The Customer
The Company is a manufacturer and supplier of pressure sensitive film and adhesive products. These include polyester, polyolefin, polyethylene, and vinyl films and a multitude of acrylic, rubber and silicone performance adhesives. Their products are sold worldwide and used in such industries as aerospace, automotive, electronics and advertising to name a few.
The Process
During the manufacture of the Company’s products different adhesives and coatings are applied onto a wide variety of surfaces including films, non-woven, felts and rubbers. The solvents in these materials are evaporated off in a heating process. Model FFAs with a DataMax System are used to monitor the %LFL of the solvent levels in the heating process atmosphere.
The Problem
The LFL system was over 15 years old and it was getting more difficult to supply the necessary spare parts: longer lead times and higher costs. If there was a problem with their DataMax controller there was concern that the whole line would go down. To eliminate this scenario the Company decided to pursue an upgrade path.
The Solution
The Company chose to upgrade to PrevEx analyzers.This product is a stand-alone system that has eliminated a common controller, enabling the Company to operate each zone individually, with uninterrupted service if one system goes down.
In addition to the independent zone control, the analyzer offers quicker response time, on-board diagnostics for predictive PM and troubleshooting, automatic calibration, automatic ignition in case of flameouts and eliminates all potentiometers and manual adjustments. To top it off, they would be able to use the existing wiring and plumbing already in place.
The Company decided to upgrade one line at a time (8 PrevEx Analyzers per line). This minimized costs and allowed them to keep production running. Within one year they completed upgrades of all their lines in all their plants.