Argentina firm buys Techflow film line Techflow Design & Manufacturing Inc. has sold a complete blown film line to a company in Argentina.
The Mississauga, Ontario, company will include its flat, modular Dual Spiral System die in the line, according to Rafael Castillo, Techflow's director of research and development.
Techflow's patented Dual Spiral System divides each film layer into two layers to enhance structural and physical properties vs. one layer. Each DSS layer module has identical spirals flowing in the opposite direction.
Techflow claims the DSS improves gauge uniformity. Any potential high spot in the gauge will correspond to a low spot in the adjacent layer. Therefore the gauge variation will cancel itself out over the two layers.
Castillo said the Argentina customer, which he declined to identify, bought a five-layer line that effectively will produce 10-layer film.
The company will use it to make meat and food packaging with internal barrier layers. Techflow sold the system for about US$695,000.
Techflow is not exhibiting at NPE, because it missed the cutoff date to reserve a booth, Castillo said in a telephone interview.
"We will exhibit next time," he added.
The company did exhibit at Argenplas 2000 and landed the film line sale as a result of being at that show. At Argenplas Techflow ran a three-layer line to make a construction of low density polyethylene, adhesive and nylon.
The company claims that with a 120-millimeter DSS die, it could run the nylon with a blowup ratio of 4:1 rather than the typical 2:1 ratio.
Castillo said another job Techflow is working on is a five-layer, 250mm die for Nuovo Poliver SpA of Milan, Italy.
Castillo and his two partners established Techflow in 1996.
Mass. compounder adding equipment
Riding a wave of demand for its polyolefin compounds, Gitto/ Global Corp. plans to install more continuous-mixer equipment that will increase its capacity by 20 million to 25 million pounds.
The equipment, to be in place at the company's single plant by January, will be followed next spring by a 30,000-square-foot upgrade to the current 100,000-square-foot plant.
Lunenburg, Mass.-based Gitto/ Global currently can compound 130 million pounds annually.
While financial figures are not available yet for the building expansion, the equipment will cost $1 million, Chief Executive Officer Gary Gitto said in a telephone interview.
The expansions primarily are the result of several new global customers, he added.
"The demand for our specialty products led us to decrease our lead time and service [the customers] with the larger volumes they require," Gitto said.
The expansion mainly will involve the company's flame-retardant compounds based on polypropylene, polyethylene, thermoplastic elastomers and styrenic resins, all of which have been experiencing increased demand.
PP has come to constitute a large portion of the company's business because of expansions in recent years, he said.
"The line will be able to manufacture all of our current polymers," Gitto said, noting that the company works with TPEs, PVC and PE, in addition to PP for its primary wire and cable and electrical markets.
Gitto said the company expects to post sales of $70 million for the fiscal year ending June 30.
He hopes the addition will generate $15 million in additional sales.
The upgrade will add five to six new jobs, Gitto said, adding to the current work force of 100.
Briefly ...
Plasticolors Inc. of Ashtabula, Ohio, received the NorthCoast 1999 Award honoring 99 of the best companies to work for in the 22-county area of northeastern Ohio. ... Louis P. Batson Inc., the plastics division of Louis P. Batson Co. of Greenville, S.C., has a new sales agreement with Lamco Machine and Tool Co. of Morehead City, N.C., a manufacturer of thermoforming equipment.
