Riverdale Global Showing Latest Innovations and New Satellite Location in Wisconsin

Riverdale Global — a specialist in liquid color management for the plastic industry through a clean, sealed color delivery system, computerized color technology and a global service network — is showcasing some of its latest innovations and highlighting the opening of its Wisconsin facility which will house the company’s ‘new’ color R&D lab.

The RGS Riverdale Gravimetric offers the first completely sealed delivery system for color and additives, holds color delivery tolerance within 0.1%, prevents overcoloring and reduces costs while maintaining target color levels. The company has recently updated its operator-friendly RGS controller with an intuitive setup procedure. The touchscreen interface now enables quick access to process settings such as throughput, shot size, letdown ratio and weight per gallon. Current settings/recipes can easily be saved, thus reducing any input error. The system automatically adjusts to screw recovery time and extruder output, and can automatically recalibrate to new color, so no additional setup is required. Onscreen runtime graphical performance reporting enables real-time information for precise metering rates.

The new controller now comes with an optional barcode scanner or RFID reader for automatically reading process settings to avoid operator mis-keyed input. A USB port enables data download, data printout and software update capability. As with previous models, the system easily communicates with GlobalTracker to track usage and color by work orders, operator IDs and lot numbers.

The automatic speed control with self-adjusting accuracy is versatile for all types of processes, including injection, blow molding and extrusion applications. Benefits of this accuracy include proven loss-in-weight technology that ensures continuous accuracy and precisely measures the amount of additive used to eliminate costly waste. Other benefits include automatic calibration and automatic adjustments which guarantee that feed rate is held to within ± 0.2% of desired letdown ratio; dual load cells; extreme accuracy with 1:250,000 scale resolution; and imperviousness to large temperature swings

The company is highlighting its latest satellite operation located in Grafton, Wisconsin. This 36,000 ft² facility will serve as the ‘new’ Color Research and Development Laboratory, outfitted with the latest advanced liquid color equipment and with the “Return-for-Refill” system. The new lab will expand Riverdale Global’s development and color match capabilities and bring color matching closer to local customers. With its Global-Local business model, Riverdale Global sets up facilities close to their customers. This model enables them to supply color for global products and support their processors’ local communities by eliminating industrial waste. The Return-for-Refill program enables 100% of the color to be used and the company’s containers to be reused.