BROWN SOLVES THERMOFORMER'S "BLACK MAGIC" RETENTION PROBLEM

 


Wednesday, May 23, 2007


Meyer Plastics, Inc. decided it was finally time to replace a 30-year-old
thermoforming machine running at their Indianapolis, IN location. With the
retirement of a 40-year Meyer thermoforming processing expert fast approaching,
the need for a machine technologically advanced in programmability, set-up and
controllability became more urgent.


Two main concerns
were increased cycle and set-up/changeover times. Meyer Plastics would run 5 to
7 jobs across one machine in one week, with each job requiring different set-up
specifications. The ability to recall those specifications at the push of a
button was what Meyer wanted and that was what Brown Machine (Beaverton, MI)
provided. Their solution was met with a 4' x 6' Brown (R-223E-46) Rotary Cut
Sheet Thermoformer.











Meyer Plastics, Inc. officially began in 1950
as Meyer Materials, Inc., when Charles F. Meyer, Jr. began to sell crushed
limestone throughout Indiana. Soon Meyer's two sons joined what was to
become the family business and the focus on thermoforming, fabricating and
distribution of plastics began in 1970. The company went through major
expansion in the 1990s to Fort Wayne, Lafayette, Evansville, Goshen and
Dayton, OH.




Meyer Plastics
provides manufacturing solutions such as engineering, tooling, custom
fabricating and thermoforming; plastic solutions, adhesives, prototyping and
signs and graphics to a variety of customers. Ralph Meyer, President of Meyer
Plastics said characterizing the parts is impossible. "The only rhyme or reason
as to what we make

out there is that it starts as a plastic sheet and it can be made on a CNC
router or vacuum forming machine." Meyer serves a wide range of industries from
automotive to boating to sporting goods.


The company is 50%
plastic materials distribution (sheet, resin, silicone, compounds, etc.) and 50%
contract fabrication, according to Meyer. Half of the fabrication work uses
vacuum forming processes and the other half is produced across the CNC routers.



Upgrading to Modern Production Equipment


Lorris Brown,
Thermoforming Plant Manager and a 40-year employee of Meyer Plastics,
recommended looking for a newer, more advanced machine to replace their older
thermoformer. In Meyers' words, "our old machine was on its last leg and
Lorris's retirement loomed closer." Lorris was able to keep the machine running
because of his years of experience and doubts arose as to how the company would
continue on once the thermoforming process expert retired.




Meyer said, "He [Lorris] has a lot of secrets in his head as to how to run the
jobs that we have. Lorris told me we needed to modernize . . . a computer
controlled thermoformer that could keep the job parameters recipes, key to
facilitating an easier transition upon his retirement."


They wanted a
machine that could be programmed to remember part specifications to cut down
set-up time and increase reliability. Meyer Plastics has operated a larger (5'
by 7' sheet size) Brown Machine for ten years. "It was our experience with that
machine that convinced us that we ought to spend the extra money and stick with
the

Brown label," Meyer said.


The Brown Machine
purchase/set-up experience was a pleasant one for Meyer Plastics. They requested
that Brown Machine deliver the new rotary thermoformer before the end of 2004
and Meyer said "that every deadline we set was met very well." Lorris added that
they were able to get the new machine up and running production in only 5 days.


The Brown Rotary
Thermoformer offers the rapid set-up AL90 four-way

adjustable clamp frame system, cutting the 3-frame clamping set-up time to about
15 minutes. This helps to eliminate approximately 45 minutes per job changeover
on average. Top and bottom ceramic oven elements with multi-zone control is more
efficient and is equipped with infra-red sensors that monitor the temperature of
the plastic sheet, further allowing the cycle to be set by the surface
temperature of the sheet. Meyer said the machine's controllability helps them to
more properly heat sheets of varying thicknesses and material types.


Lorris said when
he first started in thermoforming, set-up information needed to be manually
logged into a master book in order to be remembered and the art of this "black
magic" knowledge was used to help tweak the machines and keep them running
efficiently. "We had to know when the sheet was hot enough, as well as
remembering things that we don't today because we have the advanced technology
that is already built into the pieces of equipment," Lorris said.


Lorris recalls his
on-the-job training in thermoforming and how he learned by trial and error, but
with the cost of raw materials and resources today, companies need to get rid of
the trial and error factor in order to reduce material loss and to increase
production time. Lorris said that the Brown machine allows them to create a
profile of a part and then later re-call it for another job. "All the technology
is here today that enables you to do a program and enter that program, save it
and reuse it repeatedly as long as you have a part to produce," Lorris said.


The machine's
fully digital, computerized control offers a host of benefits. Meyer said, "This
advanced control allows us to store hundreds of job set-ups online so that all
we have to do is call it back up when we're ready to set up the next part."
Meyer expects numerous benefits for changeover times because of the control
feature and AL90 clamp frames. They estimate the equivalent of a full shift's
worth of saved time over a week's production.



The Brown thermoformer's control system offers numerous benefits, including:



Processing a
Wider Material Range


The Brown Cut
Sheet Rotary Thermoformer gives Meyer Plastics the opportunity
to process a wider range of materials. In the past, acrylic and black ABS were
typically vacuum formed by the company, but now they can use materials like
polycarbonate, polyethylene, polypropylene and vinyl.


"We started a
project two years ago that was the vacuum forming of a heavily filled vinyl part
(70% limestone, 30 plastic-deep draw part used as truck part requiring sound
dampening) . . . and that's not the easiest material to form. The part had a
very narrow

processing window and required precise temperature control and cycle time
control. We never would have accomplished success on that project without the
capabilities of Brown's technology," Meyer said.


Another benefit
was a large reduction in scrap, one specific example includes the ability to run
a vinyl part that was often ran at a 50% scrap rate and now has been eliminated
to a less than 2% scrap rate. The oven on the Brown Thermoformer allows Meyer
Plastics to have more control over the heating, which helps Meyer to succeed in
forming the vinyl.


Typical parts
sizes range from 4" by 4" all the way up to 7' by 8' (on other
machines/processes-4'x8' and 5'x7' capabilities on the Brown thermoformers),
with material thicknesses varying from .080" to ½" and draw depths ranging from
an inch to 4'. Meyer hopes to be working with even more exotic materials with
the new Brown machine. "The confidence, control and repeatability we get from
the Brown machine allows us to work better with the material vendor and lets the
vendor make changes to allow a wider window for production," Meyer said.



Both
men are very optimistic about the benefits of the Brown thermoformer. Meyer
said, "Many features on that new system will make us more reliable and I feel
that as we can do a better job at the plant, we can go out and increase our
customer base as a result of that."


In closing, Meyer
said, "To be more efficient, we need a shorter development time. And when you
have equipment that runs well and gives you a clear indication how to handle a
design, you're going to be able to reduce development time and costs . . . and
the Brown equipment allows us to do just that. Our old machine was on its last
leg and we had to service it every three days to keep it going…and that keeps a
man up at night. We're not missing those times at all."


For more
information on Brown Cut Sheet Rotary Machine, contact Brown Machine, 330 North
Ross Street, Beaverton, MI 48612, Phone: 989-435-7741, fax: 989-435-2821,
www.brown-machine.com; email:
sales@brown-machine.com.

posted by VICKY @ 2:35 PM,

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