CHIPPEWA FALLS, WI, U.S.A., January 14, 2008: Extrusion Dies Industries, LLC (EDI) has purchased an extensive manufacturing facility very close to its headquarters site that will become the new EDI Technology Center, with laboratories for developing innovative die systems and for renting to processors and converters to use in product development and process testing. EDI expects all of the laboratories to be fully operational within three months.
The facility was purchased from Quality Machine of Chippewa Falls, Inc. (QMI) and is only about half a mile (0.8 km) from EDI's world headquarters. It has 19,600 sq.ft (1,820 sq.m) of space, over 90% of it for manufacturing.
The new facility will include R&D labs, engineering labs for characterizing flow and other properties of resins to be run in dies ordered by customers, and trial labs available for rent.
The rental facilities are fully equipped process laboratories that companies can use without tying up their own equipment or using large quantities of raw materials. The companies need not be EDI customers to rent them. They can carry out product development and test runs in confidence, affirmed in a nondisclosure agreement signed by EDI. There are three such trial labs:
- Cast film extrusion. This facility, for testing options in resins, multilayer structures, feedblock settings, and other variables, includes a coextrusion line with three extruders, feedblocks, and roll face. Also available is EDI's innovative "layer-multiplier" tooling that yields dozens of layers in film of standard overall thickness
- Extrusion coating and laminating. This small but complete converting line makes it possible to experiment with various polymers, substrates, and web structures and test out EDI's systems for fast width changes and edge bead control. Included are an extruder, coating die, brake unwind, corona pre-treater, nip roll, chill rolls, air knife, post-conditioning rolls, edge slitters, winder, and water recirculation system.
- Slot die coating. Customers can use this facility to test alternative fluid formulations, coating/substrate combinations, and other parameters. Practitioners of roll coating can explore the advantages of slot die coating before investing in a commercial-scale system. Included are adjustable- and fixed-lip coating heads, four different fluid pumps, a polished chrome-plated steel backing roll, and three hot air dryers.
"The EDI Technology Center expands our capabilities for innovation and customer support—two values that have always set EDI apart as a supplier of die systems," said John A. Ulcej, executive vice president of engineering and technology. "We already have plans for new extrusion and converting systems to be developed through use of this facility."
The EDI Technology Center comes at a time when EDI has experienced strong growth in many parts of the world, according to Ronald Kuhnen, chief financial officer. "EDI subsidiaries in Germany and China will also draw on the resources of the Technology Center," Kuhnen said. "In addition, the purchase of QMI will allow us to expand our capabilities for reworking dies."
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EXTRUSION DIES INDUSTRIES, LLC is a leading international supplier of flat dies for sheet, film, extrusion coating, slot die coating, and pelletizing. The company designs and manufactures dies, feedblocks, deckling systems, vacuum boxes, and related equipment. Its subsidiaries include EDI GmbH in Reichshof-Wehnrath, Germany, and EDI China in Shanghai. In the U.S.A., Germany, and China, EDI operates facilities dedicated to reworking its own dies and those built by other suppliers, and it has licensed a fourth rework facility in Japan. Headquartered in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, U.S.A., EDI sells half of its dies outside the United States. Visit www.extrusiondies.com and www.reworkdies.com . E-mail: sales@extrusiondies.com.
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