30x Throughput Increase Anything but Random for Web Industries
The 30X throughput improvement generated by Web Industries Inc. is a perfect example of how Delta ModTech can deliver eye-opening results without having to deliver a new machine.
Web Industries is a contract manufacturer specializing in precision converting for the industrial, aerospace, medical, personal and home care industries.
Headquartered in Marlborough, MA, Web Industries has over 800 employees and multiple locations in the United States, as well as offices in Germany and France. They are always looking for ways to push the envelope.
And did they ever on this project.
Challenge: Adding randomized features without adding machine components
The Web Industries team had purchased a Delta ModTech Crusader® years ago, in part because it allowed for p-camming (programmable camming) rotary dies, a cost-effective alternative to flat-bed tooling.
A customer had approached Web Industries with a product that required a very specific configuration. Their wire and cable product required randomized features, because anything on a set repeat can have a negative effect on electrical characteristics.
Web Industries didn’t have a flat-bed die as a tooling solution, and didn’t want to spend the capital to acquire a new one.
Solution: Creating a fully-randomized tooling path from an existing machine
Web Industries approached Delta ModTech and described the challenge, and what they would need as a unique, discrete output. They bounced some ideas off Delta, and then let their process engineering team get to work.
In what Web Industries describes as a “very quick turnaround time,” a solution was created and updated onto the Delta ModTech Crusader’s software. In six weeks, Web Industries went from wondering if there was a solution, to having samples ready for qualification.
Normally, a feature created with a 12-inch repeat die might be cut once every 100 inches. Using a unique configuration of the Delta ModTech machine, Web Industries was able to randomize the tooling in almost any repeat range centered around 100 inches.
They were now able to create a fully randomized tooling path along the direction of the material.
Throughput: A 30X increase in throughput
By using this process, Web Industries was able to improve the customer’s previous throughput levels from another vendor 30x. That included a 3x increase in line speed, and a 10x increase in discrete rolls from the web.
Keep in mind that the process was not just the rotary die cut — it also combined flexo printing, heat sealing, and slitting in a cross-direction register.
This wasn’t anything out of the ordinary in Web Industries’ partnership with Delta ModTech. Despite having purchased their machine over a decade ago, the collaborative support from Delta has never waned.
Delivering a spectacular new solution without requiring a new machine, or a significant hardware investment, is a perfect example of how our converting machines never quit — and neither does our support.
