Modern Plastics Worldwide - March 2010 - dae uptlax

PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY
PRODUCT WATCH
PRODUCT FOCUS
MATERIALS HANDLING
Marketing marches down new avenues
to appeal to processors
Be it via the digital highway or streets
covered in tar, suppliers of materials handling
machinery have recently introduced
some interesting new means to attract
their plastics processing clientele.
Processors work around the clock,
PDAs and other digital tools keep them
informed (stressed?) around the clock,
so why shouldn’t they have the option to
purchase equipment around the clock?
That’s part of the premise behind a
program begun recently at Conair (Cranberry
Twp., PA), called Conair BuyNow,
enabling the manufacturer’s customers
to purchase, online, equipment and spare
parts. Processors can log into the online
store through its website, www.conair
group.com, and even put the purchase on their own plastic
(credit card), or use a purchase order.
Larry Doyle, Conair VP for global sales and marketing,
commented, “Our research has shown that most of our customers
are very comfortable with the idea of buying equipment
online and we’re excited about being able to offer this
additional service.” The company continues with all of its conventional
sales and service channels as well. At press time the
online store was only available to processors in Canada and
the U.S., and included free shipping “for a limited time only.”
Rival supplier Maguire Products Inc. (Aston, PA) offers
interested processors its own online experience, a series of
seven streaming videos the company made available at its web-
EXTRUSION
Plastic fi lm processors
offered better thickness
gauge for online use
A new thickness gauge for plastics film
processors is said not only to offer
significant improvements in online measuring
functionality, but also to be eminently
suitable regardless of the type of
film a processor’s line is running, be it
clear, pigmented, or even voided/pearlized
BOPP films.
Called the FG710S, this infrared sensor
debuted last month at the Plastec
Steve Maguire stands with his film’s costar,
the company’s purging recovery system.
West trade show in Anaheim, CA. NDC
Infrared Engineering (Irwindale, CA),
the supplier, says this new thickness
gauge delivers its users high-precision
measurement of the basis weight or
thickness of single- or multilayer films,
with capabilities not previously available
in an online sensor. Its accuracy and precision
are unaffected by nominal changes
in lighting, humidity, temperature, and
web pass-line height and flutter.
One novelty, explains NDC, is the
gauge’s full-spectrum optics capability
covering both the near-infrared and a
significant portion of the mid-infrared
site, www.maguire.com. It’s an approach
not many companies in this industry have
yet taken, although the number of plasticsprocessing-related
videos on websites such
as YouTube continues to grow.
Maguire Products’ videos run between
5 and 10 minutes and offer an Englishlanguage
explanation and demonstration
by a Maguire expert. The videos currently
available include ones of the company’s
LPD dryer, its MicroPlus blender, and
gravimetric feeder. Maguire’s Novatec
subsidiary last summer opened what it
terms its “Virtual Trade Show On-Line”
of hosted video introductions and explanations
of that company’s equipment.
Taking an entirely different tack to
introduce processors to its equipment is Vortex Valves (Salina,
KS), a manufacturer of dry bulk material handling equipment
that is taking its show on the road, literally. To aid its sales
efforts, Vortex launched its Mobile Display Unit (MDU),
which is capable of traveling to a potential customer’s site,
hooking up to its production process, and providing a live
demonstration of the equipment’s capabilities, explains Russ
Barragree, marketing manager for Vortex Valves.
The company recently launched a new MDU in China and
has two in the U.S., one in Mexico and two in Europe, one of
which is just being completed.
The Conair Group Inc., www.conairgroup.com; Maguire Products Inc.,
www.maguire.com; Vortex Valves, www.vortexvalves.com
NDC’s FG710S infrared sensor thickness gauge
can measure clear, pigmented, or even voided/
pearlized BOPP films.
22 MARCH 2010 • MODERN PLASTICS WORLDWIDE plasticstoday.com/mpw