Contract converters: The "odd" man's in

When it comes to odd-sized orders and short runs, contract converters are the "in" thing. As large converters become more specialized, the demand for contract services is increasing.

By Managing Editor Lyanne Feilen -- Converting Magazine, 2/1/1997

Contract converters don't sell a product; they provide a service. And, an increasingly valuable one as well. Converters ask "converters for the trade" to take on higher level requirements that would otherwise take too much time and energy away from their main focus. Conversely, it might be that a primary converter's production lines are currently full or that investment capital is tight, making outsourcing necessary.

Whatever the reasons, contract converters have made their mark in the industry. Take Metlon Corp., Cranston, R.I. The 50-year-old business has been built on the ability to slit extremely narrow, 0.008-in. webs to close tolerances (+/-0.0001). Melton uses a proprietary rotary-shear slitting method that gives it the ability to set up to any width ‚ from 0.005 in. up, in increments of 0.0001 in. ‚ using existing tooling. "If a customer has an odd size, we can set up to it in either English and metric measurements," says Wayne Etchells, vice president.

Metlon's latest investment is a custom-designed 14-in.-wide traverse winder that makes up to 60 cuts simultaneously. Most of Metlon's slitting is under one inch and not intended for high-speed big-volume work, although it occasionally converts big-volume jobs that require close tolerances. It slits paper, films, foils and laminations for at least 17 different industries, including electronics, automotive aftermarket, furniture trim, decorative packaging, and magnetic tapes for credit cards.

Timing is everything. Because a contract converter's work is based on custom orders, its customers expect quick turnaround. In addition to fast service, quality plays heavily in the relationship.

It's not just small companies that use contract converting services. One of Metlon's customers, for example, has at least 100 slitters, but it hires Metlon to do its specialty work because it doesn't want to adapt its equipment to short runs. "We get the odd-ball, short runs from companies that don't want to break their setups," Etchells says.

No need to fear infiltration

Another leader in traverse winding as a contract service is employee-owned Web Converting, Inc., Westborough, Mass. The company is in the process of developing a new, proprietary custom traverse winding line with over 60 winding heads ‚ all of which will be computer controlled to provide "accuracy and tight-tolerance winding capabilities at a dimension that would be hard to find elsewhere," says Dan Ott, vice president. All types of slitting are performed ‚ shear, score, razor, hot knife ‚ including reciprocating and fly-knife-type sheeting. Web Converting's five nationwide locations tackle slitting for packaging overwraps, sanitary hygiene products and telecommunications (cable components). Light-gauge metals, nonwovens, films, papers and composite materials are all substrates it handles with ease.

Web Converting's goal is to simplify a customer's business, which is what distinguishes it from its competitors, says Ott. "If you learn about my customer base, are we going to find you competing with us next week?" is a question Ott hears frequently. "We don't sell product. We provide them a service," says Ott. "Our customers use us as part of their manufacturing process without fearing their customer base will be infiltrated."

Web Converting's collective skill and knowledge are based in 28 years of exclusive slitting and winding, and with that comes an advanced understanding of materials. Everything from plastic films to metals to advanced composite materials, which require cleanroom or light-sensitive environments, are part of its repertoire.

Personal service with a smile

Given its short two-year existence, business is going exceptionally well at Contract Converting, LLC., Appleton, Wis. A new 50,000-sq-ft plant is scheduled to open in Greenville, Wis., in the first quarter of 1997, doubling its operation and activating a new 84-in. duplex center-surface slit-ter/rewinder. Primarily serving the tag and label industry, Contract Converting offers high-speed custom slitting, rewinding and distribution. The company's 24-hours slitting service, CC Roll Expresse, offers nonpressure-sensitive roll stock cut to order, including litho, coated board, tag, offset, film and other materials.

"Contract Converting's customers are demanding personal service, a high level of responsiveness and are constantly seeking fresh new ideas and perspectiveÖ from ways to cut costs to improved response time to new products," says Lori Davis, executive vice president.

"Because slitting might not be our customer's niche, we can do it for them more effectively because it is our core business and area of expertise," says Davis.

The trend toward large converting plants becoming more specialized, thereby cutting overhead and increasing their contract service needs, bodes well for companies such as Technical Coating Intl.

A contract coater in Leland, N.C., Technical Coating Intl. recently installed a custom 80-in.-wide gravure coater used to convert various laminate, heat-seal and pressure-sensitive materials. It has the capability to apply coating weights up to 5-mil thick for heat-seal and p-s applications. Another recent installation, a 15-in.-wide pilot coater allows TCI to provide quick turnaround on small trial runs. The company's coated products end up in microwave susceptor packaging, and cosmetic and medical packaging. New product developments for TCI include very-low moisture-vapor transmission rate films used for packaging sensitive electrical and medical products.

TCI believes contract converting is an important niche in the marketplace because it can provide complete services from R&D, trial runs, testing and the final commercialization of the product in a quicker time-period at a lower price.

Contract coater and slitter Viscor, Dallas, uses custom-designed equipment to its advantage. "We build our own equipment, so when someone comes to us with an application we can't currently service, something new they are introducing into the marketplace, we can modify our equipment in a very short time to handle the new demands," says Mitch Allen, general manager. Viscor score-slits paper, foil, film, Teflon, Tyvek and others on six custom-designed slitters. Coating is done on two 63-in. coaters and one 12-in. narrow web hot-melt coater ‚ all using Meyer rod coating techniques. The company is seeing growth in double-coated Mylar and various foams for use in its industrial tapes base.

Sidebar

Why converters outsource

Increasing costs of stock and warehousing
Rising expenses for equipment and machine time
Faster market response to satisfy end customers
More relational selling: Providing customers with wider choices rather than selling on-the-floor solutions
Increasing volatility/unpredictability of orders Source: Contract Converting, LLC