Plastics News Daily Report - May 10, 2018 - 86

86 ‹ PLASTICS NEWS DAILY REPORT ‹ May 10, 2018
Plastics News photo by Don Detore

Branding
Continued from Page 22
as well as gearbox and bearings,
for both temperature and vibrations; they also monitor electrical
control and closures in specific
units such as drives, primarily for
temperature. A sensor will send
an alarm, or a yellow conditional, when something needs to be
investigated or is not operating
normally, while another alarm, a
red conditional, sounds when it
is determined a component is at
near-failure point that requires
immediate intervention.
"Otherwise, there is green status that indicates things are in
normal range," Murphy said. "It's
like the check-engine light on a
car."
The system is in place to eliminate unanticipated downtime.
"And those usually happen at the
worst time," Murphy said.
The new 65-millimeter direct
drive groove feeder extruder features Davis-Standard's Helibar design, with a grooved intake zone
and a helically grooved barrel,
and new barrier-mixing feedscrew
technology. Davis-Standard said
this combination offers increased
processing flexibility because
of higher regrind levels and improved energy efficiency.
According to the company,
the Helibar design offers higher
throughput, improved melt-pressure buildup, lower melt temperatures, improved melt homogeneity, reduced barrel wear and short

Jim Murphy, president and CEO of Davis-Standard LLC. In addition to its updated branding, Davis-Standard is
showing off its new 65-millimeter direct drive groove feeder.
residence time. Applications
include pipe, profile, sheet and
blow molding processes.
Murphy said Davis-Standard
finished strong in 2017, and 2018
has begun just as well. He expects

sales to be line with 2017, perhaps
slightly better.
"We continue to be very strong
in North America," Murphy said.
"We're seeing very good growth
and good demand in thermoform

packaging, particularly for food
and food service. That's been a
very good trend for the last three
years, and it's continuing."
Murphy said the oil and gas industry is starting to revive, help-

ing to support Davis-Standard's
wire and cable business, as well
as on the pipe side. "We are seeking an improvement in the industry over the last year. Some believe that there is stability in the
pricing. Certainly in North America, we're starting to see good activity there."
Much of that success in that
sector has come from Maillefer, a Swiss-based manufacturer
that Davis-Standard acquired in
September, 2017. Maillefer has a
strong presence in wire and cable
and tubing, and has helped Davis-Standard bolster its portfolio
in those markets.
Murphy said Davis-Standard
isn't actively pursuing another
company for added synergies but
it is always looking for good opportunities.
"There's a lot of small- and
medium-sized players in the industry," Murphy said. "In most
industries, where you see that
fragmentation, you see consolidation over time. We fully expect
those things to occur because
that's what the market generally
does, consolidate.
"We're market participants -
we're always aware and interested, but there's nothing imminent.
We're focused on, from a technological standpoint, extrusion technology as a core competency and
controls technology to support
that. Business and product lines
that are consistent with our core
capabilities are very interesting
and ones that have a deep technology advantage in the market."

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