Latest installations address "The Need for Speed"

Adding slitter/rewinder systems ASAP helps these customer-focused converters keep up with "we want it now."

By Melissa Larson Managing Editor -- Converting Magazine, 9/1/2000

The first question we usually hear is, 'How soon can I get it?'" "Same-day and next-day order filling is now the norm." That's how converters sum up the current state of customer expectations when it comes to product delivery.

The half-dozen or so converters we caught up with have added slitter/rewinder capacity as fast as possible, as well as using a host of other innovative solutions for keeping these fast-track end-user customers happy. Among the tactics: storing customers' unfinished rollstock, locating themselves strategically to shorten delivery times, and even partnering with warehousing and transportation firms to offer faster service. In essence, these converters have become extensions of their customers' operations. Nobody said it was easy, but it's a profitable—and growing—niche.

"We never say no"
With customers asking not only for same-day service, but ever-wider roll capacity, Norkol Converting, Northlake, Ill., just keeps adding slitters. The latest is on order for the 30-yr.-old company's Dallas-area plant—another Elite Cameron (Piscataway, N.J.) unit. Several more Elite Cameron slitters line the 300,000-sq-ft Northlake facility, including the latest: a 138-in.-wide unit that runs at speeds up to 6,000 fpm and features automatic loading and tension control. It's used primarily on paper rolls destined for gravure catalog printing.

"Our niche is just-in-time delivery. We try to convert and ship the same day, or the next day—and our motto is to never say no," says Norkol's president, Mike Maloy. "'How soon can I get it?' is the question most frequently heard. Pricing and quality are of utmost importance. The speed and accuracy of Cameron winders help us deliver to our customers on all counts."

The converting operation serves the gift-wrap market as well as printers of newspaper supplements, catalogs and magazines. These printers constantly request wider roll sizes. Norkol also has to deal with a variety of papers, from 16-lb. directory stock to 24-pt. paperboard. Four sheeters and four trimmers complement the slitter/rewinders, enabling the Northlake operation's 80 employees to turn out approximately 800 tons/day on two 10-hour shifts. A Memphis plant completes Norkol's strategically-located trio of facilities.

Norkol also buys distressed paper, including wet rolls or those with core problems. These are cut by a band saw to remove the wet portion, then rewound. Norkol's variety of slitter/rewinders helps in job planning, since most are quite versatile.

"They run at an average speed of 4,000-4,500 fpm. A couple are for newsprint only, and we use the faster models for the mill-prime paper. We started out with a couple of used Elite Cameron units that were built in the 1930s, and we've stuck with that supplier. We like their technology, their design, and the quick and excellent service."

How to stay nimble
Lots of small custom jobs with quick changeover keep employees at Materials Converting hopping—and led to the recent purchase of a Phoenix (Flanders, N.J.) Model 650 42-in. slitter/rewinder. According to president Bob Karius, the Milwaukee-based converter got wind of this machine at a recent CMM show and snapped it up. It joined six other slitter/rewinders in handling everything from thin-gauge films to heavy foams, and has quickly come up to capacity.

"The Phoenix unit features good tension control and is very adaptable to our needs," says Karius. "All of our machines can do most of our materials to tight tolerances, which is how we work." Modular slitting features, transducer-based web handling and integrated tension-controlled unwind are other useful features of this compact, general-purpose Phoenix workhorse.

"Having a variety of slitter/rewinders keeps us nimble when scheduling our jobs, and change quickly from one to the next," concludes Karius.

"Two days or else"
Speed is of the essence in the paper-converting business, and the purchase of a second new Ausquip slitter has positioned contract converter Midwest Converting, Bedford Park, Ill., to offer greater processing and faster order-fulfillment speeds to its paper-mill customers. Founders of the year-old venture made the smart decision to partner and co-locate with local warehousing and trucking firms.

"Mills don't want the capital investment in converting equipment, and their customers don't want to carry paper inventory," says Midwest president Robert G. Srebalus. "Also, they want 2-day just-in-time service, or else they'll go somewhere else. Because of our capabilities and our Chicago-area location, we're positioned to be able to get an order anywhere in the U.S. within that 2-day window.

"We don't buy or sell paper, we operate as a service company—almost as an extension of our customers' warehousing and shipping capabilities. We can handle a 2-ton order, or a 500-ton order, at any time."

A new Ausquip (Horsham, Pa.) JN slitter/rewinder, with a parent-roll capacity of 110-in. diameter, joined a previously acquired Ausquip JS model with a 92-in. capacity. Both can rewind rolls up to 60 in. in diameter, and Srebalus is looking for total throughput of up to 100,000 lbs./day from the two machines. The firm can process paper from 30# newsprint to 30-pt paperboard stock (coated or uncoated). Operating speeds are 5,000 fpm for the JN and 4,000 fpm for the JS model.

"I like the fact that the [Ausquip] machines, although built in Australia, are delivered and installed on a turnkey basis, and parts are made here in the U.S. in case I need one quickly," he says.

With sheeting capability of 17.5 to 84 in. and a trimming department that can handle sheets up to 100 in. wide, Midwest's managers feel they have the tools to compete effectively against converters who, for instance, buy and sell paper and simply perform converting as a side business. "I can deliver a better price and faster delivery," Srebalus concludes.

Out on the prairie
Another one-year-old converting company with big plans is Web Cut & Converting of Mendota Heights, Minn. President Dan Weber, a former operations manager for a label converter, realized there was a niche serving label coaters on the east coast with a Midwestern converting and distribution plant. He chose his first two slitter/rewinders carefully, starting with one Deacro (Mississauga, Ont.) unit in May 1999, and adding a second Deacro that is just recently up and running.

"We slit about 60 percent film labelstocks, another 30 percent paper, with the rest everything from foams to nonwovens," says Weber. "We emphasize service, providing 24-hr shipping on label stocks and storing unfinished rolls for customers. Right now we're using up to 50 percent of both machines' capacity based on a two-shift operation."

Weber praises the Deacro units' roll-handling capabilities, tension control and differential cam-lock rewinding, adding that the new 940 unit features center-core design, can handle a 40-in.-diameter roll, and also features a female air shaft for improved accuracy and efficiencies. A larger-diameter roll will reduce waste and increase productivity for local printers and value-added converters.

"We've gone from two employees to 12 in one year—and we just moved into a brand-new 22,000-sq-ft facility," says Weber. We have big customers with exacting expectations, and we perform a lot of services for them. We run a variety of new and experimental materials that require tight tolerances and which need to be exact from the first roll through the last."

Truly nationwide
With five plants across the U.S. and one each in Canada and Europe, Multi-Plastics, Inc., Lewis Center, Ohio, takes the concept of regional capability seriously. The five U.S. plants—in Lewis Center, Peachtree City, Ga., Romeoville, Ill., Swedesboro, N.J. and Santa Fe Springs, Calif.—process a wide variety of plastics for label substrates, overlaminates, and envelope and carton windows.

The plastics processed include polystyrene, polypropylene, acetate, polyethylene, polycarbonate and polyester. The 15 or so Conweb (Fairfield, N.J.) slitter/rewinders employed in these plants handle the variety of plastics, the scattered locations, and overall throughput of about 1 million lbs./week.

"Most of our Conwebs are 80-in.-wide capacity. Some are smaller for specific uses. I'd describe our units as 'plain jane'—they don't have a lot of electronic bells and whistles on them, but they get the job done," says Richard Beaulieu, v.p. of manufacturing.

The latest unit, built to his specifications, combined the right web-path design, leadtime, pricing and service. Beaulieu cites Conweb's ability and willingness to rebuild and modernize six older slitters made by another manufacturer as proof of their service commitment.

"We do mostly overnight shipping. We're in an environment where same-day and next-day is now the norm," says Beaulieu. "We like to say that we can ship overnight within 500 miles of any plant, and that covers most of the country. That's how we compete."