Don’t Let the Web Guide You
Three converters found out just how critical web guiding is to their operations.
February 2008 by Missy Smith
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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.”
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.”
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