Plastics go on parade

25 September 2013



Some 3,100 exhibitors – machinery manufacturers, raw material producers and processors from around the world – will present their latest developments at this year’s K, the plastics and rubber industry’s leading trade show


Andritz Biax will be exhibiting at K2013 on stand 3C17, where it will introduce Mesim, a film stretching line built for speeds up to 600m/min. It stretches in both longitudinal and transverse directions simultaneously in one step, including the option to adjust the stretching ratio over a wide range. At "reasonably low investment costs", the resulting film products are said to have particularly high optical, chemical and physical qualities. The technology enables processing of high temperature resins such as PI, PEEK and PTFE.

Atlas Converting Equipment (UK) will present its 'next generation' Atlas CW and Titan SR9 Series slitter rewinder technology on stand 3B91. The complete CW Series of more compact film slitters now covers machine widths from 2,500-10,400mm at speeds of up to 1,500m/min. Major benefits of the new technology include higher efficiency, increased productivity and reliability, higher quality
rewind reels, reduced noise levels and more effective, operator-friendly control systems. Compared with a conventional primary film
slitter running at 1,500m/min, producing rewind lengths of 8,000m, the CW Series offers a faster rewind cycle, but at only
1,200m/min. When running much longer rewind lengths at a speed of 1,500m/min, together with faster acceleration and
deceleration cycles, it "far out-performs conventional primary film slitters".

The Packaging Division of Battenfeld-Cincinnati (stand 16B19) is presenting extrusion equipment said to enable energy and material savings while still providing high performance. The high speed single-screw extruder on display with a screw diameter of
75mm and a 40 D processing length requires up to 25% less energy than a conventional extruder with equal performance.

Exhibits onBobst's stand 4A55 will include the latest vacuum coating systems for clear barrier coating and pinhole detection in
metallization, for improving barrier properties and eliminating defects in packaging films. Information will also be available on the latest
generation General K5000 metallizer which will be launched at the Bobst Manchester Open House on 15 October. Innovations for CI
flexo printing will feature automatic devices and systems that improve print quality, machine availability and operator ergonomics
at job set-up and changeovers. Details of the latest evolution of the F&K 20SIX flexo press platform will also be presented.Concurrently with K, Bobst Technology Centres in the UK, Germany and Italy will be hosting Open House events.

Brampton Engineering (stand 17A22) claims that its new FlexWIN offers "the greatest versatility of any blown film winder in the market for the most demanding applications". The FlexWIN is capable of winding in centre mode, surface mode, any centre-surface combination percentage ration, and gap winding. Benefits include enhanced winding flexibility for all types of films; the capacity to wind films with the lowest required tensions; and the ability to isolate the winding tension from upstream web tension.

Making its European debut on stand 3G05, the CMD 864 Global bag machine and winder offers the advantages of continuous motion
sealing at an economical price. Simplicity of operation, low maintenance requirements, quick changeover and exceptional throughput
are all claimed. The Global machine is said to provide a wider processing window than traditional, intermittent motion or shuttle-style
bag machines. It seals a very wide variety of film structures and gauges at up to 138m/min.

Davis-Standard will feature its recently introduced dsX technology on stand 16A43, including the pre-engineered dsX flex-pack
extrusion coating line, the new ultra-compact dsX med-tube medical tubing system, and the dsX s-tretch line for cast film. During the
show, there will be a shuttle service to the Erkrath facility, to view the new dsX flex-pack and dsX s-tretch lines. The dsX flex-pack
(patent pending) provides a pre-engineered system that can be delivered in as little as six months and is available in two layouts to accommodate most plant space requirements. The dsX s-tretch line is said to be the first in-line pre-stretch system enabling customers to run thinner films at higher speeds. The 2m-wide line has a lower footprint, yet allow for growth. It is available in both 5-layer and 7-layer options.

Erhardt+Leimer's (stand 4C61) new FE 52 unit now uses a colour matrix sensor instead of a line sensor for web guiding based
on lines or colour contrasts. This displays a real two-dimensional live image of the web surface on the colour touchscreen of the
Elpad command station, making it easier for the operator to select the line or contrast edge to be used as the guidance criterion for the web guiding. The image can also be transferred to another display.

On stand 3B73, Goebel will present the Monoslit primary slitter rewinder for converting BOPP and BOPET for capacitor and optical films. Its design allows it to hold unwind diameters of up to 1,550mm and finished roll diameters of up to 1,250mm. At speeds of up to 1,500m/min, the machine converts stock reels up to a width of 9,000mm on finished rolls with minimum slitting widths of as little as 300mm. The Monoslit Giant is the latest development. It converts stock reels of 11,000mm width, making it "the widest and
fastest slitter rewinder currently available on the plastics film converting market". Energy-efficient machine components are
said to ensure both high productivity and long lasting sustainability.

Laem System (stand 4A04) will present the new TR4 series heavy duty slitter rewinder for high productivity and "perfect rewinding". This model features turret rewinding and fully automatic positioning of knives and counter knives, with a special device to close the finished reels automatically. Linear Track technology minimises the distance between the slitting and the rewinding point, keeping it constant throughout the winding cycle. Laem also offers handling systems to cope with the TR4's high output.

On stand 9B24,Motan is to present its Ultrablend gravimetric batch dosing and mixing equipment. Due to its IntelliBlend technology, this silicone-free system offers high dosing precision and consistency. Also from Motan, the ATTN automatic temperature and dewpoint levelling system option is now available for the entire Luxor A dryer range.

Making its debut at K 2013 under a new name, Nordson EDI Europe (stand 2G06) will introduce an expanded product and service portfolio to European customers, including dies of both US and European design, and increased technical, spare parts, and rework services. This centres on a state-of-the-art facility in Temse that until recently was operated by die builder Verbruggen. In addition to building new dies at Temse, the company now commissions all European remanufacturing projects there.

Simco-Ion, on stand 11B58, will launch 10 new products for controlling static electricity. These all belong to a new family called IQ
Easy, and all feature of 24V DC supply voltage. Anti-static bars, static measuring, static bonding and special products for in-mould
labelling will be launched. All products will be managed by the Manager IQ Easy, a controller that provides distribution of the 24V DC
supply voltage to a possible six connected devices. A full-colour 7 inch LCD display provides information about the status and
settings of all connected devices. Analogue input and output signals are available, as well as a serial communication port
for protocols such as, Profibus, Can-open, and Ethernet-IP. Full data logging for all devices is incorporated.

On stand 3A96, Spoolex will present its Calemard, Decoup and Roll Concept product lines for web processing and handling. Every Calemard system consists of three modules for unwinding, slitting and rewinding. This allows customisation of each machine to each specific customer's needs. Decoup's speciality is continuous ultrasonic cutting and welding systems for PP tapes and plastics film applications. Its range covers handheld devices for final make-up operations, to modules or units to be integrated on weaving looms, stenters or offline machines. Roll Concept's patented Alveotube lightweight precision rollers and cores are engineered to improve process performance and increase line speed on web handling and converting industry.

Among the myriad machines for film production, converting and printing available from Windmöller & Hölscher (stand 17A57) is the ecoTex 1600 extrusion coating and laminating system. With fully automatic unwind and rewind units and featuring web speeds of up to 200m/min, the machine is specially suited to processing of PP woven fabric. A special advantage is its capability of coating flat fabric on one side as well as tubular fabric on both sides, in a single pass using only one extruder and one laminator. This is achieved by an integral turning station and a double-width laminator.



Privacy Policy
We have updated our privacy policy. In the latest update it explains what cookies are and how we use them on our site. To learn more about cookies and their benefits, please view our privacy policy. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies. By continuing to use this site, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with our privacy policy unless you have disabled them.