www.PLASTICSNEWS.COM/RESEARCH

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Plastics News Daily Report - May 9, 2018