Materials formulation, cast and blown film extrusion, sheet extrusion, printing, and laminating come under one roof at this processor.

Positioning itself on the high end of the blown-film market helped insulate this blown film processor from the recent economic downturn.

'Time was right' for firm to venture back into blown film.

Small player in a large market speaks in a loud voice.

Business strategy at Danafilms involves a mix of art and science in blending resins, designing layer structures, and operating flexibility for both short and long runs.

In blown film, equipment and material suppliers have come together to push five-layer technology into non-barrier applications previously held by three-layer films.

Apparently undaunted by a lackluster economy that has slowed capital equipment investment and stymied product development in many areas, Windmoeller & Hoelscher last month strutted out six new technologies for film extrusion.

Advanced microlayer feedblock technology, used for over a decade to put dozens or hundreds of alternating layers into specialty films, has passed a new milestone.

WEB EXCLUSIVE A combination of software and a new bus connection for faster data transfer is said to shorten the time it takes to reach automatic gauge control after product changeovers in blown film.

Windmoeller & Hoelscher in Germany (U.S. office in Lincoln, R.I.) has designed an 11-layer version of its patented Maxicone conical spiral die.

Dramatic production demonstrations of cast and blown film set throughput records on the show floor in Dusseldorf.

The first machine-direction orienter (MDO) from Windmoeller & Hoelscher in Germany (U.S. office in Lincoln, R.I.), is capable of higher stretch ratios than the 10:1 limit typical of other MDO units.

W&H announces its latest technological achievement in blown film extrusion, the EASY CHANGE automatic job setting system.

It’s all about higher speeds and higher outputs at this year’s “K” show in Germany.

If high-barrier cast film is more easily thermoformable with three nylon layers rather than one, wouldn't nine or 11 nylon layers be even better?

 NPE 2006 presented a bevy of features to make film, sheet, pipe, and profile extrusion more efficient.

Instead of losing ribbons of bleed trim between rolls when slitting film into smaller widths, the Reinhold winder div. of Windmoeller & Hoelscher Corp., Lincoln, R.I., has fitted two "banana"-type driven rollers with synchronized speeds after the knife slitters.

The latest flexographic printing press from Windmoeller & Hoelscher Corp., Lincoln, R.I., features 10 color decks, higher speeds, and wider printing widths.

The FILMATIC Tx is W&H's latest in winder technology.

Windmoeller & Hoelscher GmbH in Germany (U.S. office in Lincoln, R.I.) is the latest player to enter the field of nine-layer blown film dies.

Eight years after nine-layer blown films were first introduced, only a handful of processors have mastered the challenges of making them. Machine suppliers are now setting up lab lines that could make entry easier.

MAXICONE, the 5- to 7-layer die launched by W&H is making the grade in customer satisfaction, with reports of reduced changeover times upwards of 80% on the many systems sold and installed in the field.

Economical, non-nuclear capacitance gauges are opening new markets in blown film—primarily in barrier films, where they previously suffered serious shortcomings. New gauge designs, and new ways of mounting them, make capacitance technology much more flexible.

The show was packed with new equipment for pipe and profile, including extruders re­designed for higher outputs and/or lower cost, plus new ways to adjust die and calibrator diameters or switch dies and calibrators more quickly.

At K 2004, at least a half-dozen European machine builders will show new direct-drive extruders running gearless—or nearly gearless—drives with substantially higher rpm and output rates than conventional extruders of the same size.

Until recently, blown-film processors looking for auto-gauge control had a choice of one segmented-die system, one IBC-based system, and several segmented air rings. Now there are at least nine auto-dies, including two for high-stalk bubbles, and lots of air-ring variations. All claim to improve gauge uniformity, but there are differences.

At this year’s NPE, new processes to put wood flour into plastic were virtually everywhere—several even start with undried flour.

New-generation winders for blown and cast film are winding bigger, better rolls at higher speeds and lower tension. They've gotten so fast that cast film lines can now realize their full productive potential.

It doesn’t matter whether you extrude blown or cast film, sheet, pipe, profiles, or foam—the K 2001 show held something exciting and unexpected that will open your eyes to new possibilities.

Probably the most intriguing news in extrusion at K 2001 will be a novel way to extrude clear film that differs from standard blown and cast methods.

U.S. processors still have some catching up to do when it comes to getting the most out of grooved-feed extruders. But decades of European experience offer lessons on how to use grooved feeds to run even resins like TPU, nylon, and PET.

April's Converting Machinery/Materials show in Chicago displayed many new patented technologies--including several first-time achievements--in flexographic printing, coating, winding, and web inspection. The new technologies are more flexible, less polluting, and above all, faster.

Blown film processors, many of them small enterprises with a single plant or a single costly line, may have limited resources, in both capital and manpower, to devote to optimizing their productivity. Yet avenues of improvement are open for even the most over-extended entrepreneur. And some of the most effective modifications cost little more than a phone call or a small change in procedures. The 15 tips presented here include ways to optimize areas of your operation from employee training to better customer communications.