AES site links buyers, sellers of used units
DAYTON, OHIO - American Extrusion Services Inc., a Dayton company that rebuilds extruders and makes screws and barrels, has started a Web site that links buyers and sellers of used extruders, for no charge.
The site, www.usedextruders .com, went live in November. AES said the service is intended for individual buyers and sellers, not for machinery makers or used equipment dealers.
Sellers fill out a form and post their equipment listing. Shoppers can browse the complete listings.
Davis-Standard, OSi supply pipe makers
PAWCATUCK, CONN. - Davis-Standard Corp. and OSi Specialties, two business units of Crompton Corp., are joining forces to supply machines and resin to companies that extrude cross-linked polyethylene pipe.
Davis-Standard supplies the extrusion machinery expertise. OSi contributes its dry-silane cross-linked material, XL-Pearl, which uses a one-step process.
Until recently, the silane process required two steps, in which the silane had to be grafted onto the PE before the final pipe was made. Using XL-Pearl, the silane is added at the extruder throat, eliminating the grafting step.
Cross-linked PE pipe is growing in applications such as hot-water transmission and radiant heating.
Davis-Standard of Pawcatuck is completing an extrusion line to demonstrate the technology.
In other news, Davis-Standard announced it will discontinue the 301 and 401 extrusion controllers because several key electronic components are obsolete. The machinery maker is offering replacements that can be retrofitted in the field.
Replacement options include the ETS/RP-DIS package to replace the temperature control and monitoring functions of a 301/401 rack, with discrete controls. Also, the ETS/RP-PLC package includes a touch screen, instead of discrete controls. Finally, the Mesa family of controllers includes programmable process controllers for small to midlevel systems.
In other news, Davis-Standard is teaming with an independent firm, Lasor/Systronics Inc. of Norcross, Ga., to produce an extrusion inspection system. Lasor/ Systronics makes vision and laser systems for in-line measurement and detecting product defects.
Unicor selects CME to make corrugator
HASSFURT, GERMANY - Unicor Rahn Plastmaschinen GmbH, a German subsidiary of Uponor Group, is working with a small Michigan company to establish its first North American production of corrugating machines for pipe and tubing - and Unicor is looking to acquire a machinery maker to expand the effort.
CME Plastics Inc. of Clinton, Mich., is making Unicor's UC 58, a small corrugator. The corrugator is aimed at convoluted tubing for automotive markets, appliances and medical tubing.
Unicor and CME are separate companies, and the deal is targeted to CME's specialty markets, according to Tony Kime, general sales manager of Unicor Plastic Machinery Inc., the North American sales headquarters, with offices in London and Brighton, Ontario. Those locations do not do any machine manufacturing.
Kime said Unicor, based in Hassfurt, wants to broaden its North American assembly to include more of its larger corrugators and coilers. Unicor sells machines to extruders of polyethylene pipe and tubing, and firms that extrude flexible profiles such as gaskets.
He said Unicor wants to buy a U.S. company that builds a complementary line of downstream equipment. Although Unicor has sold equipment in North America, the company wants to develop a strong local service presence.
``Our customers really want products made in North America that can be serviced by local representatives,'' Kime said.
CME Plastics is a tool and die maker that specializes in corrugator service, tooling and maintenance. The company rebuilds machines and makes small downstream equipment.
SMS ships sheet lines for thermoforming use
GLOUCESTER, MASS. - Battenfeld Gloucester Engineering Co. Inc. late last year shipped its first two thermoforming sheet lines, or TSLs, to a customer in Mexico. A third machine was to go to a customer in Taiwan in early 2002.
The company did not identify the customers.
Battenfeld Gloucester, which makes film production equipment in Gloucester, and its sister company, extruder-builder Battenfeld Extrusion of Bad Oeynhausen, Germany, worked together to develop the TSL. Both companies are units of SMS Plastics Technology.
The TSL marks SMS' entry into sheet lines for thermoforming.
TSL machines produce one- to seven-layer sheet from polypropylene, polystyrene, PET and other materials.
The system includes one or more extruder and roll stacks for cooling and polishing. SMS said the equipment works with thermoforming machines from the United States and Europe.
Battenfeld Gloucester, meanwhile, continues to be interested in expanding into thermoforming machinery, either through an acquisition or working with another company, according to a company spokeswoman.
