Quick turnaround at fair prices

Innotec of WI grows in-house contract slitting business with new Phoenix Machine system.

Editor in Chief Mark Spaulding -- Converting Magazine, 9/1/2005

Innotec operator Jason Hansen prepares to remove a job from the Phoenix Machine slitter.

During Converting's visit, Innotec's new Phoenix Machine 62-in.-wide slitter/rewinder was processing DuPont Tyvek® spunbonded olefin for a contract customer. The system also features in-line nip-roll lamination from its dual unwinds to apply liner materials to pressure-sensitive substrates prior to slitting.

If you could have a 'drive-thru' mentality in the industrial world, that's what we've tried to do," Cheryl Haarsma says, summing up her business philosophy of quick turnarounds and products sold at fair prices. As president of converter Innotec of Wisconsin, Inc., Haarsma feels it's been just that mindset that has helped the company grow as fast as it has.

From its beginnings as simply a job-shipper of pressure-sensitive tape orders, Innotec quickly grew into inventorying, then buying, parent rolls of various p-s tapes and substrates, slitting and selling them under its own name. Now, it also has a booming business in contract slitting/rewinding of customers' materials to specific widths and lengths, as well as contract diecutting—both rotary and steel-rule platen. While contract work is done primarily for customers in Wisconsin and Illinois, Innotec sells its own products both nationally and internationally.

"We had your standard sizes—1 in., 1/2-in.—of p-s materials," Haarsma explains, "but if someone wanted a 1-1/16 in. or 15/16 -in. width, there was always a leadtime. We bought our first slitting equipment [a used single-knife unit] so that we could receive that order and ship it out the same day." The converter next added a used Arrow slitter/rewinder to speed production and offer greater versatility for its customers.

New home, new equipment
After three moves to progressively larger facilities, Innotec relocated in March 2005 to its current 27,000-sq-ft site inside the former Western Printing Co. plant near downtown Racine, WI. After the demise of Western (publisher of Golden Books), that 1.25 million-sq-ft building was subdivided into offices, a magnet school and areas for light manufacturing—such as Innotec.

To go with its new home, the converter chose to install a new customized slitter/rewinder from Phoenix Machine (www.phoenixmach.com). The 62-in.-wide system features a dual-station unwind, allowing in-line nip-roll cold lamination of liner materials to p-s substrates. It slits by score, razor or shear methods and runs up to 1,000 fpm. Parent rolls of up to 62 in. wide x 44 in. OD can be slit down to 1/2 in. wide by 32 in. OD finished rolls.

Among the Phoenix Machine's subsystems are Montalvo unwind brakes and KL 3000 chucks (www.montalvo.com); Accuweb web guides and a Micro 4000 NET controller (www.accuweb.com); and a Dover Flexo Electronics WebHandler 3 tension controller (www.dfe.com).

Business has been especially good the past six months, says Haarsma, complimenting production manager Wayne Kapke on his combination of experience and machinery knowledge. Innotec opted for the Phoenix system partly because Kapke was familiar with both the supplier and its company president Mike Coulson from his previous converting employer. "[Mike] really stepped up to the plate and worked with us," says Haarsma. "They did whatever they could to produce the machine to our specifications and in a very quick fashion. I don't think we would have gotten the leadtime of that machine being built from any other manufacturer."

No trial and error
After its delivery in late June, Kapke and several operators were trained on the new slitter over three days, turning out actual jobs. "I was really surprised that we could have a machine of that size and that much capability up and running and producing finished material in such a short period of time," says Haarsma. "I thought it would be a process of trial and error, but in that three days we actually turned out material for customers. We never missed a beat."

"I can see us in the future adding another new machine because we're going to be full on [the Phoenix] if business keeps going well," Kapke says.

The productivity boost from the new Phoenix slitter has Innotec contemplating the future. Along with serving industrial and printing markets, the converter is eyeing packaging customers to supply p-s materials and contract services. Rather than adding new converting processes, for now, Haarsma says they'll stick with slitting. "I don't see us in the printing business. As we keep growing, we'll get machinery for higher volume and quicker turnaround."