SPECIALISED MAGAZINE FOR THE COATING AND · PDF file · 2013-10-29SPECIALISED MAGAZINE FOR THE COATING AND CONVERTING INDUSTRY ... 20 One system – limitless ... processes in battery

Insight: ITW Dynatec/Inatec (p. 41)

Insight: Montalvo (p. 42)

Converter of the month: Huayuan/China (p. 44)

COATING &CONVERTING

S P E C I A L I S E D M A G A Z I N E F O R T H E C O A T I N G A N D C O N V E R T I N G I N D U S T R Yw

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Issue 34

July / August 2012

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36 South Adamsville RoadBridgewater, NJ 08807-0671 USATel: (908) 722-6000Fax: (908) 722-6444www.bc-egan.com

Mettmanner Strasse 51D-40699 Erkrath/DüsseldorfGERMANYTel: +49-211-2404-0 Fax: +49-211-2404-281www.er-we-pa.de

46 North First St. Fulton, NY 13069-1297 USA

Fax: (315) 593-0396www.bc-egan.com

Converting Machiner y

Room 6717, Apollo Building

Shanghai 200040, P.R. CHINATel: +86-21-6103 1713Fax: +86-21-6133 1886 www.davis-standard.com.cn

Tel: (315) 598-7121


1440 Yan An Road (M)

Davis-Standard, LLC | #1 Extrusion Drive | Pawcatuck, CT 06379-2313 | USA | Tel: (860) 599-1010 | Fax: (860) 599-6258 | www.davis-standard.com

Converting Systems|

COATING solutions

“D

Industrial Blow Molding

Pelletizing

Unwinding & Winding

Process Control

Liquid Coating & Laminating

Blown Film

Extrusion Coating & Laminating

Cast Film

Advance Program

Converting customer ideasinto successful products.

ifficult” and “demanding” are two words that define custom coating applications ... there’s nothing easy about it.

At Davis-Standard, we embrace challenges with unmatched resources and expertise. Our custom engineering and R&D capabilities enable us to build equipment specific to your needs. Best of all, our technology is focused on energy efficiency and cost savings to improve your bottom line.

Whether your application is: Electronic Displays Medical Solar Cells Battery Graphite Composite

We are here to help you find the right coating solution for your application. Our team is your team. Put us to work for you.

ED

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RIA

LEDITORIAL

EDITORNora Hermann

www.c2-europe.eu

Issue 34

PUBLIS HED BYnimble shows & media GmbHDinkelsbühler Straße 991555 Feuchtwangen, GermanyTel.: +49 (0) 98 52 / 61 62 10Fax: +49 (0) 98 52 / 61 62 110

GROUP EDITORNora Hermann (V.i.S.d.P.)Tel.: +49 (0) 98 52 / 61 62 [email protected]

SUB-EDITORRodney [email protected]

EDITORIaL aSSISTanTBenedikt HofmannTel.: +49 (0) 98 52 / 61 62 [email protected]

aDVERTISInG SaLESNina PirchmoserTel.: +49 (0) 98 52 / 61 62 [email protected]

GRaPHICS/PRODUCTIOnNadine GebauerTel.: +49 (0) 98 52 / 61 62 [email protected]

CIRCULaTIOnPetra KüstersTel.: +49 (0) 98 52 / 61 62 [email protected]

PUBLISHERFranz [email protected].: +49 (0) 98 52 / 61 62 111

PRInTED BYPRINTEC OFFSET >medienhaus> Kassel

FROnT COVER PICTURECostruzioni meccaniche Luigi Bandera S.p.A.

C2 Europe is a magazine for the coating and converting of paper, film and foil and appears 6 times a year. This issue of C2 Europe has a controlled circulation of 6 500 copies.

An annual subscription (6 issues) costs 96 Euros, in combination with C2 Deutschland 170 Euros (12 issues).

Brave new world …

Dear readers,

Yesterday my colleague Ben walked in and proudly showed us his brand new mobile. We all stood around him and praised the clear bright colours and the extremely sharp resolution of the display. “Yes, that’s OLED,” he explained and that brought me straight back to this issue of C2 Europe.

As you’ll see, we have written about a wide range of new processes, solutions and products from the field of printed and organic electronics. Within the last few weeks we have spoken to many companies in Europe, America and Asia to find out what’s it all about. We have observed a lot of enthusiastic and highly motivated teams of scientists, engineers and designers working on new applications and believing in what they are doing. So every day new

products and technologies seem to come up with ever greater breathtaking speed.

Even if they have the potential to change our daily life fundamentally some of the innovations will disappear as rapidly as they arrived, if only because many of them still have to prove, not only their relevance, but also their suitability for mass production.

So, this seems to be the right moment for converters to use their experience of roll-to-roll applications to develop these attractive possibilities and realise their full potential. Indeed, I hope this issue acts as a catalyst to stimulate profitability through the development of fresh ideas.

Call +44(0)1993 706700 or visit www.meech.com

Static electricity control technologyfor use in both industrial and

cleanroom areas

Concept B1

creative

36 South Adamsville RoadBridgewater, NJ 08807-0671 USATel: (908) 722-6000Fax: (908) 722-6444www.bc-egan.com

Mettmanner Strasse 51D-40699 Erkrath/DüsseldorfGERMANYTel: +49-211-2404-0 Fax: +49-211-2404-281www.er-we-pa.de

46 North First St. Fulton, NY 13069-1297 USA

Fax: (315) 593-0396www.bc-egan.com


Room 6717, Apollo Building

Shanghai 200040, P.R. CHINATel: +86-21-6103 1713Fax: +86-21-6133 1886 www.davis-standard.com.cn

Tel: (315) 598-7121


1440 Yan An Road (M)

Davis-Standard, LLC | #1 Extrusion Drive | Pawcatuck, CT 06379-2313 | USA | Tel: (860) 599-1010 | Fax: (860) 599-6258 | www.davis-standard.com

Converting Systems|

COATING solutions

“D

Industrial Blow Molding

Pelletizing

Unwinding & Winding

Process Control

Liquid Coating & Laminating

Blown Film

Extrusion Coating & Laminating

Cast Film

Advance Program

Converting customer ideasinto successful products.

ifficult” and “demanding” are two words that define custom coating applications ... there’s nothing easy about it.

At Davis-Standard, we embrace challenges with unmatched resources and expertise. Our custom engineering and R&D capabilities enable us to build equipment specific to your needs. Best of all, our technology is focused on energy efficiency and cost savings to improve your bottom line.

Whether your application is: Electronic Displays Medical Solar Cells Battery Graphite Composite

We are here to help you find the right coating solution for your application. Our team is your team. Put us to work for you.

July / August 12 | COATING & CONVERTING | C2 Europe

Process Solutions for Your Success

Polytype Converting AGwww.wifag-polytype.com

Pagendarm BTT GmbHwww.pagendarm.com

wifag//polytype Coating & Laminating Your partner for custom sized converting machinery Designed for your success Process optimization for challenging applications

Welcome to ICE ASIA, October 10-12, 2012 in Shanghai/China, booth 1 A 07

Ev

En

TsEVENT DIARY

Event Date Location Organiser

2012

ICE Asiawww.ice-x-asia.com

October 10-12 Shanghai Mart, Shanghai, China Mack Brooks Exhibitions Ltd

Fakumawww.fakuma-messe.de

October 16-20Friedrichshafen Exhibition Centre,Germany

P.E. Schall GmbH

MKVSwww.mkvs.de

October 22-24Sheraton Munich Arabellapark,Germany

MKVS GbR

SPS/IPC/Driveswww.mesago.de/de/SPS/home.htm

November 27-29Messe Nürnberg, Nuremberg,Germany

Mesago Messemanagement GmbH

2013

ICE Europewww.ice-x.com

March 19-21Messe München, Munich, Germany

Mack Brooks Exhibitions Ltd

ICE USAwww.ice-x-usa.com

April 9-11 OCCC, Orlando (FL), USA Mack Brooks Exhibitions Ltd

Converflexwww.converflex.it

May 7-11 Fiera Milano Rho, Italy Centrexpo

C2 Europe | COATING & CONVERTING | July / August 12

7

12

31

32

34

Process Solutions for Your Success

Polytype Converting AGwww.wifag-polytype.com

Pagendarm BTT GmbHwww.pagendarm.com

wifag//polytype Coating & Laminating Your partner for custom sized converting machinery Designed for your success Process optimization for challenging applications

Welcome to ICE ASIA, October 10-12, 2012 in Shanghai/China, booth 1 A 07

CO

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TsCONTENTS

Market Reports7 Pooling resources

Cooperation may be one way to get organic photovoltaics to a marketable position.

10 Innovation for the recordsThe most efficient organic solar cell was not printed but produced using vacuum deposition.

12 Precious rays of lightHow OPV research and helping people in developing countries can go hand in hand.

14 “We can imagine anything”Outsourcing R&D projects works in the pharmaceutical industry and may well work in OPE.

17 The first of its kindThe prototype of a web splicer is able to splice strips of metallised film transversally.

18 Scalability as a key to successIn emerging technologies like organic and printed electronics, laboratory lines need to be transferable to mass production says Miguel Friedrich of nTact.

20 One system – limitless possibilities Can completely different products such as battery electrodes and organic solar cells be processed on the same machinery? Kroenert experts answered.

22 The better alternativeSometimes old knowledge paves the way for new technologies.

23 Guiding the wayHow web guiding systems ensure smooth production processes in battery and solar cell manufacturing.

24 Helping the industry to get matureHow nanoparticle based liquids can enhance your products.

26 Mind the substrateDuPont Teijin Films UK on the importance of smooth films in organic and printed electronics.

27 Enabling the ‘Internet of Things’Addressable memory make interaction with everyday objects possible.

28 Keeping it coolReifenhäuser Kiefel Extrusion introduces a high-performance cooling system for blown film extrusion.

29 Pioneering up market machines Mariangela Signoroni, sales and marketing manager for Macchi, emphasises the company‘s targets ans abilities.

30 Keeping an eye on photovoltaics Ontario-based Macro Engineering & Technology, a producer of extrusion and co-extrusion lines for monolayer, barrier and specialty films, has dedicated its most recent product to the harvesting of solar energy.

32 Getting to the heart of the matterC2 spoke to managing director Riccardo Castello about the unique selling points and special advantages of Dolci’s extrusion lines.

34 Modern die-cutting technologies, including non-stop reel unwindingBerhalter is introducing new systems that can do more than just die-cutting.

July / August 12 | COATING & CONVERTING | C2 Europe

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THERMOPLASTIC POLYMERS (LDPE, HDPE AND BARRIER FILMS)

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FOR FLEXIBLE FOOD AND INDUSTRIAL PACKAGING

24 and 25 october 2012SHERATON MILAN MALPENSA HOTEL

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35 Three advantages from one machine A new sleeve change calender will make inline embossing much more efficient and simple.

36 “We perforate everything that’s softer than our tools”C2 visited Burckhardt of Switzerland and learned a lot about perfecting the most precise perforation and fibrillation tools.

Insight41 Smooth integration

One year after INATEC was taken over by the American ITW Dynatec, most of the goals set have already been achieved.

42 a direct line to customersHow the ‘American Way’ can also be successful in Europe.

Converter of the month44 Playing big with little pouches

One packaging producer in southern China is supplying the whole country with stand-up pouches.

The Last Word46 Keep on rockin’

C2 spoke to Heiner Hausdorf about his passion for solid grooves and hard riffs.

C2 Europe | COATING & CONVERTING | July / August 12 7

PRINTED ELECTRONICS | MARKET REPORT

Pooling resourcesCooperation may be one way to get organic photovoltaics to a marketable position.

The X10D-project wants to bring together companies from all areas of organic photovoltaics (OPV)

production in order to help the technology advance in its development. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community‘s Seventh Framework Programme. C2 talked to Johannes Rittner of German based VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH, a service provider in questions concerning the entire field of innovation and technology that is involved in the pro-ject management, and Tom Aernouts of imec, a research institute in Belgium that is active in the field of nano-technology and energy and a coordinator in the project, about the idea behind X10D and the current state of the OPV technology.

C2: “Mr Rittner, please give us a little insight on X10D.”

Johannes Rittner: “X10D aims to enable organic photovoltaics to enter the competitive thin-film PV market. We want to achieve this by pooling the knowledge and expertise of the leading research institutes and start-up companies in Europe. In my opinion it is the first project of its

kind trying to leverage this knowledge, irrespective of the processing technology. One of our main focuses is to use the strengths available in device efficiency and architectures in both solution processed as well as small molecule based OPV.”

C2: “What is the main objec-tive behind this?”

J. Rittner: “Basically we want to develop efficient, low-cost, stable tandem organic solar cells by applying new designs, materials and manufacturing technologies to create market-competitive OPV modules. Therefore, we propose to bring together partners that compose a complete and unique OPV research and development consortium from academic partners,

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July / August 12 | COATING & CONVERTING | C2 Europe8

MARKET REPORT | PRINTED ELECTRONICS

research centres, small, medium and large companies. Together these partners cover each segment of the complete value chain: materials development and up scaling, device development and up scaling, large area deposition equipment and processes, novel transparent conductors, laser scrib-ing equipment and processes, encapsula-tion technologies, energy, life-cycle, and cost analysis and finally end-users.”

C2: “Why do you think that a project like this is needed?”

J. Rittner: “We believe that only through a highly integrated approach the above-mentioned requirements can be fulfilled for OPV to become a competitive technology. X10D therefore offers a well-balanced and powerful consortium equilibrated between basic research, technology transfer and commercial exploitation.”

C2: “How are you coordinating the participating companies?”

J. Rittner: “The size, multidisciplinary character, and scope of X10D require an efficient management to identify, anticipate and solve potential problems, to evaluate results and to eventually reorient research programmes. The management structure existing out of a Board and a General Assembly composed of one representative per organisation has proven to be appro-priate to a large scale project like this.”

C2: “One of your main targets is to reach a cell efficiency of 12% and a module efficiency of 9%. How do you want to achieve that?”

Tom Aernouts: “Current state of the art organic photovoltaic cells show a lack of light absorption in a broad range of the solar spectrum considerably limiting the overall power conversion efficiency (PCE). New absorber materials have to be synthesised in order to enhance the light harvesting in a broader range of the spectrum, compared with existing hero absorbers, such that a combination of absorbers in tandem devices successfully harvests the incident light between 350 and at least 850nm. These materials also need to guarantee long-term stability in the device and have to allow processing

in production conditions, such as high rate deposition or solubility in eco-friendly solvents. Sustainability has to be foreseen also in the aspect of scalable synthesis. Such materials do not currently exist.”

“In order to achieve modules with PCEs above 10%, PCEs above 12% at the cell level are required. This is due to geometrical constraints that lead to a loss of photoactive area and reduce PCE when small area devices are scaled to larger areas. Efficiencies above 12% are not expected from single cells, mainly due to the relatively narrow absorption spectra of organic materials that limit the photogen-erated current, and when one increases the harvesting wavelength to increase current, the photogenerated voltage is inherently reduced. Therefore, efficiencies larger than 12% can only realistically be reached by multijunction concepts. In a multijunction cell, individual sub cells made of different absorbers are physically placed on top of each other. Depending on the design (2- or 3-terminal) either the photocurrent or the photovoltage can be enhanced.”

C2: “What will be the most crucial step in this development from your point of view?”

T. Aernouts: “The scaling from small area single cells to complete modules where different cells are monolithically connected onto the same substrate is probably the most critical step to ensure competitiveness against challenging technologies. The module design along with enabling thin film deposition tech-niques allow for both at once maximising PCE and minimising fabrication costs.”

“The module design has to optimise the balance between minimal electrical losses and maximal area coverage, which is strongly governed by the current and voltage generation in the constituent cells in relation to the sheet resistance of the electrodes and interconnection schemes. Deposition technologies that can provide uniform, multilayered film deposition at high speed are required. Alongside, high speed patterning at high resolution has to be implemented, which can be done by direct printing or

Organic solar cells on glass



by post-patterning for example through laser scribing. To increase process yield and quality, in-line process control and device performance testing at all crucial stages will be of high value.”

C2: “And then there is still the durability problem to consider…”

T. Aernouts: “Yes, reported lifetimes of current devices limit the range of market application to specific niche markets where durability is not an issue. Even though there have been an increasing number of publications in recent years on degradation issues of OPV, a more detailed study is necessary in order to derive a better understanding of the intrinsic degradation mechanisms of OPV devices. Additionally, good control over external influences has to be ensured by high-quality, low-cost encapsulation. Finally, extrapolation protocols based on accelerated and field testing have to be identified to guarantee accurate lifetime predictions.”

C2: “How do you think a price under

€0.7/Wp can be reached, which is another goal of the project?”

T. Aernouts: “This is a goal we set, yes. Still the way to reach this is not clear yet. A large effort in this project will be dedicated to process development and related scale-up. For the different processing technologies cost, energy and life cycle assessments will be done to identify the most sensitive components of the OPV device and process and to describe how to minimise them to realise an overall cost of under €0.7/Wp for production of OPV modules.”

C2: “Finally, when do you think market-able products will be available?”

T. Aernouts: “The market development for OPV and therefore also the ultimate impact of X10D will not only depend on the success of the project itself, but also on the success of developments that take place outside the project. The market entry of novel PV technologies is strongly determined by cost. The cost

analysis carried out by our project will therefore also determine what markets we will be able to reach at what time. The rapid growth and large future market of PV electricity generation is a fact, and this project through its valorisation efforts will help to give a better definition of the role and potential of organic photovolta-ics within the larger PV market.”

J. Rittner: “An external factor also exists at the political level. For now, a large driver of the PV market is the subsidies provided by the national as well as EU governments. Assuming these policies do not change in the near future, which is reasonable considering the aggressive renewable energy targets of the EU, then the impact provided here can be validated. In the long run, OPV is a perfect technology to allow subsidy-free PV. However, its commercial breakthrough will depend on the public support during the time of market introduction to survive the ‘valley of death’ when the first productions are starting and larger amounts of money are burnt than the first sales may refinance.”

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Today a number of different printing processes are used to produce organic solar panels. But

the German company Heliatek GmbH based in Dresden is following a different approach. The company developed the world’s first manufacturing line producing solar panels in a roll-to-roll process using vacuum deposition of small molecules (oligomers) on flexible film at low temperatures, a process said to offer the potential for significantly reducing costs in mass production. Further advantages according to Heliatek are better process control, higher efficiency and longer life span of the product.

A record to be beatenThe people at Heliatek are pretty

successful with their approach. In April 2012, the company set a new world record for organic solar cells after the accredited and independent testing facility SGS measured a cell efficiency of 10.7% for a 1.1cm² tandem cell manufactured with a low temperature deposition process. This new record makes the fourth time in a row that Heliatek has set a world record for efficiency in the field of organic photovoltaics. The last record for an

efficiency of 9.8% was set only a half year earlier. Experts think that an efficiency of up to 20% will be possible, but the special-ists at Heliatek first target is 15%. “That efficiency to us is really realistic and we can already see the way to achieve this,” says Dr Martin Pfeiffer, CTO of Heliatek. “I don’t want to speculate about the possible future concepts or materials that will lead to higher efficiencies. But I am sure that efficiency between 12 and 15% combined with an excellent low light and temperature performance will result in a perfect market situation for organic photovoltaics.”

Three factors are decisive for the efficiency of a solar cell: the short circuit photocurrent (Isc), the idle photovoltage and the filling factor (FF). Where it comes to the photocurrent the experts at Heliatek think that they have optimised the energy level of its absorbing molecules at the given bandgap as far as possible. The filling factor that is defined by the purity of the used material and the charge carrier mobility has reached a level of about 68%, which was not believed to be possible in organic solar cells just some years ago.

“We see the biggest potential for an optimisation in the photocurrent. Right now our best absorbers leave blue light

with wavelengths around 450nm and near-infrared light with wavelengths of above 750nm almost entirely unexploited,” Dr Pfeiffer points out. “We plan to change that by using new materials with com-plementary absorption spectra that can be combined in the tandem cell. But the good news is that although our absorbers are right now limited to the green and red spectral range we were able to top the 10% threshold and it is not our limit.”

To reach even higher efficiencies Heliatek is concentrating on developing conjugated oligomers as absorbing mate-rial in order to being able to exploit a wider spectral range. Here it comes in handy that the company is not only producing the solar cells but also the molecules used in them. It started as a project of the Dresden and Ulm Universities and always worked on the physical and chemical side.

“We did set the records as the only company using vacuum deposition to produce solar films but I have to say that we are not starting from scratch,” says Dr Pfeiffer. “This technology is already widely used in the production of OLEDs. Because of this we are able to use proved produc-tion lines and reliable processes and we are able to build new production capacities

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Innovation for the recordsThe most efficient organic solar cell was not printed but produced using vacuum deposition.

Dr Martin Pfeiffer

A flexible solar film made by Heliatek



in no time.” But the Dresden based company did not only take an established technology and transfer it to a new market, the big innovation behind the company is the combination of vacuum deposition with a roll-to-roll process. The first experiences with that kind of production were gathered at the Fraunhofer IPMS in Dresden, Germany, within the frame of a publicly funded project named R2Flex. Additionally Heliatek brought the laser structuring, which is used in inorganic thin-layer photovoltaics, to the organic solar cells.

Trusting the technology“If we take a look at the OLEDs, which

are simply further developed than organic solar products, we see a development that might also happen in our industry. In the past 20 years printed processes and vacuum deposition were both intensively researched for their usability in the production of OLEDs,” explains Dr Pfeiffer. “Today the vacuum deposition of small molecules has completely prevailed. All commercially available OLED-displays are based on that technology. The producers of OLEDs for lighting application were at first aiming at printing the polymers as they thought that would be more cost efficient in a big scale production. But the leading companies have now also decided to use small molecules and have already brought the first products to the market.” One reason for that might be the

higher efficiency and longer lifecycle of OLEDs that were manufactured using small molecules. Further, Dr Pfeiffer states that the production processes can be controlled better and deliver higher production volumes and a reproducible quality.

Regardless of the experiences the OLED industry faced, producers of organic solar cells were almost entirely focusing on printing polymers and most institutes were doing the same.

“I think the focus on polymer solar cells was fuelled by the hope that the really cheap roll-to-roll production through printing could reach speeds of up to 100m/min,” Dr Pfeiffer points out. “But if we are doing a more accurate analysis of the cost structure of the PV module, we see that speeds of 1 to 2m/min are already enough to reach a state where the costs of

the product are almost entirely dependent on material costs and these speeds can easily be achieved by vacuum deposition.”

Ready to goNow Heliatek is getting ready to bring

its products to the market. In March the company inaugurated its first production facility for the manufacture of flexible organic solar films at its headquarters in Dresden. The proof-of-concept production line was constructed in less than six months with investments of €14M. The commercial start of the organic solar film “Energy-2-Go” will follow in the fall of 2012. The first targeted market is building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). To support that strategy Heliatek plans to raise another €60M from investors in order to build an additional production line.

Visual inspection of a flexible solar film

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When Samuel Kimani from Mwiki, Kenya, wants to light his little house in the later

hours of the day, he no longer has to use the old kerosene lamp as he did for many years and that always filled his home with a bad smell and smoke. Today Kimani simply switches on his modern LED lamp. Charging the battery of his mobile phone is also no problem anymore. He simply plugs it into the bright

yellow box with the Indigo label on it.But how did electricity suddenly reach

Kimani’s little town in the middle of Kenya far away from every grid? The answer can be found on the tin roof of his hut. A small solar-panel has been placed there by the British company Eight19 Limited. “1.6bn people, over one fifth of the world’s popula-tion, lack access to electricity through a grid and pay high prices for kerosene to serve basic needs such as lighting,” says

Dr Michael Niggemann, CTO of Eight19. “By combining solar and mobile phone technology, we are bringing electricity directly to people’s homes, thereby passing the need for grid connection.”

Bringing ideas to lifeThe company Eight19 is a spin out

from Prof Sir Richard Friend’s laboratory at Cambridge University. For those who might wonder where the name Eight19 comes from, 8 minutes and 19 seconds is the time it takes sunlight to reach the earth. It started in 2010 and is focused on the development of printed plastic solar cells using organic photovoltaic (OPV) techno-logy. Gaining access to a market at the early stage is regarded as very important for an effective product development. This allows gaining early customer feedback and field data. Eight19’s Indigo technol-ogy is currently being deployed using conventional inorganic solar modules. In May 2012 the trials with OPV finally began. These will also give important information about the performance of OPV’s in regions with extreme climates like Kenya. The idea to use developing markets for field testing and a future market for Eight19’s products resulted from company development plans as Dr Niggemann points out: “We were looking at appropriate solar markets and decided the off grid market was a new and interesting one that we could have an impact on. The pay-back time for solar in these markets is very good. With abundant sunshine in most developing countries, solar power is an obvious alternative to kerosene, candles or disposable batteries which light for light, cost over 100 times the price of the equivalent energy in the West.”

The more than ten times lower weight for the same power output of thin flexible OPV modules in comparison to rigid inorganic modules can have significant advantages for the installation on relatively weak roof constructions. The robustness of OPV modules and low weight can also be advantageous for transportation to remote areas. Users can put credit on their Indigo device using a scratchcard,

Precious rays of lightHow OPV research and helping people in developing countries can go hand in hand.

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which is validated over SMS through a standard mobile phone. This model is especially suited for the markets Eight19 is targeting. “Mobile phone technology is widespread throughout emerging markets. The combination of mobile phone technology and solar allows a new business model in emerging markets where solar is provided as a service,” explains Dr Niggemann. “This is a major step forward for users that cannot afford the initial up-front cost of conventional solar products.” Indigo systems can be made in various sizes with entry level systems starting at 3W going up to 100W.

Mastering technologyEight19 is using printing processes

to manufacture its OPV panels. Here typical layers are printed 5-20 microns when wet and dry to tens of nanometres thick. “At these dimensions, clearly small variations in thickness or any tiny defects can affect the device performance,” says Dr Niggemann. “These issues will be

addressed in a recently started European project Clean4Yield where we are one of the partners.” As the devices are printed in a series of layers an architecture must also be found so that new layers do not interfere with earlier layers in the device. But according to Dr Niggemann good progress is being made in all of these areas.

Although there are these hurdles that still need to be overcome, the specialists at Eight19 are sure that printing is the right technology for OPVs ahead of vacuum deposition and other technologies. One reason for this is that printing processes allow the deposition of layers at a wide thickness range from nanometres to micrometres. The nanomorphology of these layers is highly crucial for the device performance and stability. In printing, the deposition process is de-coupled from the layer formation process which happens during drying. “By scaling the drying capacity, and also the ink formulation, high deposition speeds can be achieved which is essential for future production

of OPV. This is in contrast to thermal evaporation where the nanomorphology is primarily formed during the deposition process,” states Dr Niggemann. “Printing processes are potentially cheaper and faster than vacuum deposition. Compared to a conventional silicon PV plant, the cost of the plant itself is less than one tenth of the capital cost. This allows the promise of very low cost solar modules.” Eight19 has focussed its entire processing on flexible substrates with roll-to-roll compa tible process steps even for the evaluation of new materials. With this technology it is currently achieving cell efficiencies above 6% on R2R manufacturable solar module architecture. The company plans to start mass production in 2 to 3 years.

While there might still be some uncertainties lingering above the whole organic and printed electronics industry, a look into the face of Samuel Kimani is surely the fastest way to expel any doubt that OPV is a techno logy that will “shine” in the near future.

First evaluation trials are starting with OPV modules in South Sudan

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“We can imagine anything”Outsourcing R&D projects works in the pharmaceutical industry and may well work in OPE.

The Chinese company SunaTech Inc. is developing materials used in organic photovoltaics for

many European and North American customers. Dr Ming Zhou, founder of the company, explained SunaTech’s approach to the industry to C2.

C2: “From your point of view as a material supplier, what is special about the organic and printed electronics industry?”

Dr Ming Zhou: “The organic and printed electronics industry is truly a chemistry or materials-driven industry. Although inorganic printable materials are being widely used in the industry as well, the word ‘organic’ itself, so intimately tied to an emerging industry, sheds light on the role that chemistry and materials science has played in helping the industry grow.”

“I find it funny that the term ‘organic’ in consumer products has long been

employed chemophobically to suggest a healthier product or an eco-friendly lifestyle with no or minimal use of synthetic chemicals. But here we really want to stress the chemistry – especially the organic chemistry that is traditionally linked more tightly to the pharmaceuti-cal industry – and its pivotal role.”

“Taking organic photovoltaics (OPV) as an example, we must say almost all the current concerns about the technology and its future destination are focused on the materials issue – the band gap, HOMO/LUMO level, mobility, batch-to-batch variation, impurity control, solvent system, cost-effective production, donor-acceptor morphological stability, photochemical stability, environmental stability and so on.”

“In polymeric bulk heterojunction solar cells, the key materials, which are currently under development in many institutions and companies, are the low-band gap conducting polymers. Although only one

polymer (or two different polymers in tandem cells) is needed in fabricating a solar cell, the efforts in finding the right ones have been tremendous. In OLED materials development, thanks to the well-defined intrinsic properties of small molecules and the highly reliable process control of the well-developed vacuum deposition systems, the materials can be reproducibly evaluated at the device level by different labs. This is unfortunately not the case in the materials development for the solution-processed OPV.”

C2: “So what are the special problems in OPV production?”

Dr M. Zhou: “First, the polymers themselves can hardly be reproduced in terms of their molecular weights and polydispersities due to the poor controllability of the polymerisation.”

“Second, there are many parameters for the solution process and no standard or commercially available protocol can be used to control every details of the whole solution process.”

“Third, unlike the small molecules in the multi-layered OLED devices, the intrinsic properties of polymers may not be translated into an anticipated

Electrochemical characterisation of SunaTech’s products

Dr Ming Zhou



device performance because of the interaction between the p-type polymers and, for example, n-type PCBM.”

“For these reasons, developing industrially acceptable materials is a hard job and needs combined efforts from the entire value chain. Hopefully, we’ll see a commercial solar cell panel that is blackish green in colour, rather than brown, the colour of current poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT).”

C2: “How and why did you start doing research and producing products for the organic and printed electronics industry?”

Dr M. Zhou: “After working on the electrochemistry of conducting polymers in the University of Freiburg I started distributing R&D chemicals and materials in early 2007. I realised a growing need for the chemical building blocks that are useful for constructing OLED, OPV and OTFT materials.”

“Jointly with Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics (SINANO), which is affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, I founded SunaTech Inc. in Suzhou Industrial Park in 2008. With SINANO as a shareholder, we have easy access to state-of-the-art analytical facilities and material characterisation instruments, which are critical to our research and product quality control.”

C2: “So you are seeing your company as a service provider for the organic and printed electronics industry?”

Dr M. Zhou: “Yes, one could say that. In China, many chemical companies provide custom synthesis and contract research to western pharmaceutical companies, ranging from the drug screening stage to the clinical trial phase. Some have been very successful. I was wondering if the business model in the pharmaceutical industry can be adapted to the OPE industry, especially for OPV. The materials development, from the fundamental molecular design, through monomer synthesis, polymerisation, ink formulation, coating process, to the reliability assessment, is quite a lengthy period of time with a pretty high level of complex ity. There are similarities between drug discovery and OPV materials development. We’ve foreseen the outsourcing needs from the up-stream materials developers in the organic and electronics industry value chain and are ready for helping our customers reduce time to market by supplying catalogue chemicals, providing custom synthesis, and contract research.”

C2: “What roles do your materials have in OPV?”

Dr M. Zhou: “OPV materials are grouped into two systems, i.e., small molecule and macromolecule (polymer). In industry, the German company Heliatek and the US company Konarka are leading the two segments, respectively. At the time of writing, the power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of the solar cells based on both materials systems went beyond 10%.”

“At the moment, we make small molecules, as OPV materials directly or as building blocks (intermediates and monomers) for the down-stream low-band gap OPV polymers. After more than four years of research and development, we boast the richest collection of commercial chemical building blocks for OPV materials R&D in the world.”

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C2: “Please tell us a little about the production process of the materials used in OPV.”

Dr M. Zhou: “Industrial production of electronic materials needs a very high degree of control of the entire process. The specification, test methodology and quality control at each step from the raw materials supply to packaging must be formulated. However, preparing materials for R&D is relatively easier compared to producing materials for the industrial fabrication process.”

“This normally involves the polymerisa-tion (coupling reactions between two monomers for many low-band gap material systems), purification (e.g., removal of metal-containing catalysts) and fractional precipitation (to control polydispersity). The small molecule materials, on the other hand, need a sublimation purification step after the chemical synthesis.”

C2: “Do you have any special precautions, such as a clean room for example, in the production of these materials?”

Dr M. Zhou: “The final stages of purifying small molecules are completed in a clean room by sublimation, but a clean

room is not a requirement for the syntheses of most of our chemical building blocks.”

“We take special precautions to avoid the potential change of the chemicals and materials because it is practically impossible to examine the stability of each new chemical substance, say the intermediate and the monomer. To ensure the quality of our products, we keep them in freezers and double check the purities before shipping them to our customers.”

C2: “Where are your custom-ers mainly located?”

Dr M. Zhou: “Most of our customers are in North America but most of our sales are generated in Europe. In Asia, our customers come from Korea, Japan, Singapore and our home country China. We didn’t anticipate too much from our home country, but the Chinese research activities in the OPV area are increasing dramatically, due probably to the large number of Chinese returnees from abroad in the last two years. A Printed Electronics Research Centre was also established within SINANO two years ago. We are collaborating with its researchers on OLED devices and solar cells based on our materials.”

C2: “What is your company’s outlook in the near future?“

Dr M. Zhou: “We wish to break even this year. We are also seeking significant investment from investors or strategic partners to enhance our research and production capability in response to the increasing needs from the organic and printed electronics industry.

A number of OLED production lines are being built in China and this provides opportunities not only to us but to the whole community of OPE. As a member of the Organic Electronics Association (OE-A) based in China, we are glad to help other OE-A members build their success in the emerging industry in China.”

C2: “And which developments are you expecting in the industry?”

Dr M. Zhou: “We have eBooks, iPhones and iPads. We are expecting to see a larger oTV (OLED TV) from Samsung and LG most likely in the second half of this year. As also predicted in the OE-A’s roadmap, we are surely going to see an even larger OPV for building integration. Beyond that we could well imagine anything.”

caption

The process of developing materials for organic photovoltaics (OPV)



Recently the Italian LAEM System S.r.l. presented a prototype for the splicing of metallised films as they

are used in solar energy applications. The machine was produced for the Swiss com-pany Airlight Energy Manufacturing SA, which specialises in renewable energies.

The machine is capable of splicing strips of metallised film transversally

and winding a 5m long roll. According to LAEM it is a unique application of its kind, considering the dimensions and the type of materials to be handled. The machine allows 3 strips to be handled in a stable and precise way, soldering them transversally and winding the resulting strip as a single roll, while the edge trims are wound on a spooler.

The material produced in this way is used to cover enormous mirrors, capable of reflecting and concentrating radiating solar energy to produce electric energy.

This machine is said to enable Airlight to activate strategic key projects, namely the installation of revolutionary systems, alternative to the solar panels, for creating electric energy starting from solar rays.

The prototype of LAEM‘s web splicer

Complete workshop pre-assembly of every delivery is an integral part of our operating principles. All functions are inspected before delivery – and in the presence of our customers. As such, we only need one day – after a successful dry run – to commission a PGS300/1/6 pressurized chamber doctor at the customer’s site – guaranteed! The pressurized chamber doctor PGS300/1/6from SAM SUNGAN PAGENDARM features a purely mechanical clamping system for the doctor blades – which is simple and saves time and money. With only 1 metering blade, excellent coating results are achieved, resulting in a visually perfect surface and a maximum deviation of approx. 0.25% both longitudinally and laterally. For example, “clear on clear” (30µ PET/50µ PE) up to 500m/min.

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The first of its kindThe prototype of a web splicer is able to splice strips of metallised film transversally.


Scalability as a key to successIn emerging technologies like organic and printed electronics, laboratory lines need to be transferable to mass production says Miguel Friedrich of nTact.

In sports there is the saying ‘never change a winning team’, a platitude fre-quently used in all the right and wrong

moments. But still this doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have a kernel of truth. One exam-ple for this might be the technology of the American company nTact, a dba of FAS Holdings Group, LLC, based in Dallas, Texas. This company, which specialises in coating systems and integrated process solutions, is following an approach in the organic and printed electronics industry that it already benefited from many years ago in the LCD display industry, as Miguel Friedrich, vice president sales, explains during an interview with C2.

“When our company first developed extrusion or slot die coating, we adapted elements of a typical slot die roll to roll process to a sheet to sheet process for microelectronic applications. The first application we pioneered in that area was for LCD production,” explains Friedrich. “One of the keys to success for our technology back in the early nineties, apart from its very good material utilisation, was that it provided a scalable technology to the LCD industry. When we first started working in this area, the substrates were very small, and of the order of 5 or 10cm². Now in LCD production this technology has been scaled to coating panels which are roughly 2.5 to 3m in size.” Today the experts at nTact reckon that this proven scalability will be a key factor for their products’ success in the organic and printed electronics industry.

Different demandsAlthough the move into the new indus-

try came pretty naturally as the display market was moving towards organic elec-tronic applications, there were still some challenges to overcome. One of the big-gest was the different coating thicknesses.

“In LCD we were depositing layers in the one to two micron range at the low end,” says Friedrich. “When we were starting to work with OLEDs for example

we had to deposit layers as thin as 20nm and we also needed very high uniformity levels.” Apart from that there were other challenges which presented themselves including the organic solvents like toluene that are used in many of these applications and have very fast evaporation rates.

Driven by market needs, nTact devel-oped its technologies of Selective Area Slot-Die Coating and Selective Removal.

Patterned CoatingThe Selective Coating method uses a

specially designed extrusion coating die with multiple openings to define coated and uncoated areas (stripes) across the width of the substrate. According to nTact the stripe coating is combined with the ability to precisely start and stop the coating multiple times down the length of the substrate. “We achieve that ability through a very precise control of the coating parameters including the dispense rate for which we use a very precise pumping mechanism,” says Friedrich. “And of course very high accuracy components and control methods are needed to achieve this and to get a very clean leading and trailing edge for each coated area.”

Usually the coated stripes are similar in width and spacing; still, asymmetrical

arrangements are also possible. The stripe array is generally designed to coat the desired width on the final device, plus a small amount of extra width on each side. “The extra width, or ‘side edge exclusion’, is needed to compensate for thickness non-uniformities at the edge of the coating and for potential overlay inaccuracies where multiple layers must be aligned. However, this can typically be contained within a couple of millimetres,” explains Friedrich. In addition, nTact developed a proprietary removal mechanism which can be used to create complex, non-rectilinear shapes of coated material. It consists of a nozzle that uses a solvent that is compat-ible with the coating fluid, to dissolve the coated layer, while simultaneously removing the solution from the surface of the substrate. The nozzle doesn’t touch the substrate, and the height above the surface, along with the x-axis and y-axis motion of the device, is controlled to ensure process reliability and repeatability.

“For this technology it is really important to have the right solvent for each coating,” states Friedrich. “There may be some applications where this removal technology is not applicable. But it could prove to be ideal for applications requiring somewhat more complex ‘macro’ level patterning of about 1mm feature size or greater.” The fact that the system removes only what is required and leaves the rest untouched is achieved by the accuracy of the mechanism as Friedrich points out: “The combination of the high precision components, right setup and fully programmable process recipe is what gives us very precise control of the stream and the way the solution is removed with the vacuum mechanism.”

The removed material is contained in a vessel for subsequent disposal. The amount of solvent utilised in this process is said to be very low. Still, the exact amount will depend on a number of different factors like the type of the pattern or the thickness of film being removed for example.

Miguel Friedrich



Know your applicationsAccording to nTact, the company’s innovations open

completely new fields of application. “Currently slot die coating for the most part is being used to apply single, continuous layers of material and is overlooked as a means of producing patterned coatings,” reports Friedrich. “But our Selective Coating method has been successfully demonstrated to directly apply a patterned coat-ing while maintaining a high level of film thickness uniformity and smoothness and we can achieve these results with a wider range of material viscosity and film thicknesses than competing methods, such as inkjet and spray coating. Not to mention, we have already successfully scaled this process to Gen 4 substrate sizes, and see no limitation in scaling the Selective Coating process to even larger size such as those used in LCD manufacturing.”

Another field where Friedrich sees great opportunities for his company’s technology is in printed electronics, where the deposition of simple shapes and macro patterns is required and these patterns cannot directly or effectively be produced by the initial coating method. Right now these shapes are typically created by using laser ablation or photolithography. For some applications, these methods according to the expert could add unnecessary costs and complexity to the fabrica-tion process. He believes the Selective Removal technology is better suited to create some of the larger, less complex shapes that are currently formed using other processes.

Although many things in the area of organic and printed electronics are still in the state of development and far from conquering markets around the world, it already plays an important role in nTact’s business plan. “The organic and printed electronics industry is very important to us and we see applications such as OLED (display and lighting), and various photovoltaic and printed battery technologies playing a significant role in the future of our company. We have a great technology and the right product offering to work with our customers and take some of these applications from early stage R&D all the way through full volume production. Our customers can develop their process on our smaller, lower cost R&D platforms with the confidence that the determined process recipes are directly transferable to the larger, high volume production systems. This significantly reduces the overall process and financial risk when scaling the process to full production,” concludes Friedrich.. “With a market forecast of nearly $50 billion in the next five years, nTact sees this as one of the next up and coming industries and a great opportunity for their slot-die coating technology to have a significant impact.”

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When it comes to designing a coating system, answering the question of which came first, the

chicken or the egg, is easy and straight-forward. The product is the measure of all things. It determines the thickness of the coating to be applied, the processing characteristics of the coating materials, the drying and cross-linking process, and even the handling of the substrate.

The “art” lies not just with the product but also in knowing each technical step of the process accurately enough to be able to define the best possible coating system layout. Theoretical knowledge and practical experience are the essential foundations on which to build and develop tests and research into coatings.

One of the leading exponents of this type of testing and research is the Hamburg-based company Kroenert GmbH & Co KG, whose coatings technology centre has been setting standards for years. “With our new lab-based system, LabCo, we can offer our customers a test facility that is able to process the full spectrum of new products such as electrodes for lithium batteries and organic solar cells,” explains the company’s CEO, Dr. Tarik Vardag, in an interview with C2. “LabCo’s system layout gives us such a high level of flexibility that we can manufacture new products with only minor adjustments,” adds Frank Schäfer, sales director new products. We asked Kroenert

experts to demonstrate the flexibility and adaptability of their LabCo system in relation to two products – electrodes for lithium batteries and organic solar cells.

BackgroundEven with two very different end

products – battery electrodes and solar cells – when it comes to process engineer-ing, there is one important similarity. With the precise application of a functional coating on a moving substrate, the required functions are obtained, in other words the substrate receives the reaction layer that is essential for each application. Only the combination of substrate and coating layer will produce a fully usable product. The substrate is the carrier, and thus defines the physical properties such as tensile strength and heat resistance. The coating enables the special function of the product, such as conducting electrical current, ion exchange or transport. The process engineering behind coating and drying depends to a large extent on functional chemistry, and the substrate and its reaction to moisture and heat also affect the process significantly.

If readers think of the application system as the core component of a coating plant, then the drying and cross-linking technology is the cycle without which it is impossible to obtain a perfect end product. The final drying and cross-linking at a later stage is considered from the very first stage of the design of a coating system.

1. Electrodes for lithium batteries

Which technical product param-eters apply to the manufacturing of electrodes for lithium batteries?

When manufacturing electrodes for lithium batteries, a compound containing carbon or graphite is applied to very fine aluminium or copper foil which usually has low tear resistance. Viscosity is approximately 1,000-3,000mPas.

The coating can be water-based or dissolved in a solvent and has thixotropic and pseudo-plastic properties.

What technical and procedural factors are important for the coating?

The coating compound has to be applied with extreme precision, longitudinally and transversely. Geometrically-defined structures are applied with thicknesses of 100-150µm. Strict standards need to be met with regard to temperature and air flow control in order to guarantee the quality of the coating.

Can you describe the optimal coating process for lithium battery electrodes?

In order to adapt the battery electrodes longitudinally to the geo-metrical measurements of the batteries, an intermittent coating (applied at intervals) is preferred. For wound cells, the length of the intermittent mode corresponds to the length of the wound electrode.

The LabCo coating system at Kroenert Group‘s Technology Center in Hamburg

One system – limitless possibilities Can completely different products such as battery electrodes and organic solar cells be processed on the same coating system? C2 asked a leading coating system manufacturer, Hamburg-based KROENERT GmbH & Co KG, to comment.

Research into intermittent-mode battery electrode production at the Kroenert-BMB-Drytec Technology Center



The intermitted coating can be achieved either with modified slot die or commabar technology. Although both processes are commonplace, slot die technology has the advantage of being a closed coating system, which significantly reduces the effect of evaporating solvents on the behaviour of the coating compound during application. However, a sufficiently low viscosity is required to apply slot die technology. When dealing with higher viscosities, extrusion technology becomes a more attractive option. Where longitudinal stripes are required, they can either be achieved using anilox roller technology or by transfer from detached rollers.

“All these processes can be carried out on our modular LabCo system,” emphasises Andrea Glawe, director R&D at the Kroenert Group. “Changing from roller transfer to slot die coating is easy at any time, without any mechanical adjustments.”

What do you need to consider when designing a drying system for battery electrodes?

Since the drying process has a major influence on the quality of the finished electrode, highly accurate control of air flow and temperature is critical. Flawed drying can directly alter the concentration of a coating layer.

“If the drying is too intense in the first section of the dryer, the solvent on the upper layer evaporates too quickly,” explains Dr. Wolfgang Neumann, director of the Kroenert Technology Center. “This can lead to tears in the coating and floating additives or solvents can even cause the binder to settle in the lower layers. Both these things can permanently affect the long-term stability of the coating.”

In order to avoid these and similar problems, and to optimise the design of the LabCo system for functional coatings on battery electrodes, the Kroenert experts believe that the follow-ing factors need to be considered: In the first section of the dryer, it

can be useful to have a flash-off ventilation circuit similar to that found in an oven, with little air movement and saturated air.

Inert dryers offer a number of advantages with regard to preventing explosions.

To reduce the length of the dryer, the integration of medium-wave IR technologies should be considered. To optimise the final result, however, this is usually only helpful at the end of the dryer.

2. Organic solar cellsWhat technical production

parameters apply to the manu-facture of organic solar cells?

Unlike battery electrodes, where very fine, low-resistance films are used the substrate on organic solar cells is less problematic, because for the most part, highly stable polyester films are used. The coating solution is different since it contains critical solvents that cause faster corrosion of the system components, due to highly acidic pH values.

What are the technical procedural requirements for the coating to be applied?

Several very fine coatings are sometimes applied in narrow strips to the substrate. This calls for extreme precision of application both longitudinally and transversely. The layers applied each have a thickness of less than 1µm (wet).

Can you describe the optimal coating process for organic solar cells?

Slot die technologies are generally used to apply the very fine coats needed for the manufacture of organic solar cells. The specific challenge here lies in adjusting the exit slit of the slot die and the distance between slot die and substrate to produce a thin enough coating.

“Roller-based printing techniques offer other possible application solutions,” adds Glawe. “Here, through accurate design of the roller and dosing technology, we can achieve a very accurate coating result.”

Both processes are suited to the application of a striped coating.

“Through accurate register control, corresponding to the layer structure of a solar cell, we can also position different coatings accurately over each other,” adds the Kroenert expert. “This is possible because at the LabCo we can ‘cascade’ several coating and drying processes, or allow the material to run through the system two or more times,” continues Neumann. Both variants are supported by an optimised web guidance system.

What are the important fac-tors in the design of a dryer for organic solar cells?

When it comes to drying or cross-link-ing functional coatings, the choice of drying technology has a critical impact on the quality of the end product. The spectrum ranges from contact roller and air flotation dryers through to IR or UV technologies.

If a near-oxygen free process is required, inert drying processes are preferable. “For this purpose, LabCo equipment can be fitted with high-density inert dryers able to achieve the highest standards,” says Neumann.

Bead coat: Slot dies used to apply very fine layers A detail of the LabCo inert drying system



The better alternativeSometimes old knowledge paves the way for new technologies.

The name Agfa will bring back many memories for some of you. The company’s photographic

films accompanied us on our holidays and on special days like weddings and anniversaries. Back in the times before digital photography, when every picture mattered, the act of placing a new film in the camera always meant something special. Today Agfa-Gevaert NV from Belgium has long divested the business field ofphotography, but the old knowledge still exists and formed the base for Agfa’s products for the organic and printed electronics industry.

Learning from the past“The products we sell today are

actually in part based on our develop-ment for antistatic photographic films. We were able to use our product and production knowhow and technology,” explains Dr Frank Louwet, general product manager for Agfa Materials. “Between 1998 and 2002 we followed an innovative approach on our antistatic PEDOT:PSS, which resulted in a series of new products, ranging from films over screens to coating solutions.” After that Agfa installed an application lab to test and optimise the material for the target areas, while working together with numerous companies and institutes to build functioning prototypes.

That range of products today is gathered under the trademark Orgacon. These also include the coatings, named Orgacon S300, and dispersions, named ICP1000 series.

“Our coatings are ready-to-use and made with conductive polymer PEDOT:PSS,” says Dr Louwet. “Typical application processes are slot die, Meyer bar and gravure coating.” While the coat-ings are particularly designed for optimal properties on PET they can principally be coated on any film substrate. Generally a curing temperature of 120-130°C is needed to get optimal surface resistance values but drying below 100°C is also possible. “The same applies for the question of solvents,” adds Dr Louwet. “Our coating formulations

are water based but if the customer asks for coatings based on solvents like IPA are also possible. Additionally, we have a set of surfactants through which we can fine-tune the surface tension and wetting properties.”

The dispersions of the ICP1000 series according to Decroly offer the flexibility to formulate tailored composi-tions starting with pure PEDOT:PSS dispersions. Agfa offers dispersions of different performances depending on the opto-electrical requirements.

Getting rid of ITOOne of the general targets behind the

Orgacon products is to present a suitable replacement for indium tin oxide (ITO), which today is widely used in displays and solar cells. “There is a whole number of advantages our coatings offer in the various applications,” states Dr Louwet. “For flexible OPV there are, for example, the lower costs and higher efficiency combined with a semi-transparent cell design. For touch-screen electrodes we think that the printability of our products and their high mechanical resistance are clear advantages.”

Of course there are also some issues with the PEDOT:PSS based Orgacon, for example when really low surface resist-ances below 20Ohm/sq are needed, where the product is not suitable. “However in this resistance range ITO also has problems when it is applied on PET,” interjects Dr Louwet. Other known problems include the high costs and limited supply of indium and its fragility and lack of flexibility. That is why Agfa is following a special approach in trying to eliminate the low surface resistance problems of PEDOT:PSS: “Our solution here is to go for a hybrid system of a metal conductor in the form of a transparent grid in combination with a thin PEDOT:PSS coating. This way large areas of homogenous low surface resistance coatings can be achieved.”

Already in 2009 Agfa Materials and the Holst Centre were able to demonstrate that this approach works by producing the world’s first large area

flexible OLED tile that did not require ITO as a transparent electrode.

To help its customers find out if Orgacon is suitable for the desired application Agfa is offering testing facilities as Dr Louwet explains: “Typically we are equipped to coat millions of m² annually, but of course we also have pilot lines. These are an important tool in the development of new customer projects.”

An ITO free OLED made with Orgacon by

Holst Centre

Dr Frank Louwet

Dry Orgacon material



Material webs guided by rollers tend to move sideways off the correct track and this can lead to incorrect infeed of the web in following processes together

with wrongly placed print and patterns. In addition, webs that are out of place can’t be correctly rewound and unwound.

The specialists of BST International GmbH, a leading manu-facturer of quality assuring systems from Bielefeld, Germany, are sure that their web guiding systems avoid these effects, by keeping the material in a defined position and guaran teeing an exact input feed into the production process even at fast processing speeds.

According to BST any web guiding system can be reduced to the principles of the simple control circuit. The starting point being the current position of the web of material. One or more sensors scan the actual position of the web and transmit the information to the commander. The commander compares the actual position to the specific desired value. If there is a difference it transmits a correction signal to the guiding device. The guiding device corrects the position of the web of material by means of the integrated actuator precisely and without delay. For these processes BST International offers web guiding components customised for battery, solar and printed electronics applications.

These systems include CCD cameras for the digital detection of lines, printed edges and web edges, interrupted or continuous. The sensors are also said to offer a con-venient selection of the printed line, print edge or web edge and offer a high performance and automatically controlled LED illumination. A laser line projection onto the material during setup helps the operator to position the sensor.

The commander requires minimum effort for start-up and operation. With the actuator various combinations of stroke, positioning force and positioning speed are possible. According to BST this system has already proven its worth in a whole number of projects in the battery and solar industries.

An example of a pattern control application

Guiding the wayHow web guiding systems ensure smooth production processes in battery and solar cell manufacturing.



In a discussion with C2 Dr Samuel Halim, CEO of the Swiss firm Nanograde GmbH, a producer of specialty

nanoparticles and dispersions, explains how his company started its activities in the organic and printed electronics area and how he thinks it can help the industry through the special attributes of the company’s inorganic liquids.

C2: “Dr Halim from what we know your company is somewhat new to the area of organic and printed electronics. How did you start getting involved in the industry?”

Dr Samuel Halim: “This was some-how caused by our company’s philosophy. We see ourselves as a pure materials company with a strong technological background. There are two things where we excel: the production of inorganic nano-particles with arbitrary compositions and the formulation of novel inorganic inks.”

“On our website we offer a service for the custom-development of inorganic inks. Within the framework of this offering we developed a molybdenum oxide ink in toluene for one of our customers. The development took a few weeks and shortly after the delivery our inorganic ink was in the headline of a scientific publication. Since then, we have been trying to solve different material challenges from the

organic and printed electronics field. The problem up to now always was that organic molecules can be advantageous with regards to applicability or performance, but the price and lifetime under UV irradiation favour the use of inorganic materials. Those inorganic films on the other hand can only be deposited in sufficient quality by the use of expensive methods like vacuum deposition. That is where we see the true benefit of our novel inorganic liquids: they are printable, can be applied in the regular as well as the inverted stack, perform well, have a competitive price and show a good lifespan.”

C2: “In a technological field as new as printed and organic electronics there is surely a special need to consult your customers…”

Dr S. Halim: “Yes, that is why we try to use every possible way to make it as easy as possible for our customers to get the needed product. One example is the online tool I already mentioned, through which it is possible to order a tailored liquid that offers just the traits a customer needs. But people can of course also contact us by telephone and email, if they need further advice.”

“In general technical knowhow is rare in the area of printable inorganic liquids. Although our company has only been active for four years, we have

already worked together with companies from all over the world, some of them Fortune 100 companies. These close and intense interactions with the customers result in a product and process oriented way of thinking, enabling us to develop applicable solutions very quickly, which leads to very short development cycles.”

C2: “Please also give us a short overview on your additional activities.”

Dr S. Halim: “We have for example successfully developed a first generation of tungsten oxide based inks for the use as inorganic hole transport layers in OPV and OLED. This enabling material can be fully processed at room temperature, forms homogeneous inorganic films even on polymer substrates, which are for example used in inverted OPV architectures, and performs just as well as the currently used PEDOT:PSS. Right now we are tuning electrical and optical properties and in parallel we are developing different inorganic inks for the organic and printed electronics industry. We expect the optimised tungsten oxide ink to become the new industry standard.”

C2: “Why do you see organic and printed electronics as an interesting business field for your company?”

Helping the industry to get matureHow nanoparticle based liquids can enhance your products.



Dr S. Halim: “As a small company, we have the luxury to choose from the most promising projects and applications. Our credo is being ‘pulled’ rather than to ‘push’. Over the past year we have realised that our technology and knowhow is perfectly suited to solve different material problems in the organic and printed electronics field. We are able to develop ‘enabling materi-als’, helping the whole industry to get to the industrial breakthrough. It is exciting to help future oriented applications to get mature.”

C2: “Nanotechnology is the basis of all of your products. Which kind of nanoparticles are you offering?”

Dr S. Halim: “Our nanoparticle synthesis technology in my opinion is definitely the most versatile in the field of metal oxide and metal salt nanoparticles. It is well suited to customise the physical and chemical properties fulfilling any industrial requirements. The technology has already been scaled up to the multi-ton scale, can produce highly pure materials and is very reproducible.”

“The inks that we develop based on nanoparticles are just as versatile. Our goal is always to solve as many industrial and performance problems as early as possible. So far we have succeeded.”

C2: “Because of the little knowledge we have about the effects nanoparticles have

on humans and the environment their use and production is criticised time and again. How do you react to such criticism?”

Dr S. Halim: “New technologies always create a positive hype and are also viewed with criticism. We have always taken these critical voices seriously and have therefore worked with leading scientists from the nanotoxicological field. With the current knowledge, we believe that the biggest threat is a potential inhalation of solid material in powder form. Our products for the printed and organic electronics field are therefore never shipped in powder form, but in liquid form. A nanoparticle based liquid must be treated as a chemical and the industry is used to handling chemicals. From a nano-particle point of view, we need to ensure production safety for our co-workers.”

C2: “To what extent are you able to tailor your products accord-ing to customer needs?”

Dr S. Halim: “With our experience and knowhow we are able to adapt the ink to perfectly suit the application. This could be with regards to processing temperature (e.g. room temperature), processing technique (e.g. ink jet) or material composition (e.g. doping). As an example, we developed our proprietary tungsten oxide ink to yield high-quality thin films on organic as well as hydrophilic materials at room temperature without the need of any post-treatment. This example reflects our potential very well. With our nanoparticle synthesis technology we are able to fine-tune the properties by doping, setting tomorrow’s industrial standard for inorganic hole transport layers.”

C2: “Can all of your products be applied by any coating method or do certain products require special technologies?”

Dr S. Halim: “In general, our goal is developing novel inorganic inks that can be processed by any industrial method. We do not want to be bound to a specific technique since most of the currently discussed techniques have pros and cons. Of course, specific adaptations are usually required to perfectly align our inorganic inks to a specific coating method.”

Dr Samuel Halim



Mind the substrateThe role to be played by smooth films is sometimes still underestimated in organic and printed electronics so DuPont Teijin Films UK set out to educate this industry before it experienced problems downstream when it came to processing.

When DuPont Teijin Films UK Ltd started to present its products to experts from the organic

and printed electronics industry in the early 2000s the substrate was still seen as the ‘boring’ part of the technology as Prof Dr Bill A MacDonald, business research associate, and Thane Gough, market manager flexible electronics, point out in a conversation with C2.

“We really had to educate the electronics industry in that, although we may be seen as the basic building block, if industry did not choose the right base, it would have problems downstream when it attempted to process the films,” explained Prof MacDonald. “So we started giving presentations on our film grades that we thought were appropriate for the requirements of the industry.”

At the early stage of the company’s activities in the industry the experts needed to find out what the potential customers needed. Apart from positioning existing products for the market, that of course also included a development programme for new products. “We already had a couple of films that were suitable for the industry like the Melinex ST and the Teonex Q65 FA ranges.

“One of the first things we had to find out was if PEN or PET was the most appropriate film for the industry,” explains Gough. “To us PEN is offering the best performance in that area so we were concentrating on that.” After the material of choice was found, the film producer started to work on the properties of that film.

Search for a smooth surfaceAn important part of DuPont Teijin’s

activities in that time was covered by the term ‘voice of the customer’, which to them meant understanding the particular require-ments of the different application areas.

“While we were trying to guide the industry at a very early stage to find the most appropriate substrates from the many different products we were offering so they didn’t waste time by picking the wrong films we were also learning from them,” explains Prof MacDonald. “One thing we found out was that we needed to develop a film with a very smooth surface.”

The company already had a range of stabilised films available and now had to develop ‘planarised films’, which is not an easy task when not working in a clean room environment. “During the manufacturing of the basic film a clean

room would make no sense,” says Gough. “The film gets slit to size and the slitting process creates debris. Any dust or marks on the surface give rise to either bumps or scratches on the surface. So we did a lot to eliminate this issue.” In the end the experts had to find a totally different approach to get the result they desired.

Today, there is an additional final step in the manufacturing of the film. It is taken into a clean room, where a planarising coating is applied. This coating basically covers defects on the film and provides a more scratch resistant surface for processing.

“One reason why a smooth surface is that important in the organic and printed electronics industry is that barrier is a key requirement for some of the most sophisti-cated applications like OLED displays and organic PV,” states Prof MacDonald. “So we have to make sure that there is a mini-mum of defects and scratches on the film when the vacuum deposers, for example, lay their barrier on the film because any compromise of the surface smoothness on the film will lead to problems.”

Slow but sureAlthough the printed electronics

industry seems to have taken a little longer to conquer the markets than some might have thought, at DuPont Teijin Films people see a number of vibrant and highly innovative start-ups, especially in Western Europe and the USA, which are the reason for their belief that organic and printed electronics will be an important part of their business in the future.

“We are already working closely together with a number of companies like Polymer Vision, Thin Film Electronics and Plastic Logic, all of them leading developers in their area and working on our films,” points out Gough. “All of these companies are currently in what I would call an early production stage so we expect the sales in these areas to increase in the near future.”

One example of DuPont Teijin‘s film portfolio



Enabling the ‘Internet of Things’Addressable memory make interaction with everyday objects possible.

In October 2011 Thin Film Electronics ASA (Thinfilm), a company specialising in non-volatile memories using func-

tional polymers from Norway, together with the Palo Alto Research Center Incorporated (PARC), demonstrated the first scalable, printed non-volatile memory addressable by printed bipolar circuits called Thinfilm Addressable Memory.

“The logic circuits used are the organic equivalent to CMOS logic,” says Torgrim Takle, CFO and chief strategist of Thinfilm.

“This achievement, combining rewritable data storage with logic elements, is the first step in the creation of an extendable plat-form that will allow our ecosystem partners to integrate additional printed components into a fully printed system product.”

Ranging from disposable rewritable price labels to temperature-time integrator sensors, this creates the opportunity to commercialise a number of new applications using printed electronics, according to the Norwegian experts. In the past, printed components have been demonstrated at universities and research laboratories, and presented to the market in isolation. Product developers were left to figure out how or if they could use such components in combination with traditional silicon or with other printed devices.

Successful cooperationOver the past two years, Thinfilm,

together with its ecosystem partners, Inktec, Solvay, PARC, Polyera, and component manufacturers such as PST Sensors, Acreo and Imprint Energy, gave a good example of the value of working together to design complete solutions.

The company’s manufacturing partnership with Inktec, in Pyongtaek, South Korea, includes a dedicated printing facility for production of Thinfilm memory products. “These types of business partnerships, ranging from

materials development, design and prototyping, to contract manufacturing, are each critical elements necessary to establish a total supply chain for printed electronic products,” stresses Takle.

Addressable memory can be integrated with other printed components to create fully printed systems for interaction with everyday objects, a key part of the vision of the ‘Internet of Things’, where virtually any item can communicate with the online web. This allows the many companies who have been creating specific devices based on printed electron-ics to integrate their components into a fully printed system application.

“Earlier this year we announced an eco-system of technology providers of printed temperature sensors, printed displays and batteries,” explains Takle. “This integration of devices opens the doors for fully printed sensor tags, disposable price labels, wireless ID tags, and other smart objects at costs that simply were not possible before – and this is only one example.”

Thinfilm Printed Addressable Memory is a crucial building block for fully printed systems that can address a lot of markets. “Efforts by companies like us and others have demonstrated that a scalable, commercially viable version of this memory, one that will change the way people interact with the world, is on the horizon,” concludes Takle.

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Torgrim Takle


MARKET REPORT | EXTRUSION

The cooling of the film after extrusion is an important step. The molten plastic has to be brought to

ambient temperature in order to be able to wind it. If the cooling is insufficient instability within the film tube can occur, which leads to a smaller throughput and affects the film tolerance negatively.

To deal with this and other problems Reifenhäuser Kiefel Extrusion, based in Worms, Germany, has added a new high-performance cooling system to the new Evolution blown film line generation. “This advance will make it possible for film manufacturers to considerably increase output capacity,” says Bernd Schroeter, Reifenhäuser’s director of product management. “The significantly higher cooling of the inside of the film and the tight guidance of the film tube in the area where it is widened is very important to achieve this higher output.”

The new cooling design is said to evenly cool from within and without, basically employing the same concept as the successful cooling system ECP (Enhanced Cooling Package), which has been used for years in the production of heavy duty sacks. A big difference between the new and the known system is that Evolution Ultra Cool uses air and not water for the cooling. This of course makes the handling of the system a lot easier.

“Our engineers designed it with a height adjustable cooling ring and an air-cooled inner cooling system that optimise the air conduction inside the bubble, keeping it stable even at high throughputs,” explains Schroeter. “Additionally, the system’s high cooling capacity permits a die factor well above two. This makes it possible for manufactur-ers to operate much more efficiently.”

Short start-up timesThe high bubble stability achieved

with the new cooling system enables film manufacturers to produce extremely

low thickness and width tolerances even at high throughputs. “Further, the system offers really short start-up times. If a double stage air ring is used the start-up gets really complicated, but with the new Evolution Ultra Cool it is just as easy as with a dual lip air ring.”

“The same applies to job changes. The design of the inner cooling system is such that it is very easy to adjust to new dimensions,” adds Schroeter. “Of course those short start-up and job changeover times also ensure that high-capacity production is efficient.” According to Schroeter, priorities in the development of the cooling system were not only improved performance but also the user friendliness of the line. Optimised cooling elements

and a height-adjustable cooling ring ensure that the line can be started up and operated during production as operators become accustomed to a system that is just as easy to operate as a conventional cooling system. Evolution Ultra Cool can be used for numerous film applications including general packaging film, colla-tion shrink film, stretch hoods, hygienic packaging film and stand-up pouches.

Reifenhäuser Extrusion business units become independent companies

As of 1 July 2012, the business units of Reifenhäuser Extrusion have been divided into independent companies in a bid to enable them to better meet the different requirements of the market.

The activities of the former business unit Extrusion Centre were also absorbed by Reifenhäuser Extrusion Technology. This com-pany specialises in the develop-ment and manufacture of extruders and WPC lines. It is headed by Dr. Tim C. Pohl. The product segments of the cast film business unit will remain within Reifenhäuser Extrusion, which was renamed Reifenhäuser Cast Sheet Coating.

As of now, the company is concentrating on the development and manufacture of cast film lines, polishing stack systems, coating lines, dies, winders, and quality service. Dr. Jochen Hennes will continue to head up the cast sheet coating business. Both companies remain located at Troisdorf, the headquarters of the Reifenhäuser group.

InfORmATIOn

Reifenhäuser’s Evolution Ultra Cool

Keeping it coolReifenhäuser Kiefel Extrusion has developed a high-performance cooling system for blown film extrusion, Evolution Ultra Cool, which has been designed to make it possible for film manufacturers to significantly increase output capacity.


EXTRUSION | MARKET REPORT

Today, these roots still show in Macchi’s delivery numbers, with more than 90% of the manufac-

tured lines being co-extruders. “The typical line ordered by our customers is a 3-layer co-ex machine that has a web width between 1800 and 2400mm. But co-extrusion machines that are able to produce five, seven or nine layers are also pretty common,” explains Signoroni. “Obviously these figures show that the flexible packaging industry is a typical target for our machinery.”

Macchi’s co-ex flex extrusion systems for the production of 3-layer blown film have already enjoyed success in the market for some time. They are equipped with three extruders, a side-fed co-ex die, tubing and all required connectors. “One of the great advantages of the

co-ex flex system is its ability to replace a traditional monolayer extrusion system with it and still occupy the same floor space,” Signoroni points out. “This upgrade has been successfully applied in dozens of applications worldwide.”

The feed screws used in these systems are a barrier type that, according to Macchi, offers optimum performance in processing a wide variety of materials including LDPE, LLDPE, EVA, metal-locenes, PP, PS, PA resins and the major HDPE resins available on the market today.

Taking market needs seriouslyThe co-ex flex barrier lines for 5-,7- and

9-layer films have been introduced to follow the markets requirements as Signoroni explains: “There were a couple of requirements that we had to face at the same time. These included the need to produce a barrier structure made by the simultaneous usage of both PA and EVOH to process strongly asymmetrical structures and to produce structures using two or three different barriers to optimise the film performance and allow further thickness reduction.”

“All this led us to the present production of 5-, 7- and 9-layer machines, along with the development of extrusion screws, innovative head concepts and a total

redesign of the entire system from take-off units to winding systems.” One of the main features was that the residence time of the melt inside the head was highly reduced. Additionally, the design allows for the same flow path on all the layers.

“The words ‘barrier film’ are closely associated with the food packaging sector but there are many non-food applications, like the pharmaceutical and medical sector, automotive and industrial specialities to consider,” adds Singoroni.

Customer focussed The main focus of development right

now is not on faster or bigger machines. “The latest developments are all focussed on sustainability, energy saving and cost reduction. This spans from drive techno-logy to enlarging the capacity,” Signoroni reports. As cost reduction has always been and will always be an important topic, Mac-chi has always considered it in its portfolio.

The company boasts that it was the first extruder maker to implement fast setting machine software and quick product changeover as a built-in feature in its machines. “We have no ‘class A’ or ‘class B’ lines. Even the simpler monolayer unit is PC/PLC controlled with automation levels that somebody would only expect in up market machines.”

The COEX flex 9

Pioneering up market machines Companies tend to talk a lot about themselves and their importance. But with the first patents on co-extrusion granted to company founder Luigi Macchi in 1962 there seems to be a lot of truth in the words of Mariangela Signoroni, sales and marketing manager for Macchi, when she boldly emphasises the company‘s targets ans abilities.



Packoflex produces multi-layered packaging materials by extrusion coating:Extrusion coated materials:• PE Paper/Board• Foil Laminates• Film & Paper Laminates• Cupstock • Customized Products

Finished products:• Paper Cups• Boxes• Pouches

Markets we serve: Food & Beverage, Pharmaceutical, Industrial, Chemical industries.

Packoflex sa1st Km Markopoulou-Kalivion Ave.Kalivia 19 003, Athens - GreeceP.O. Box 151 Markopoulo

Tel : +30 22990 23508 +30 22993 02061Fax: +30 22990 23401email: [email protected]: www.packoflex.com

”Highest quality in

affordable prices!“

“We used the exhibition Plast in Milan to launch a new extrusion line for

photovoltaic sheet production,” says Andrew Erskine, marketing manager of Macro. “This line, which produces the encapsulant material used in the assembly of solar modules, features our patent pending low shrink extrusion technology that minimises shrinkage in the final sheet to below 2%, which we believe to be the lowest on the market.” The reduced shrink properties, according to Macro, lead to significantly greater yields as less material goes to waste during solar module manufacture.

“The line is optimised for simplicity by creating sheet without the use of a carrier web and incorporating a two-sided embossing option that allows the sheet to be wound without the need of an interleave web,” explains Erskine. “It is completed by fully automatic winding technology with zero waste, straight-edge cutovers that create jumbo rolls up to 1m in diameter.”

It is able to produce encapsulation sheet made of a variety of materials

including EVA, PE, PVB and TPU. The technology can also be applied to other applications where low shrink-age is required, such as rigid sheet and lamination films or sheet where shrinkage creates issues with quality.

Stable barriers“Another field that we have focussed on

in general is the food packaging market,” says Erskine. “Through our blown, cast, biaxially oriented, and extrusion coating extrusion systems we supply a wide variety of solutions to this market.” One of Macro’s key experiences here is with high barrier systems that can process barrier materials such as PA, EVOH and PVdC to create multilayer film structures.

“The requirement to protect the product from microbial degradation, physical damage and chemical changes, combined with the need to offer attractive shelf appeal, presents a challenging combination,” reports Erskine. “Our experience allows us to sift through these challenges and provide the appropriate solution to our customers based on their specific needs and objectives.”

One technology Macro highlightes especially is its biaxially oriented film lines, which are available in two and three bubble configurations. They are supplied in several models, each with its own specific extrusion and orientation technologies. “This allows our biax systems to produce films with a wide variety of properties such as low to high shrink, low to high barrier and a large range

of film widths,” says Erskine. “The lines are used to produce meat and cheese shrink films and bags, artificial casings, and other food packaging films.”

Global footprintTo increase the company’s sales

and service resources to European and Middle Eastern markets Macro opened in mid-2011 a new company near Milan, Italy, under the name Macro Engineering & Technology. “We selected Italy as the site for our European branch because of its central proximity to our European customer base and the area’s well established network of suppliers and human resources,” comments Erskine.

“We had considered a number of alternatives to accelerate our plan to start a European operation including the acquisi-tion of an Italian machinery manufacturer. Negotiations in the acquisition broke down as a result of administrative obstacles and the establishment of Macro near Milan was deemed to be the more favour-able option.” Since May 2012 Michele Ingegnoli has held the position of general manager of the European branch.

Keeping an eye on photovoltaics Canada is not the first country that comes to mind when considering year round warm sunshine. Even so, Ontario-based Macro Engineering & Technology, a producer of extrusion and co-extrusion lines for monolayer, barrier and specialty films, has dedicated its most recent product to the harvesting of solar energy.

Andrew Erskine

Macro’s 7-layer, 2-bubble biax film line



Bandera to launch Smartflex 16 at October open house

From 24-25 October Bandera, one of the leading manufacturers of extrusion lines for thermoplastics, is inviting its customers and interested parties to learn more about the company’s latest 3-layer blown film co-extrusion line for packaging. The Smartflex 16 is designed for the production of shrink and lamination film as well as stretch hood.

“Our new line offers an attractive combina-tion of maximum quality and a competitive price,” stresses Mattia Gambarotto from the company’s sales department for blown film technology. “Nevertheless, the machine offers high production capacity, reliability and energy saving features. Consequently, we’ve already convinced a high-calibre customer from Russia of the machine’s potential.”

In particular, the machine at Bandera’s presentation will show a TR 85 extruder model for central layer application and two TR 65 extruders for inner and outer layer application. All are equipped with low energy consumption motors, a bi-metallic alloy cylinder from a European producer, manual screen changers, and a co-extrusion side feeding die head with a 350mm die and an output up to 400kg/h with LDPE 0.7. The multi lips design of the cooling ring has been designed to balance the airflow influence on the bubble.

Because the Smartflex 16 is able to produce both high quality flat film and gusseted tubular film, the line is equipped with either a flattening device consisting of aluminium rolls and wooden slats or, alternatively, with a gusseted device. Both are motorised.

InfORmATIOn

Packoflex produces multi-layered packaging materials by extrusion coating:Extrusion coated materials:• PE Paper/Board• Foil Laminates• Film & Paper Laminates• Cupstock • Customized Products

Finished products:• Paper Cups• Boxes• Pouches

Markets we serve: Food & Beverage, Pharmaceutical, Industrial, Chemical industries.

Packoflex sa1st Km Markopoulou-Kalivion Ave.Kalivia 19 003, Athens - GreeceP.O. Box 151 Markopoulo

Tel : +30 22990 23508 +30 22993 02061Fax: +30 22990 23401email: [email protected]: www.packoflex.com

”Highest quality in

affordable prices!“

One of Bandera’s latest extrusion lines



Getting to the heart of the matterWith more than 50 years’ experience, more than 2500 extruders manufactured and almost 200 stretch film lines in operation worldwide, Italy’s Dolci Extrusion, which is based in Biassono, has belonged to Bielloni Converting since 2002 and is a leading European supplier. C2 spoke to managing director Riccardo Castello about the unique selling points and special advantages of Dolci’s extrusion lines.

C2: “You’ve recently launched a new cast stretch film line. Mr Castello, please tell us more about it.”

Riccardo Castello: “We’ve extended the range of our lines for thin films by introducing a 1m line for film from 7-17mµ. This line is designed for a net capacity of 600kg and offers our customers an interesting price level. The line is based on one extruder 130mm LD33 and two side extruders 55mm for a total gross capacity of 850kg/hr. Due to the limitation in output it is possible to recycle the trims in-line by using a ‘fluff’ forced-feeder instead of a side extruder when running higher outputs. The diameter of the chill roll is 1m. We offer our customers

the opportunity to choose between an automatic American die (EDI) and an Italian Netra Flow Simplas but our high-speed winder with the new system of pressure control and bleed-trim to achieve perfect rolls remains the heart of the machine.”

“Additionally, we also delivered several 5- or 7-layer stretch film lines for thin films gauges recently. These lines are equipped with four or five extruders, a wide chill roll with a diameter of 2m and twin winders for hand rolls and machine rolls.

The market trend for stretch film is now focussed on thin gauges due to the new resin developments. For this purpose we’ve developed high-speed winders that can achieve production speeds of 700m/min.”

C2: “A chill roll diameter of 1m for a machine with a working width of 1m seems to be quite generously designed ...”

R. Castello: “We’ve deliberately decided to go for large chill roll diameters as they offer our customers more circum-ferences for controlled cooling so that we can use warmer water for the cooling process than with smaller diameter chill rolls. Additionally, the large diameters guar-antee a greater flexibility in an environment with warm and humid weather conditions, not forgetting the energy savings.”

C2: “Do those large diameters have an effect on the compactness of extrusion lines?”

R. Castello: “Not at all. Let me give you an example. A Dolci extrusion line with a working width of 2m is 8m wide and 18.5m long and 148m² in total. That already includes recycling facilities, e-container, water and gravimetric pumps. An extrusion line with 3m working width would measure 207m².”

C2: “You say that the high-speed winder remains the heart of your machine. Why?”

The winder station of one of the company’s extrusion lines Bird’e eye view of Dolci’s assembly hall

Riccardo Castello tested the quality of an extruded film together with a Chinese visitor of

Dolci’s Open House some weeks ago



R. Castello: “Maybe it sounds surpris-ing for extrusion line builders but the winder equipment secures high quality finished film rolls. Nevertheless, we look for winders that are not overly complex and easy to maintain, such as those with a low number of proximity switches and solenoid valves. Our winders for stretch film use a three-shaft winder design with two lay-on rolls used during roll change. All electrical components are mounted on

the outside of the machine to ease both maintenance and replacement. With our winders we can benefit from synergies obtained from our mother company, Bielloni Converting, which specialises in the manufacture of slitter rewinders.”

C2: “Even with a complex extrusion line I know that you assemble all your machinery prior to shipping. Does the result justify these efforts?”

R. Castello: “Yes, I’m convinced of it. By assembling all lines in our factory prior to shipping we can avoid unwanted surprises. By installing and testing all cables, wires, pipes and ducting before delivery we are able to test and produce films at guaranteed speeds. By doing this we can significantly reduce installation time at customers’ facilities. Typically, it takes us three weeks and that includes start-up.”

Dolci’s 5-7 layer extrusion line

Strategic co-operationJust recently Dolci Extrusion

and US-based Gloucester Engineering, MA (USA), announced a strategic partnership to offer each other’s winders for specific application opportunities in the field of cast stretch film. Both companies expect to better serve their customers requirements by offering an alternative winder choice.

InfORmATIOn


Right on time for drupa, the die-cutting experts at

Swiss company Berhalter AG came up with an interesting innovation. The latest generation of in-house high-performance die-cutting machines includes a new automatic reel changer, the REELsplicer, which Berhalter promises will have a much higher load factor as well as increased performance and efficiency. The REELsplicer is a compact reel changer that makes it possible for the first time for two complete reels to be taken up simultaneously without compromis-ing user friendliness or reliability.

“We can reduce waste considerably with non-stop unwinding and guarantee constant web tension thanks to a control system that uses inertia compensation,” explains Berhalter CEO Dalibor Schuman. “The butt splicer separates the web with a precise cut and simultaneously applies the adhesive tape to the joint without the webs overlapping.” With the aid of an ‘in-register’ function, the alignment of the running web to the prepared web is constantly maintained.

The position of the running web is checked and the automatic side register ensures that the webs are aligned exactly at the moment the tape is applied.

Synchronised servo drives With seven synchronised but separately

and individually controlled servo drives, Berhalter is living up to its boast of setting new standards for print and cut alignment in the area of in-mould labelling. Web tension is monitored and adjusted completely automatically. “The result is absolute dimensional accuracy of the punched blanks, which is decisive for

perfect functioning of feeding and injection moulding systems as well as making the final product look good,” Schuman points out. What’s more, Berhalter promises its customers considerable cost and material savings in IML production, which also has a positive impact on overall packaging costs.

For counting, separating and handling die-cut lid and label stacks, Berhalter is introducing the BEAMstack automatic handling system, which separates precisely counted label stacks fully automatically and positions them in a predefined location. “We can thus develop an automatic packaging solution that is tailored to our customers while saving on personnel costs and increasing output at the same time.”

Also on display in Düsseldorf was a die-cutting machine, the B 500, that has extra options such as PRINTinspect, a 100% printed design inspection system and WEBinspect, a 100% surface inspection system. It is thus possible to check print and film quality directly inline on a die-cut-ting machine and remove defective material without die-cutting it. Antistatic equipment, a marking and counting station, punching scrap extraction systems and many other options such as inline embossing and inline film perforation increase efficiency, productivity and process reliability.

Modern die-cutting technologies, including non-stop reel unwindingBerhalter is introducing new systems that can do more than just die-cutting.

MARKET REPORT | PERFORATING, DIE-CUTTING, EMBOSSING

BERHaLTER aG and XOL automation announce strategic alliance

The Swiss based BERHALTER AG, Widnau, and XOL Automation S.A.L., based in Lebanon, just recently signed a cooperation agreement. Berhalter is known as one of the worldwide leading sup-pliers for high-performance flatbed die-cutting machines. “Teaming up with XOL Automation to engage in die-cutting industry is an exciting development for our company,” said Dalibor Schuman, managing director of the Swiss company.

“Berhalter is a great partner and this agreement exemplifies their dedication to the die-cutting indus-try,” said Marcel Hage, chairman of XOL Automation. The Lebanese company provides web handling and converting products and services to its customers mainly in Middle East and North Africa. XOL already holds several similar coop-eration agreements with leading European and American suppliers like Boschert, Enercon, FIFE, Martin Automatic, NDC and Unilux.

InfORmATIOn

Berhalter B 500 High-performance

die-cutting press with 12-up double

output punching tool Ø 81.0 mm

A die-cutting machine from the Berhalter portfolio


PERFORATING, DIE-CUTTING, EMBOSSING | MARKET REPORT

Package printers stubbornly cling to the view that in-register inline embossing is complicated and

expensive, and that delivery of new tools takes ages and in any case only experts can adjust them. Saueressig GmbH is now proving the opposite with its new SWK sleeve change calender.

According to company information, the new generation of embossing machines combines the advantages of rotary embossing with the advantages of direct drive technology and Saueressig sleeve technology. The conical sleeve system for printing and embossing applications consists essentially of an expanding core shaft with a tapering cylinder. A hard chromium layer cut and polished with high precision is applied to this conical surface. The printing or embossing sleeves are then slid onto this expanding core shaft that has been thus prepared and are securely held by it. This keeps the sleeves firmly in their position. These core shafts are perma-nently installed in the redesigned emboss-ing line. Another option is to replace them with a quick-change system. According to the Vreden embossing experts, a sleeve or core shaft can be changed very easily

and quickly with a changer belonging to the machine.

Easy and Quick operation

The SW series is equipped with the latest drive technology in which every core shaft with a sleeve is driven by a servomo-tor. The rollers’ synchronisation is electronically monitored and the radial position of the sleeves together can be adjusted and thus optimised when the machine is running. A special diameter-independent drive unit mechanically restricts the adjustment range so that, even if there is an operating error or a motor fails, the surface being embossed will not be damaged.

The experts at Saueressig, are sure that the machine’s direct drive technology offers yet another significant advantage. The new sleeve change calender therefore has a laser presetting system. After the sleeves have been changed, the machine is switched to a reference mode. The measurement system includes a reference

mark applied to the surface. The position of this mark precisely fits the sleeve’s design. The machine control automatically adjusts the radial and axial position of the sleeves together and guarantees an optimal register of the male and female elements at the start of production. The final optimisation can then be carried out during running production under the influence of web tension and production speed.

The sleeve change calender by Saueressig

Three advantages from one machine A new sleeve change calender will make inline embossing much more efficient and simple.


MARKET REPORT | PERFORATING, DIE-CUTTING, EMBOSSING MARKET REPORT |

At the hub of three countries and only a stone’s throw away from Germany and France,

Burckhardt of Switzerland is based in Basel. Founded in 1941 the company established itself as one of the leading suppliers of fibrillation and perforation solutions for a wide range of different applications and industry fields.

Even if we all know the final products, we often don’t know much about what fibrillation is and how it works. Fibrillation is a process, where polypropylene

films or tapes are sliced with the help of fibrillating rollers, which are equipped with needle bars. Fibrillated films and tapes boast a wealth of advantages.

They are not only simple to process and cost-efficient to produce but also highly flexible, elastic, tear proof and abrasion resistant. It’s no surprise that they cover a wide range of applications including carpet backing, artificial grass, ropes, cords, sewing and harvest yarns, packing cords or tapes for woven big bags. Burckhardt’s fibrillation rollers are

installed in the machines of all leading manufacturers and their customers. “We support our customers, not only to define the right kind of fibrillation but also in the use of the perfect tools and how to integrate them into their existing machin-ery,” underlines Heiner Hausdorf, technical sales manager of Burckhardt when we met him at the company’s headquarters.

Attractive synergiesEspecially big bags are said to be a

perfect way of showing the interesting synergies Burckhardt has to offer. Bags used in the waterproof storage of cement are made of fibrillated materials, in addition they have to be laminated and, as a result, the material can’t breathe. Now the perforating skills of the company come into play. “We perforate the material (most of the time it’s PE or a combination of PP and PE) with nano holes with valve function, which allow the material to breathe but keep the cement inside and the water out,” explains Hausdorf.

What sounds simple evolves into a technical challenge. Since the bags are produced in tubular form, they also have to be perforated like that but, by perforating the two layers at the same time, two different holes are created – an inner hole with an inner beaded edge and an outer hole with an outer beaded edge.

Used like that, air would accumulate on one part of the holes and could leak at the other and, finally, the bag would go to waste. However, Burckhardt found an attractive and practical solution for that problem by perforating from both sides at the same time. This way the tube finds its way through two rotating perforation units.

Hot or coldThe decision for hot or cold perforation

is defined by the material and, because Hausdorf is a practitioner, he just gives an example by perforating a non-woven wiping

“We perforate everything that’s softer than our tools”C2 visited Burckhardt of Switzerland and learned a lot about perfecting the most precise perforation and fibrillation tools.

Even high precision tools require experienced handwork

A detailed view of Burckhardt’s manufacturing


cloth cold by hand. It just takes a minute and all perforated holes are closed again. The same happens with PP, often used for bread bags – the holes vanish within seconds. Other materials need a sealing around the hole to prevent them from breaking when we penetrate the material with the pin. “So it’s quite obvious that those materials require a hot perforation,” the expert summarises.

“We must also be prepared for a later application involving either a hot or cold perforation. Generally speaking, cold perforation allows a finer perforation because the edge of the hole doesn’t have to be sealed. To prove it, Hausdorf used a release paper for meat packaging, which the Swiss experts perforated with 150 needles/cm² in a range of 20µm holes.

Burckhardt processes the complete range from 3mm macro holes (hot) up to nano holes (cold) of only 20µm in diameter. “This distinguishes us from most of the other suppliers, which are limited to perforation holes with a diameter of 50µm”, Hausdorf emphasises.

Endless possibilitiesWith his heavyweight sample folder Hausdorf directly sets out

to prove that the applications for the Swiss perforation solutions seem to have no limit, apart from the fact that the material has to be softer than Burckhardt’s tools which in fact are made of steel.

One of the high-end applications for perforated non-woven materials is the top sheets of diapers, which should ensure the permeability of liquids and thereby allow babies and parents silent nights. With one of their latest innovations the Burckhardt experts are able to even create 3D hole shapes. That kind of new

Heiner Hausdorf at the company’s R2R perforating line


MARKET REPORT | PERFORATING, DIE-CUTTING, EMBOSSING

technology provides non-woven fabric with completely new surface properties that are highly appreciated in the manufacture of diaper and feminine care products.

The technical challenge lies in the fact that the counter roller has to be designed as a female roller to allow the pins melting and forming the material in the opposite hole. The high demands this technique turns on the mechanics, synchronisation and precision are obvious. “Just imagine a perforating roller with a working width of 1600mm, equipped with 75 pins/cm², which has to fit precisely to the counter roller while the two rollers need to have different but exactly controlled temperatures,” Hausdorf explains.

Additionally, the manufacture of cleaning rags and wiping cloth is another field where the Burckhardt solutions are well established. Artificial leather, used for shoes and car seats, is also easy to perforate. Another widely used application for Burckhardt’s perforation tools are micro-perforated roofing membranes, which are essential to let water vapour and moisture leak and to keep splashing water or rain out. From here it’s only a small step to a usage the Burckhardt experts had not thought about at the beginning – textured wallpaper – which is very popular in the US, not only because it’s trendy and chic but because it offers an easy solution to a widespread problem. As a result of the typical American lightweight construction for any kind of building, it’s quite common for air-conditioning systems to cool the inside down up to arctic temperatures while it’s tropical outside.

As a result moisture condensates at the back of wallpapers and, without perforation to allow damp and moisture to evaporate, that would have dramatic consequences for the indoor climate and structure.

As aluminium is softer than Burckhardt’s needles and pins they also perforate it. Hausdorf provided an example of perforated aluminium 0.5mm thick, which is further processed to become a noise absorber in cars. The metal sheet, which now looks a bit like a cheese grater, takes on a new structure – it’s stiff now and harder to deform than before.

The list of applications could be extended indefinitely. Hausdorf’s portfolio still keeps a lot of treasures and new ideas at the ready.

Small, smaller, nano …“What we have been lacking so

far was in-house production,” Teddy Burckhardt, CEO of the company, stresses. This step has now been taken and Burckhardt now has a new multi-flexible perforation line, which can not only be used for first perforation trials and product tests but also for a wide range of contract perforating. This line, which Burckhardt calls a ‘know-how catalyst’, has already experienced its first results.

The Swiss experts developed a new generation of perforation tools, where the experiences from the in-house perforation lab and the results of a huge number of talks with customers have been combined.

“We can prove the fact that most of our new developments are based on special customer needs with our latest innovation – the nano holes,” Burckhardt emphasises. It’s their job to turn light and water resistant films through simple mechanical perforation into membranes.

With a diameter of 20µm these cold perforated micro holes are even smaller than the laser generated ones and offer the perfect solution for vapour barriers and other kinds of ventilation.

“Strictly speaking the name ‘nano holes’ doesn’t fit completely but we wanted to express that these perforation holes are smaller than micro holes,” the Burckhardt CEO expresses. “We are really proud that we could achieve our ambitious targets and that our new machine generation named “HotSpeed“ fulfils the highest of expectations regarding working speeds, temperatures and handling,” Burckhardt points out.

The line allows a working speed of 300m/min and a working width of 1600mm, features, which make the latest Burckhardt innovation especially attractive for film converting processes for food packaging and other industries. Due to an optimised construction of the “perforating chamber” we can assure that the heat energy is perfectly utilised which leads to an increased energy efficiency.

InfORmATIOn

The Hotspeed line from the front view

Innovative Anilox Roller Technology• High-tech with tradition and “Made in Germany”

• Manufacturing of ceramic and chromium anilox roller

• Individual anilox roller solutions

• Advisory service and consulting in printing processes

• Services/measuring, investigation and print analysis/cleaning Zecher GmbH | Görlitzer Straße 2 | 33098 Paderborn | GermanyTel. +49 5251 1746-0 | Fax +49 5251 1746-20 | www.zecher.com

A dozen diligent helpers check the correct fit of hundreds of pins. Nothing escapes their

sharp eyes …


PERFORATING, DIE-CUTTING, EMBOSSING | MARKET REPORT

a tooth for a toothCMC Klebetechnik could claim to be the company

that embosses one of the most expensive adhesive tapes! When the customer contacted experienced technicians and engineers at the sales department of the German based company some months ago, their first reaction was to laugh because the idea was too extraordinary but, after long discus-sions with the customer, its potential was gradually realised.

The right raw materials were determined, first trials were made and, finally, the first coating was done on a 92cm² piece of material. Last but not least the film had to be embossed, too. Further tests were made. To simulate the later real life conditions CMC developed both a special mix of liquids and a unique adhesive formulation. This time tests under alternating loads were requested. The fact that every square centimetre of the testing material cost €4 did not really improve the situation.

Having finished all tests and trials “quite successfully”, Gerald Friederici, Technical Sales of CMC Klebetechnik, says: “It’s time to reveal the secret!” The new film blanks of CMC Kle-betechnik are made for applications in dental technology. Expe-rience has shown that, with dental implants, the fit between the implanted base and plugged crowns is lost over the years.

As a result of permanent mastication an ever-growing gap develops, which offers the perfect ground for different kinds of bacteria and infections. To avoid this and to fill the gap, a high tech gold film can be stuck in the crown. The cost of that 50µm adhesive and flexible gold film is record setting: €45 000/m².

CmC KLEbETEChnIKQuality control trumps again

C2 asked Dieter Mendel, CEO of Mendel Stanztech-nik/Rauch Werkzeugbau, based in Wangen, Germany, to outline the top customer demands from the company’s embossing and die cutting equipment. So Mendel undertook a worldwide survey, the results of which follow.

“To be honest we were not sure if higher production speeds, greater material widths or increasing automation would win the race,” Mendel stresses. But customers have consistently affirmed that higher speeds wouldn’t be that relevant for them because they would in the end create a more personnel intensive production process. Neither did customers have any great demand for increasing automation because it is considered to be too expensive and too space consuming.

So what did hold the trump card? “What our customers look for is reliable quality control,” Mendel underlines. “As a result of the zero-defect mentality we notice a growing demand for additional tools for material and quality control.” The main total focus of converters seems to lie on a greater variety of films that can be processed with the same equipment and most economic solutions for embossing and die cutting tools. “From my point of view,” Mendel summarises, “the lifespan and the running time hold the key to success.”

mEnDEL

Dieter Mendel

Innovative Anilox Roller Technology• High-tech with tradition and “Made in Germany”

• Manufacturing of ceramic and chromium anilox roller

• Individual anilox roller solutions

• Advisory service and consulting in printing processes

• Services/measuring, investigation and print analysis/cleaning Zecher GmbH | Görlitzer Straße 2 | 33098 Paderborn | GermanyTel. +49 5251 1746-0 | Fax +49 5251 1746-20 | www.zecher.com

CMC’s precious product in use



Smooth integrationOne year after INATEC was taken over by the American ITW Dynatec, most of the goals set have already been achieved.

The news that Langenfeld company INATEC GmbH was being taken over by the American ITW Group

came as somewhat of a surprise. One year on, C2 joins Christof J. Schotten, CEO of INATEC GmbH, for a first look at how things are going since the takeover.

C2: “Mr Schotten, INATEC has now been part of the ITW Group for a year. How do you think you’ve fared?”

Christof J. Schotten: “Integration is already complete and INATEC has adapted well to the global processes. Many of the expected synergies have basically been confirmed and some have even already been implemented. So we’re now covering many of the modules that we previously obtained from suppliers from our own Dynatec development and production.”

“This naturally adds more in-house value and gives our customers cost and quality advantages. However, I must also admit that the integration of INATEC products into the global distribution and service organisation is taking a bit longer than expected. This has and still does require quite a lot of training to give our sister companies in Europe, the USA and Asia plus our dealers technical under-standing of the products and possible applications. The same applies to efforts to pass on experience that we have built up over 20 years to our new colleagues.”

C2: “How are tasks distributed between INATEC and the par-ent company these days?”

C. J. Schotten: “With our relocation from Langenfeld to the Dynatec EMA head-quarters in Mettmann, INATEC’s integration has finished. There is no more distribution of tasks in this sense. But there are mean-ingful synergies. We have thus taken the production of our globally sold products to Mettmann. Development, sales, marketing and after-sales support are synchronised

with Dynatec. In the global enterprise, Dynatec Mettmann together with INATEC has become the development and produc-tion centre for coating and laminating.”

C2: “What synergies in the ITW Group can you now utilise for your benefit?”

C. J. Schotten: “Along with the modules already mentioned, ITW Dynatec also produces tubes and melters in-house. The combination with our application technology here offers considerable cost benefits and a wide range of combination and application possibilities for users. But in the long run, I regard the collective development work on new products and solutions for our customers, which brings together a great wealth of experience on both sides, as the most important thing.”

C2: “Back when the takeover occurred, it was stressed that INATEC flat sheet die technology for high-precision application of closed adhesive films and curtain coating in particular were going to be developed further. What’s been done in this area since?”

C. J. Schotten: “The initial aim was to integrate this technology into the Dynatec portfolio and make their unique product and application advantages acces-sible to the global market with the help of existing structures. We’re on the right track with this in

the Asian and South American markets, among others. In conjunction with that, we’re currently working on other product alternatives that expand the application range and are sensible additions to the existing product. So when it comes to sustainability and cost reduction in the

ITW DYNATEC/INATEC | INSIGHT

A bag melter by INATEC

Christof J. Schotten


In an interview with C2, Helge Birkwald, Europe sales manager for the Montalvo Corporation, specialists in

the production of web tension control components, reports on the challenge the American company has faced to establish efficient distribution in Europe and the differences between the European and American corporate cultures.

C2: “Mr Birkwald, in 2010 Montalvo changed its European distribution system from a traditional one with dealers and agencies to a direct selling one. How would you rate the new system so far?”

Helge Birkwald: “Yes, the changeover happened at the end of 2010, so we have been working in the new system

for a good 18 months and so far all our expectations have been exceeded. We’re in direct contact with customers throughout Europe and beyond from our European distribution and support office. Our territory ranges from Sweden and Finland in the north and Russia, Poland, Hungary and Turkey in the east down to Israel, Saudi Arabia and north Africa and back to Europe. Here we cover Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, France and of course Germany. In the Benelux countries and Great Britain, we enjoy excellent cooperation with the sales agencies Meefil (NL) and Arrowhive Equipment (GB).”

C2: “Why did you decide to go this route in the cut-throat European market?”

H. Birkwald: “Montalvo might be an American company, but as it celebrates its 65th anniversary this year, it is also a global company. So along with our headquarters in Gorham, Maine and the distribution centre in Europe, we also have a distribution site in Shanghai. Cut-throat or not, we have to ‘get in the game’ in Europe. Our customers operate globally, so we also have to offer our entire range from web tension control and spare parts to technical support globally.”

C2: “Is direct customer support in Europe particularly important then?”

H. Birkwald: “I’m not actually sure whether direct customer support in Europe is any more important than in other markets. Our decision to go this route was made from a global perspective. Com-panies around the world are increasingly seeking direct contact with manufacturers. The Internet is also becoming more and more important in the search for mer-chandise. Then there’s the growing global trend of people learning and mastering new languages. I think we’re doing a good job of staying abreast of these trends and trying to get closer to customers. That certainly doesn’t mean that we just

Montalvo’s headquarters in Gorham, Maine

A direct line to customersHow the ‘American Way’ can also be successful in Europe.

INSIGHT | MONTALVO

Helge Birkwald

manufacture of labels, flexible packag-ing and products for other interesting markets, we’re able to go a step further.”

C2: “How are things looking in the reactive adhesives department? Here as well, ambitious goals were stated about expanding global markets like technical textiles, filters and the automotive industry.”

C. J. Schotten: “We are still focussing on these goals and are very much a step closer to achieving them. The integration of the INATEC PUR bag melter is complete. Along with hot melt processing directly from the original packaging, which is gentle on the adhesive, the machine also makes it possible to run low melting temperatures with laminating pressure. What’s more, the bags can be replaced without the machine shutting down. Circulating application heads can also be used for a precise application and gentle processing of the adhesive.”

“We’re making sensible additions to the PUR segment of the Dynatec product range and selling the product globally in the meantime. Aside from that, we’re working on important development projects that will combine certain advantages and philoso-phies of both companies into a new type of concept. Naturally, these things take longer than one year, but we’re right on schedule.”

C2: “Is there another corporate culture in an American company or are things done differently to what they are in solely German companies?”

C. J. Schotten: “Yes, American corporate culture is generally different to its German counterpart. Moreover at ITW, our parent company, there are certain philosophies that are specifically mandatory for all companies under the ITW umbrella. Among these is 80/20, the Pareto principle that says all resources should be geared towards the most important customers and markets.”

“I generally find American companies to be oriented to data and facts. There are many statistics and processes, and their reporting is more distinctive than ours. They’re less formal and quite down-to-earth. The bottom line is that we’re trying to combine the best qualities of the German and American corporate cultures.”


stop cooperating with dealers and agencies. We’re still doing this very successfully in the USA, incidentally.”

C2: “Do you have a general impression that your contact with customers has been improved by the change in your distribution system?”

H. Birkwald: “Yes, definitely. The direct line to customers now makes it possible for us to react faster to queries and improve our technical services. So a prospective customer immediately gets the answers he’s looking for or the quote he requires. On the other hand, we get market information at Montalvo directly and unfiltered, so we can tailor our products and services to market requirements even better and faster.”

C2: “Are there also certain areas where things aren’t going quite as smoothly?”

H. Birkwald: “My impression is that the entire changeover has gone very well. At most, there are just a few minor problems. Communication with customers and all the logistics have meanwhile been coordinated and tested. If our customers have techni-cal problems, we can reach them in a very short time. Because we work with experienced partner companies, we are guaranteed to have a presence in Europe and provide the same high standard of service everywhere. Our current main

focus is adjusting our capacities, because we are going to need more staff in the coming years in view of the increasing demand. So for example, we’re currently on the lookout for new distribution and customer support staff in Germany.”

C2: “How are your customers reacting to the new distribution and service structure?”

H. Birkwald: “Well, the machine builders naturally appreciate the direct contact, because our components have to be smoothly integrated into their technol-ogy. Thanks to the quicker communication channels, we can more easily prevent misunderstandings and ambiguity. Direct trade is also a delight for purchasing, because there are no more middle man costs. This fact is also of great interest to machine users and production plants.”

C2: “What does the European market spe-cifically offer for an American company?”

H. Birkwald: “In general, the diversity

of languages and cultures in Europe and overseas trade offers a multitude of challenges in itself. Moreover, major resources are tied up for particular tasks such as conversion from inches to the metric system, technical documentation, technical directives determined by the EU or the CE mark. Without doubt, there are also differences between Europe and the USA in terms of quality and design. For instance, Americans are often surprised at the very high standards for mechanical engineering in Europe.”

C2: “In your experience, are there fundamental differences between European and American corporate cultures?”

H. Birkwald: “European companies are typically more interested in detail, while American ones look for quick solutions without getting down to the nitty-gritty and getting lost in little details. Another difference is in communication. People in Europe are direct and get to the point faster. In the USA on the other hand, people are non-committal and beat around the bush. Where corporate culture is concerned, Montalvo is not all that typical. We have been active on the global market for over 50 years, so it is accordingly our way to trade and communicate internation-ally. When developing new products, we thus have not only the American market but naturally also the requirements of the Europeans and Chinese in mind.”

“When you consider the converting Industry itself, the cultural differences are not that great in any case. In the final analysis, the requirements are the same the world over: it’s all about machine function-ality, material quality and efficiency.”

MONTALVO | INSIGHT

Load cells from Montalvo’s ES series


CONVERTER OF THE MONTH

Over the last six years, the C2 team has visited over 100 particularly innovative companies that refine

paper, films and foils for the ‘Converter of the Month’ column. As a general rule, these appointments are carefully planned and prepared, and some serious persuasion is often needed to open doors. But in the case of the converter we’re introducing in this issue, it all came about through a most extraordinary coincidence. At a little supermarket in Dongguan, C2 publisher Franz Hermann met a friendly Chinese man who helped him translate the Mandarin packaging labels. As they made small talk, the young man turned out to be the sales manager of Dongguan Huayuan Packaging, one of the biggest Asian manufacturers of food packaging. A visit to the company was spontaneously arranged on the spot.

High-tech equipmentWhen we arrive at Dongguan Huayuan

Packaging, also called Hoyu for short, at about 10:00pm after an adventurous journey, one thing is obvious in front of the bustling entrance: it’s the shift changeover. Because the company operates for seven days a week with three shifts per day, the machines run at full speed. Before going inside, we join the long queue for the security checkpoint. “Because we mostly manufacture food packaging, we’re very particular about hygiene. No one can enter our factory without being disinfected first,” explains sales manager Leon Li, our acquaintance from the supermarket in Dongguan.

He proudly points out that Hoyu has ISO 9001 and ISO 2000 certifications, which means that all products meet the high EU and FDA standards. During the initial tour of the production halls, it becomes clear that Hoyu is not just geared to European standards. Along with numerous systems by local machine builders and more than 80 printers, laminators, cutters and winders, there is also a brand-new Nord meccanica line for solvent-free coatings.

Production capacity of over 600t per month

“We’re one of the biggest packaging producers on the Chinese market,” Li points out. “The combined production capacity of our two factories in southern and central China is more than 600t a month.”

The packages made at Hoyu are used especially for food, products for every day requirements, cosmetics and liquids. In China, stand-up pouches that offer food and hygiene articles without secondary packaging are especially popular. All over the urban landscape,

you can see locals nibbling on little snacks – from dried duck wings to nuts and jelly cubes – as they stroll around the cities and towns, wait for a bus or chat with friends. Stand-up pouches of all kinds are accordingly Hoyu’s main products.

“Our customers are also catching on really well to a new method that we’re using to make metal-plated bags at downright low costs. The base material of these bags is not the usual plastic, but paper,” explains Li. “We achieve the metal plating effect by firstly printing a separately produced effect foil and then initially apply-ing it as a laminate to the paper pouch.“

Playing big with little pouchesOne packaging producer in southern China is supplying the whole country with stand-up pouches.

An employee at a cutting machine

A look at Hoyu’s 10-colour printer


CONVERTER OF THE MONTH

Quality control and employee qualifications a major priority

Hoyu sets great store by production and quality control. Every three hours – i.e. eight times a day – samples of all currently run products are tested in the laboratory equipped with Japanese technology. For employee qualification, there are regular courses and advanced training in the company’s own training classrooms that resemble a university laboratory.

Sales manager Leon Li with typically

Chinese stand-up pouches

Dongguan Huayuan Packaging (Hoyu) was founded in 1998 in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan. The company specialised in manufacturing plastic packages with colour printing.

These days, high-quality packaging materials are produced for almost all industries in a produc-tion area of more than 20,000m² with four laminators and over 80 high-speed printing machines.Another factory, Chengdu Huayuan Packaging in central China, was opened in 2002 to meet growing demand. Huayuan employs 500 at its headquarters with about another 300 in Chengdu.

Hoyu’s top 10 products Stand-up pouches Stand-up pouches with zippers Vacuum bags Heatable bags Aluminium bags Spot metallic bags Drink pouches Rice packages Rainbow cellophane bags Flexible shampoo and

soap packages

InfORmATIOn

WWW.2KM.ORG

2 Komponenten Maschinenbau GmbH · Industriestraße 6a · D- 51709 Marienheide-Rodt · Telefon +49-2264-4590-0 · Telefax +49-2264-4590-49 · www.2km.org

Siliconization of Release Liners• Online metering directly from the original containers• Saving of material as no batch operation is requested• Pulsation-free metering via gear pumps• Mass flowmeter for survey and control of the adjusted

mixing ratio (variable)• Static mixer with plastic inserts (consumables, without using solvents)• Easy handling, low-maintenance• Process data control

Siliconization of Release Liners

2 KOMPONENTEN MASCHINENBAUMETERING AND MIXING SYSTEMS

Metering

of up to 10

components

2KM_C2_europe_Ausg_19_2010.qxd:Layout 1 16.02.2010 10:59 Uhr Seite 1

Drink pouches are replacing bottles for

many Chinese drinks

Colourful essence: stand-up pouch for sweets

On the C2 Web site www.c2-europe.eu and in the C2 Docu category is a video report about Dong-guan Huayuan Packaging

InfORmATIOn

DOCU


THE LAST WORD

Keep on rockin’C2 spoke to Heiner Hausdorf about his passion for solid grooves and hard riffs.

Once again on one of many evenings he lifts his drumsticks, jumps up behind his percussion

instruments and sets the crisp final touches of the last song. Boooom! One short moment of silence and then suddenly the audience starts cheering and screaming for more. This evening, like many others, exactly suits his taste for an evening packed with rock ‘n’ roll!

The man, who just played the drums and now rests on a club chair, happy if a little washed out, is Swiss Heiner Hausdorf. In real life he works as key account manager for Burckhardt of Switzerland, which built up an excellent reputation over the last few years as one of the leading suppliers of high precision tools and machinery for fibrillating and perforating.

Heiner’s career as a musician started when he was five. He began to hammer on everything that was in his way and the family decided the boy should attend a rhythm group! Some years and several classical lessons in recorder and flugelhorn later, Heiner’s parents finally allowed him to take the private drum lessons he so much longed for. Since then his love for snare, tom and heavy bass drums show no sign of diminishing.

Let’s play„I set up my first band when I was

16 and played in different bands before I started my engineer study at age 24.”

Despite study, job and family the drums went along with him for jamming with friends. Heiner founded his current band six years ago.

‘Our generation needs more rock’ is its motto. The repertoire of the five musicians is focussed on classic hard rock and heavy metal from the 1980s. Songs from AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Metal-lica and Judas Priest are on their playlist as are songs from Green Day or Rage Against the Machine.

Heiner determines the bands groove. He pumps the sound. “Yes, being the drummer means, that I’m a kind of director and master clock everybody in the band has to comply with,” the Swiss salesman stresses. If he can feel the vibrations, the spark skips over and the audience is carried away and he experiences the “greatest of all feelings”, one that only the drums can give him.

Like every musician Heiner once dreamed of what it would be like … “But I quickly realised, that playing music is my hobby but not my profession.” Today, the

hours at the garage and several gigs at clubs and open air festivals are a perfect balance to his challenging job for the Basel based machine building company.

No matter how different his private and business lives are, Heiner is sure they are two parts of a whole that make up his personality. So he enjoys the time with his guys, now best friends as he prepares to dive into another evening of rock ‘n’ roll.

If you want to learn more about Burckhardt of Switzerland, please also read page 36.

Heiner Hausdorf at an open air festival in Switzerland

Where are you?

Freelance EditorTo qualify, you should have editing experience and/or technical journalism. You must be able to write in English and edit industry news and articles about new technology quickly and accurately for a sophisticated audience of commercial and technical decision makers. You should be willing to travel when required. Please include samples in your c.v.

Junior EditorIf you are interested in modern technologies and your ambition is to become a technical journalist, an excellent opportunity to become a junior editor for C2 Coating & Converting has arisen. You will learn to write articles about technological and business topics and edit industry news. You will be based in our European headquarters in Feuchtwangen near Ansbach.

Salesperson As salesperson for C2 Coating & Converting you will be responsible for creating new contacts with potential customers, maintaining contact with established customers and selling advertisements for the magazine and newsletter, together with banners on the home pages of our web site. You should have experiences in advertising sales under your belt and be able to communicate with customers around the world. You should also be willing to travel when required.

STAFF WANTED!

Send your c.v. with samples to:

Franz HermannDinkelsbühler Straße 991555 [email protected]

Where are you?

Freelance EditorTo qualify, you should have editing experience and/or technical journalism. You must be able to write in English and edit industry news and articles about new technology quickly and accurately for a sophisticated audience of commercial and technical decision makers. You should be willing to travel when required. Please include samples in your c.v.

Junior EditorIf you are interested in modern technologies and your ambition is to become a technical journalist, an excellent opportunity to become a junior editor for C2 Coating & Converting has arisen. You will learn to write articles about technological and business topics and edit industry news. You will be based in our European headquarters in Feuchtwangen near Ansbach.

Salesperson As salesperson for C2 Coating & Converting you will be responsible for creating new contacts with potential customers, maintaining contact with established customers and selling advertisements for the magazine and newsletter, together with banners on the home pages of our web site. You should have experiences in advertising sales under your belt and be able to communicate with customers around the world. You should also be willing to travel when required.

STAFF WANTED!

Send your c.v. with samples to:

Franz HermannDinkelsbühler Straße 991555 [email protected]

www.bobst.com

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