ICE on top

Closing three busy days with a record final attendance figure of 4,169 visitors - 37 per cent up on the previous event of two years ago - ICE 2007 confirmed its claim to be Europe's leading dedicated converting industry show. Every exhibitor Converting Today spoke to during last month's exhibition in Munich was positive about the great value of its focus in bringing together the right suppliers with the right users. With four halls occupied by over 270 exhibiting companies from 20 different countries, the international flavour of the event was illustrated by the fact that 38 per cent of all visitors came from outside Germany, with 54 countries represented.

Event director Michael Boyle enthused: “We're delighted for our exhibitors, whose confidence in the event has been returned by three full days of buoyant trading conditions. Unlike most other exhibitions, ICE is on a markedly upwards trajectory in terms of exhibitor participation, hall occupancy and most importantly, domestic and international visitor attendance levels. Our objective for the next event in November, 2009, will be to capitalize on what is clearly a winning formula based upon close co-operation with the converting industry to deliver more of the same.”

John Lack, managing director of ALS, told Converting Today: “This is a very good show - the best converting show in Europe.” Jan Eisby, of Vetaphone, was happy to be the first exhibitor to sign up for the next event, confirming: “It's been a brilliant show. They have the right concept. All the visitors are good quality, decision makers.” TS Converting's Tim Self added: “We've been really busy, it's never stopped. I will be surprised if we don't get two or three orders from the show.”

Chris Barton, sales and marketing director of Davis-Standard, summarized the buoyant mood: ”Our high expectations have been surpassed. We met 30 per cent more visitors on our stand than at the last ICE. It is quite clearly the leading coating and converting show and absolutely indispensable.” Horst Engelmann, area sales manager of Haug, added: ”We exhibited at ICE for the first time. The show was absolutely incredible - the best one in many years. Next time we will need more staff to man the stand.“

Among the visitors, Katharina Neuerer, sales assistant of UniMaTec, said: ”As the show is compact and easy to get around, I had a perfect opportunity to meet and have meaningful conversations with both suppliers and customers. This was my first ICE and I am very satisfied. We are now considering exhibiting at the next show.” Another very satisfied visitor was Gerhard Schlager, head of production at Constantia Teich: ”ICE was good, both in terms of getting an overview of the market and collecting information,“ he confirmed.

More to come

Around 100 exhibitors have already rebooked for ICE 2009 (November 24-26), with many taking bigger stands. Show organizer nimble says there have also been “orders and a lot of interest” in ICE China, which takes place in Shanghai on January 16-18, 2008.

During the traditional VIP dinner, the ICE 2007 Innovation Awards were presented to three companies for their outstanding achievements. Slitting systems manufacturer Dienes Werke received an award from the independent jury (which included former Converting Today editor Pauline Covell) for its new Depth Control knifeholder, incorporating a special safety feature within the setting system. Nordson Engineering won for its FS200 drum melter; and Siemens Automation and Drives received a special award for service, for its Megatronic Support, which provides users of converting lines with advanced process control using both electronic and mechanical measuring systems (see page 30).

Among the exhibits, Applied Materials featured its new Capacitive Electrostatic Adhesion System technology. This electron implantation tool is said to enable high quality deposition and increased productivity for metallization and other vacuum coating processes onto flexible substrates. The CEAS technology is an integral component of the company's Smartweb system for flexible web applications and the Multimet system for producing high performance film capacitors.

A web spreader brush roll with a static removal facility, and another capable of handling six to eight webs in multiple slitting applications were among the developments highlighted by Mink Bursten.

Teknek launched what it claimed to be the world's first completely silicone-free ESD contact cleaning hand roller, capable of removing dry unattached particles down to one micron in size. The company has also developed Tekwipes - lint-free, quick drying, sterile alcohol surface wipes formulated to clean its blue elastomer rollers.

The new generation TRBM 2000 slitter rewinder was announced by CMR. Capable of running a wide range of products at up to 800m/min, the machine features a new blade group and improved ergonomics. It will handle widths up to 2,300mm.

A roller alignment system that uses three high precision gyroscopes to achieve exceptional accuracy was launched by DB Pruftechnik. The Paralign is said to provide reliable graphical and numerical information on all necessary corrective steps - even in previously inaccessible areas on a machine. Measurements can be performed rapidly: 15 rollers in 30min is claimed by the company. The data gained is transferred wirelessly to a PC, for analysis and output as a graphic or Excel file.

New-Tec was demonstrating its electronic positioning system for slitting knives. This is claimed to bring a positioning accuracy of 0.15mm within one minute for up to 30 knives on cutting widths down to 35mm and working widths up to 6,500mm. The data is stored for recall on repeat jobs.

Featured on the Softal stand was the Aldyne Lite for Label, a new compact version of the company's plasma based treatment system for narrow web UV printing applications (see page 19). Available for web widths up to 860mm, it offers the opportunity to replace expensive coated substrates with low cost plain films, the company states - “guaranteeing adhesion at minimized costs”. Versions for other applications are to follow

Improved security

Visitors to Thermo Fisher Scientific's stand learnt about the latest release of its 21Plus! continuous web gauging platform, with improved operating and data security features. It offers over 30 fully tested application packages with measurement and control features said to provide an extremely flexible customization capability. The new iBox data processing system and Investment Assurance SM software refreshment program are said to protect the user from software obsolescence and fast evolving networked data security risks.

Alpha Converting has developed a “simple, cost effective” system for winding edge trims. The Alphatrim is a free standing unit that produces a compact package by spooling the trims for disposal or recycling. It can handle adhesive and non adhesive materials, including paper, film, foil, non wovens, laminates, filaments and textiles. A manually adjusted, pneumatically driven traversing mechanism forms the spool. Closed loop tension control through a lightweight dancer roll is said to provide precise setting and winding tension.

New from NDC was the ProNet TDI on-line web measurement system, said to provide the “lowest total cost of ownership in the gauging industry”. Every critical device in the system is intelligent - the operator workstation, the scanning frames and the product measurement sensors. The frames and sensors are designed to work in tandem, breaking down complex gauging tasks to their simplest components. The 8000 TDI operates on the same principles for on-line scanning, gauging and control of web thickness and weight.

Spooner was promoting an improved range of air flotation dryers for converting applications. Said to combine compact design and economical operation, they offer non contact drying (eliminating any roll contamination issues and allowing coating on both sides of the web in a single pass) and high heat transfer rates. An integrated design has the fan, heater, and damper controls for each zone mounted within the dryer enclosure. The dryers are also modular, with independent retraction on each zone. Energy efficiency is said to be boosted by inverter driven fans, humidity control, heat recovery, and efficient nozzle design.

Menzel exhibited a 100 per cent inspection system available at an “extremely attractive price compared with others on the market while providing the same level of performance”. The Akku-Track is a matrix based image recognition system that eliminates the need for printed lines to guide the web. Instead, its position is controlled by referencing the print or any repetitive pattern.

The Neuenhauser Vorwald exhibit featured new expansion chucks for shaftless winding. Due to their compact design these units are claimed to have a higher efficiency in converting the clamping force.

Parkland International promoted its expanded range of converting machinery. In addition to the existing choice of slitter rewinders and core cutters, the company is now offering recently developed spoolers and reel cutters. Latest developments on core cutters include small diameter automatic machines down to 12.7mm ID cores and on slitters, narrow width slitting and duplex gap rewinding. The company's latest automatic and digital knife setting systems, and air differential shafts featured on the stand. These can be supplied as original equipment or retrofitted to existing machines, including those manufactured by other companies.