Strictly-Extrusion

The recent stimulus initiatives and increased R&D spending by the U.S. government have proved advantageous for Davis-Standard’s Specialty Systems Group. Several new projects are underway that involve Davis-Standard equipment and development services. These include development of a more effective solar energy collection device, an improved industrial battery and advances in renewable energy. Recycling of different materials, including those derived from renewable resources, is also an area of growth.
Simon Dominey, Manager of the Specialty Systems Group, said Davis-Standard customers are working on new materials and processes for these interesting applications. According to Dominey, most of the projects are in the U.S.
“The majority of projects are still confidential, although some information may soon be released for a few applications,” he said. “Many unique solutions that will bring value to the marketplace are being developed. Some are as simple as careful web handling while others involve reactive processing and chemical modification. Particularly fascinating is learning about how non-conventional materials behave in processing and in end applications. It is an exciting time to be in the R&D business.”
Davis-Standard manufactures a complete line of laboratory and specialty equipment for nearly every extrusion application. The company’s versatile Killion product line is engineered for precision laboratory and mid-size production and includes everything from bench model and adjustable height extruders to downstream equipment and turnkey systems. This equipment can be used with a variety of polymers and compounds, and is easily adaptable to processing corrosive polymers, high temperature materials, and non-thermoplastics. Components can be customized to meet specific processing requirements and conditions.
To find out how Davis-Standard can support your R&D efforts, contact Simon Dominey at sdominey@davis-standard.com.

A devastating facility fire in April 2009 could have spelled disaster for North America’s largest picture frame manufacturer, MCS Industries. The company’s subsidiary corporation in northern Mexico, MCS de Mexico, burned to the ground and brought over 30 percent of the company’s production to a temporary halt. Despite an uphill battle and countless challenges, MCS turned a difficult situation into a fresh start. In only eight months, a new MCS corporation, TFM, emerged from the ashes in an impressive 233,000 square-foot (21,645 square-meter) “green” facility with extensive recycling capabilities. Davis-Standard was the primary machinery supplier, equipping TFM with over 30 extruders, a sheet line, and a reclaim line to support the company’s environmental initiatives and increased capacity. In less than a year since the incident, TFM is 95 percent operational and manufacturing hundreds of decorative home products in a sustainable manner.

“We were overwhelmed when the Mexico plant burned down,” said Richard Master, Chairman and CEO of MCS Industries. “Instead of focusing on all the negatives of the situation, we decided to rebuild a facility that would be larger, better, faster and environmentally sustainable. Davis-Standard was an integral part of that process and exceptionally receptive. They supplied the equipment we needed under very tight deadlines. Our throughput has increased by over 10 percent, and over 50 percent of the products manufactured at TFM are made from recycled material. It has been an exciting venture across the board.”

The new factory has the capacity to produce over 80,000 picture frames per day from start to finish, including coextrusion, foiling and embossing capabilities. According to Master, Davis-Standard’s equipment plays a role in all of these processes and is essential to MCS’s vertically integrated operation. Davis-Standard also customized the equipment and provided proprietary feedscrew technology to support TFM’s aggressive recycling efforts.

All of the profiles manufactured at the new facility are made of recycled plastic. TFM has the capacity to recycle 10 million pounds of polystyrene and Styrofoam per year. To achieve this goal, MCS has established collection points where material is either compressed or melted down for transportation to the TFM facility. These materials are then mixed with additives resulting in a usable plastic pellet that can then be made into a product.

“We take materials that would ordinarily end up in a landfill and extrude them into a profile that can be laminated, embossed, and decorated to create the beautiful finishes required by sophisticated American consumers,” said Dallas Kohler, Director of Engineering for MCS. “This fits in well with the green initiatives practiced by our customers, which comprise 2,000 retailers throughout North America.”

Kohler noted that in addition to recycling, the energy saving features built into the facility combined with Davis-Standard’s equipment have helped TFM reach power usage goals. Davis-Standard’s engineering efforts and on-site operator training has helped optimize extrusion efficiencies. The facility’s fluorescent lighting system with motion sensors saves enough energy to supply power to 36 average size homes. The equipment cooling system saves 720,000 gallons of water per year, enough to supply 11 average size homes. Skylights provide natural lighting during the daytime hours. These are just a few examples of sustainable manufacturing practices that make TFM and MCS proud.

For more information about MCS or TFM, visit www.mcsframes.com. For more information about Davis-Standard’s recycling, sheet or profile capabilities, visit www.davis-standard.com.

or how to promote your products online…

Strictly-Extrusion (www.strictly-extrusion.com), the largest online platform of the extrusion industry, celebrates its 10th anniversary. Thank you for your support and feedback. And now we want to give you something back, or in other words: Tips & Tricks to promote your products and services online and get enquiries from potential customers.

Press Releases:
Online Press Releases are certainly one of the best ways to promote your extrusion products and services. But consider following:

• Short, fact-bound, avoid blah blah: Nowadays professionals in the extrusion industry have no time to read long-drawn-out press releases. Come to the point and keep it short, and fact-bound. Tell what is different from your competitors rather than use terms such as “the best” “unique” etc… Professional decision makers know how to judge.

• Use key words: This is the main difference to its printed counterpart. Online press releases live from keywords! Think about functional key words which describe your products or services. This is important to get found in Search Engines later. To get new keyword ideas you can also use Googles Keyword Tool.
• Send us your Press Release: The structure and content of Strictly-Extrusion is very Search Engine-friendly. Many of the published press releases, can be found by Google & Co shortly afterwards. AND: your press release will never get “lost” because of our search engine friendly “Archive”.
• Use pictures, even better simulations/animations: Our statistics show that such of press release are more read.
• Imperial vs. Metric: Press releases live from figures and performance data. And you don’t want your potential customer to figure out conversion factors between imperial and metric. If you are an international operating company, use both, e.g. “…the part weight of only 1 lb (0.453 kg)…”
  
• Use the free press releases services: Frankly speaking, almost no extrusion insider will visit these websites to read your article. But again, search engines browse through and you will get found. Also very useful for accessories and niche products. Sample Site: www.freepressreleases.co.uk , www.1888pressrelease.com , www.free-press-release-center.info

Supplier Directory:

• List your company in our Supplier Directory: It is the largest directory of the extrusion industry for equipment, parts and extruded products. And it is for free. Click here.

If you have any suggestions or ideas how to further promote your products or services, please contact us. We listen.

Your Strictly-Extrusion team!
www.strictly-extrusion.com

New Auxiliary Equipment / TSM Control Systems (www.tsm-controls.com) is now offering plastics producers new ways to weather the economic storm and improve their profit margins. New TSM technology focuses on combining standard processing requirements; accurate dosing and homogeneous material mixing, with a third critical component when processing regrind and flake materials: material head pressure.
This new downforce amplifier developed and patented by TSM offers further downward head pressure to the existing cramming action created by the patented reverse flight auger which TSM offer on each of its batch blender range. The downforce amplifier ensures that material throughput and hence production speed can be maximized when processing difficult regrind materials.

TSM understands the problems facing many customers with difficult regrind materials, and this latest development will not only improve material flow and mixing characteristics but also enables higher percentage regrind processing while eliminating material throat blockages.

This patented technological advance allows the processing of even the most difficult flake regrinds by being able to cram materials into the throat of the extruder eliminating variations in flow due to bulk density variations. TSM now have a unique solution for difficult regrind materials combining their new downforce amplifier with their existing patented reverse flight auger mixer, guaranteeing homogenous mixing, regardless of regrind percentages, material density or material geometry while cramming mixed material into the throat of the extruder.

Songwon (http://www.songwonind.com), a leading additives supplier to the polymer industry, announces the development of a new range of UV additive solutions. The new products named SONGLIGHT® 2790 GR and SONGLIGHT 2930 GR are 100% UV active systems consisting of synergistic blends of several additives. The new combinations deliver very good UV protection of plastics compared with standard UV formulations and are particularly suitable for thick plastic sections, where surface & colour protection are key to the customer’s end use applications under severe UV irradiation.

The company Ampacet has introduced an ultraviolet-light absorber (UVA) masterbatch for thin gauge polyolefin films designed to protect packaged contents from UV light damage. Compared to conventional UVAs, the new masterbatch offers improved content protection for thin gauge film applications with fewer problems due to additive migration. Click here for more information

The company BinMaster has announced that its PROCAP flexible, extendable capacitance probe is ideal for sensing lump material at distances up to 35 feet (1070mm). This probe is suitable for use with any material that might bend, damage or break a rigid probe, incl.all types of plastic pellets. For more information, visit www.binmaster.com.

Now there are two ways to stay in touch with Extrusion Dies Industries, LLC (EDI), the leader in flat-die technology for film, sheet, and coating. Connect to EDI via these links:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/EDIGlobal
Twitter: www.twitter.com/EDIGlobal

The Italian company Colines (www.colines.it) has launched a PP & LLDPE combi extrusion line which is able to produce both stretch film (jumbo rolls, CPP rolls and CPP embossed rolls) and cast film up to 600mm. It is reported that extremely low thicknesses (8 to 12 µm) can be produced. More information: click here

Canadian film and sheet extrusion machinery manufacturer, Macro Engineering & Technology Inc. (www.macroeng.com), has received a patent for its recently upgraded automatic air ring – the D10 PRO Automatic Dual Lip Air Ring.The latest upgrades to the D10 PRO were created to simplify the operation of the air ring. Upgrades included new valves and motors for each control zone to improve reliability and redesigned software for faster and simpler startups. Installation has also been simplified by replacing heavy connection cables with a pair of light power and communication cables.
The company utilizes two general scanning methods with it’s automatic air ring; a traditional rotating scanner system that senses the film thickness as the bubble rises in the tower, and a flat scanner system that takes film thickness readings after the bubble has been collapsed. “Both systems provide advantages,” states Macro’s R&D Director, Felix Guberman. “The flat system allows the use a wider range of non-nuclear scanners such as infrared, X-ray or ultrasound and can complete scans quicker. The rotating scanner setup requires less complicated setup and software.”