Ultra flat blown film lines on the road to success

Unique ultra flat blown film lines have taken a big leap in a market that demands performance and reliability. In this aspect, the blown film lines with the EVOLUTION Ultra Flat film flattening unit from Reifenhäuser Blown Film are making their way toward a successful market journey. In late 2016, the company installed further lines in North America where superior reel quality is becoming a crucial selling point. Thanks to the unique technology new buyers can be won over, confirmed Reifenhäuser customer BJK Flexible Packaging, at the "Rethinking Day“ held in September.

 

"We produce the flattest films throughout North America", explained Brian Krein, chairman and CEO of the US-based specialty films producer BJK Flexible Packaging at the "Rethinking Day" event held by Reifenhäuser Blown Film GmbH in Troisdorf. With his statement, he confirmed the increasing quality awareness of producers and buyers of value-added multi-layer blown films in North America.

 

Furthermore, Mr. Krein clearly expressed in his lecture that highest production efficiency and high film quality are not contradictory with Reifenhäuser EVOLUTION blown film lines - on the contrary: BJK's CEO explained the guests invited to the Reifenhäuser event that, thanks to the "perfect quality" of rollgoods, his company was definitely able to win over new customers who in the past bought their semi-finished products from other manufacturers. And Steve DeSpain, Sales Director at Reifenhauser Inc., USA, added: "Our success story in North America is just starting to gather pace thanks to the EVOLUTION Ultra Flat film flattening technology. Not long ago, we successfully installed further lines here and brought them onstream in the shortest possible time." According to Mr. DeSpain, other promising orders are already in sight.

 

In early summer of 2016, a second Reifenhäuser EVOLUTION blown film line "made in Germany" was taken into operation at BJK, a manufacturer of semi-finished film products, in record time of only one week, lead-managed by Reifenhauser Inc. The 5-layer EVOLUTION high-performance line features both Ultra Flat technology and Ultra Cool high-efficiency cooling technology. Five 60mm extruders with 400mm blown film die-head diameter enable an output of more than 600kg/h. BJK mainly runs high-quality PE composite films on the line which is equipped with a fully automatic multi-function winder (EVOLUTION W-P 2200.2), and a shaft and roll handling system.

 

Ultra Cool is a user-friendly, flexible high-performance cooling system that directly contributes to higher output of blown film; and the Ultra Flat component is a simple-to-operate film flattening system integrated in the film haul-off for increased efficiency in conversion operations.

 

 

The system is able to correct and completely eliminate film flatness imperfections that may occur in the bubble collapsing unit or are due to the basic structure of the various raw materials used for the production of complex blown films. Thus, Ultra Flat provides flat film that runs smoothly through downstream systems, such as printing presses and bag making machines. This ensures higher efficiency and enhanced product quality.

 

A further EVOLUTION line, also equipped with Ultra Flat and Ultra Cool technologies, was successfully taken into operation at Packaging Personified Inc. in Sparta, Michigan, last June. The company headquartered in Carol Stream, Illinois, mainly produces lamination film and high-quality print film on its new 3-layer blown film line. These products require superior roll quality which is key in downstream converting operations. "This offers our customers a hassle-free conversion of their films, be it lamination, printing, re-forming, packing or sealing. The entire value chain in the packaging industry benefits from the enhanced efficiency provided by perfectly flat films produced on Reifenhäuser Blown Film lines," was Packaging Personified's statement highlighting the cooperation with the Troisdorf-based company.

A new Reifenhauser EVOLUTION Blown film line was taken into operation at BJK in record time of only one week

 

The EVOLUTION Ultra Flat technology features minimum stretching of the film via heating-cooling rolls it is possible to produce a web perfectly flat for subsequent winding and conversion. The enhanced efficiency covers the entire value chain. All steps in the production of packaging film, such as lamination, printing, re-forming and sealing, clearly benefit from the optimized web flatness.