Ohio's PMC adds thermoforming line
FINDLAY, OHIO — Premier Material Concepts recently added a single-station thermoformer with programmable logic controls to boost product development capabilities and quality control.
PMC partnered with Maac Machinery Corp. of Carol Stream, Ill., to build a machine with 10 pre-programmed forming techniques and a human-machine interface. The machine is equipped with an adjustable clamp frame and a large oven that can accommodate sheets up to 4 feet by 5 feet. The oven contains 40 individually controlled zones.
The new thermoformer also contains a laser recording feature that tracks the amount of sheet shag in relation to time on each run.
“The new thermoformer represents PMC's commitment to provide our customers with consistent, quality products lot-to-lot and day-by-day,” Eric Hausserman, vice president of engineering and plants facilities, said in a statement.
The new machine will allow PMC to perform quality-performance testing on sheet products as part of new product outline requirements. It also can be used for in-process rapid prototyping for thermoformers.
Findlay-based PMC, a Rowmark LLC company, provides custom plastic extruded sheet and roll products. It also is a leading supplier of thermoplastic polyolefin materials to the thermoforming industry.
Diversified invests in larger-tonnage press
MINNEAPOLIS — Custom molder Diversified Plastics Inc. recently boosted its ability to make bigger parts and use multiple cavities with the addition of a 610-ton Toshiba horizontal hydraulic injection molding machine.
“Parts are getting bigger and there is also a need for multiple cavities,” said Annette Lund, vice president of the Minneapolis company, in a telephone interview.
For Diversified, the Toshiba ISGS 610W is the largest-tonnage machine that it has purchased. The firm also has a 550 tonner. Overall, the company has 16 presses, from 50-610 tons.
Lund said the mix of machines that Diversified needs for its customers has been changing and the company is finding the larger-tonnage machines give it more versatility than midrange machines. The larger machines give it the ability to mold larger parts for industrial markets that include the filtration, battery and aerospace sectors.
The new press gives the company more flexibility and can run some of the molds from its smaller presses, according Mark Gremmels, Diversified operations manager.
In July, the company took over an adjacent bay in its building to boost the size of its facility by 10,000 square feet to about 53,000 square feet to meet customer demand, especially for medical-device components. It is busy converting the space and expects it to be completely occupied by the end of the year. The new space also will include more white and clean room space for assembly.
Quality Lineals boosts N.Y. operations
MERRICK, N.Y. — Quality Lineals USA Inc. is taking steps to ramp up its extrusion manufacturing, opening a 55,000-square-foot addition in Freeport, N.Y., adding five lines and instituting a new scrap recycling program, according to company executive Steven Kaiserman.
Quality Lineals operates an extrusion plant and a recycling operation at its Freeport plant, which has grown from 25,000 square feet to a total of 80,000 square feet.
Its sister company, NorthEast Windows USA Inc. operates in nearby Merrick and houses the corporate headquarters. It also manufactures vinyl windows, and PVC fencing and railing systems at its 35,000-square-foot site.
“We're running 24/7 extruding since the new addition opened, and six days a week in Merrick,” Kaiserman said in a telephone interview.
Overall, according to Kaiserman, the company has 14 extrusion lines. Five have coextrusion setups that run fencing. The company has Davis-Standard and KraussMaffei equipment, and it has purchased two American Maplan — now known as Battenfeld-Cincinnati USA — 110-millimeter machines that will be installed in the winter, after the company's peak season.
The 65-year-old window company started extruding in 1989, and added PVC fencing two years ago.
