Sheet producer Primex Plastics Corp. has purchased the first sheet extruder made by the Cincinnati Milacron Inc. and HPM Corp. cooperative venture, which was formed earlier this year.
Primex of Richmond, Ind., bought the machine from HPM's booth at NPE 1997, held in June in Chicago. Crews are scheduled to install the sheet extruder this fall at Primex's Richmond factory.
Milacron's Plastics Extrusion Systems Business, based in Batavia, Ohio, and HPM in Mount Gilead, Ohio, market their jointly developed, thin-gauge sheet extrusion systems under the Alliance brand name.
They announced the effort a few months before the NPE trade show.
According to Plastics News' recent ranking, Primex is the third-largest sheet manufacturer in North America, with 1996 sales of $202.8 million. On the overall film and sheet ranking, Primex is in the No. 24 spot.
The Alliance integrated sheet technology uses Milacron's single-screw extruders with downstream equipment — a cooling and polishing system — designed by both companies and manufactured by HPM.
The system Primex bought will coextrude sheet 48 inches wide from high-impact polystyrene and crystal polystyrene.
The extruder has a screw diameter of 41/2 inches and a screw length-to-diameter ratio of 30-to-1. Milacron will supply the extruder with a screen changer, melt pump and static mixer, along with a coextrusion assembly that includes a 21/2-inch screw and 25-to-1 L/D ratio, in addition to the tooling and die.
For the Primex machine, HPM manufactured the three-roll cooling and polishing system, featuring rolls that measure 53 inches wide by 18 inches in diameter.
Ferdinand Pranckh, general manager of HPM Extrusion Systems, said Alliance systems can handle all thermoplastic materials, to make thin-gauge sheet for lid stock, cups, portion packs, trays and other products.
