How to maximize foam manufacturing equipment ROI
Opportunity is there.
The foam manufacturing industry is experiencing explosive growth.
Manufacturers today are challenged to make a wider variety of products that must meet a broader range of conditions.
Equipment has become the pinch point. When it doesn’t measure up, growth is left on the table.
Foam manufacturers must keep two key ideas in mind if they want to invest in new equipment that pays for itself and then some:
First, adopting a big-picture mindset allows for equipment procurement that achieves greater overall value. The first two sections of this guide walk through the operational and cost advantages of purchasing entire foam manufacturing lines from a single provider.
Second, it pays to partner with a provider who is willing to think beyond typical industry norms to engineer innovative machinery that lasts. We share two case studies demonstrating the value in identify- ing an equipment provider you can trust.
The opportunity is there.
Seize it.
OPERATIONAL BENEFITS OF SINGLE-SOURCE WHOLE-SYSTEM FOAM MANUFACTURING
For industrial foam manufacturers, buying the equipment that makes and prepares continuous web foam products is arguably their most critical capital expenditure.
Boiled down, there are two pathways to procuring this crucial machinery. Continuous updates of individual manufacturing stages are more common. Less common is the integration of an entire manufacturing line at once.
Is one way better than the other?
We believe manufacturers are better off sourcing whole systems from sole providers.
Don’t get us wrong. We’re happy to build one-off foam ovens and other post-expansion conversion equipment. But the productivity, maintenance, safety and facility benefits (not to mention cost savings, which we cover in the next section) of integrating an entire system from a sole provider are too concrete and wide-reaching not to consider.
Below are the key operational benefits of adopting entire lines from a single source.
Electrical system continuity simplifies maintenance, training and troubleshooting
The electrical systems that power modern foam manufacturing lines are quite complex. This is true of isolated machines and whole systems alike. But when a single provider builds an entire line, they can assure the seamless integration of each machine during the control system design process.
That leads to three critical benefits.
First, the system’s human-machine interfaces (HMIs) can be integrated- ed, allowing operators at any station to monitor production information across the entire system.
Second, the common terminology used for all parts of a system simplifies maintenance and shortens the learning curve for operators.
Third, maintenance personnel will appreciate having only one manual and one wiring diagram (written by one staff, in one language) to consult during regular maintenance or when making repairs. And if they need a hand, there’s only one phone number they need to call.
Whole-system design makes general maintenance easier
Whole-system designers can maximize access to key maintenance points because they can see and think in terms of an entire manufacturing line. Such holistic thinking is not possible on a discrete piece of equipment that’s necessarily somewhat agnostic toward what comes before or after it.
And since whole systems often rely on common hardware, maintenance is further simplified and the hassle of storing and documenting spare part inventories is reduced.
Whole systems optimize operator safety
A piecemeal approach to equipment procurement results in piecemeal worker protection. Engineers will need to understand each component’s safety features, recognize any potential gaps that exist between one zone and the next and then determine how extensive aftermarket or field-fabricated additions will need to be to protect workers and meet applicable statutory requirements.
Whole-system design closes those gaps and eliminates the risks that mismatched or incompatible safety features pose to workers. In short, whole systems provide one unified answer to a whole line’s worth of operator safety questions.
Whole-system design considers floor plan and user flow requirements
Whether all stages of a manufacturing line came from one provider or many, the system still takes up space. But the machines that comprise piecemeal lines are each engineered in a vacuum, lacking a holistic accounting of how the equipment relates to its environment when fully assembled.
Designers of entire lines have greater freedom to customize equipment that integrates seamlessly with facility layout and infrastructure while optimizing (as opposed to constraining) the movement of people, tools and products.
Continuity of thought streamlines software/hardware design
In much the same way that whole systems are electrically streamlined, a similar benefit emerges for whole systems that run on the same software program and share common hardware.
Piecemeal lines running on different software can communicate and work together seamlessly, but it often comes at the expense of hiring integrators and installing expensive programs that break down the barriers of zone-to-zone interface. Consequently, if something goes wrong on such a system, downtime is compounded as maintenance teams sift through documentation to find which supplier or integrator is responsible for which system component. Whole-system design eliminates these potential failure points.
As a practical example, the software and hardware characteristics of single-source lines are particularly beneficial for web-type foam manufacturing that relies on balancing tension and controlling line speed from zone to zone. Piecemeal lines require much more fine-tuning among zones and introduce multiple potential failure points if they aren’t properly dialed in. Potential tension and line speed issues are engineered out of whole systems from the start.
Whole systems are up and running faster
The time between shutting down an old line and starting a new one
is critical. Obviously, manufacturers want to minimize this interval. When buying an entire line from a sole provider, there’s only one project deadline. Hours spent in pre-planning, scheduling and coordinating installation are dramatically reduced.
And, installation of an entire system by one group of people is far more efficient (and less of a headache) than orchestrating concurrent installation of separate machines.
Is relying on one provider bad risk management?
Suppose you purchased an entire line from a single source. If something went wrong with this supplier, or a breakdown occurred somewhere in the line, you’re out of operation until the problem is resolved. Wouldn’t it better to spread the risk around to multiple equipment vendors?
In our view, no.
Consider that web-type foam manufacturing is a continuous process. Every machine in a line must work for production to be successful. If one goes down, the whole line goes down. This is true regardless of whether each machine came from a different source or the whole line was designed, built and installed by a single provider.
The operational benefits of single-source manufacturing lines outweigh this risk.
COST BENEFITS OF SINGLE-SOURCE WHOLE-SYSTEM FOAM MANUFACTURING
Above, we argued for sole-sourced foam manufacturing equipment by sharing the operational benefits that would result from that decision.
But operations is just one side of a two-sided coin. Cost matters. And buying a whole system from one supplier is obviously expensive.
Our stance is the same: almost any continuous web foam manufacturer’s production can be made more simple, efficient and profitable with integrated machinery made by a single provider.
Below are the cost-specific reasons why we believe what we do.
Acknowledge the sticker shock fallacy
Buying an entire line at once, whether from a single source or piecemeal from separate providers, comes with some sticker shock. Even if it makes operational sense to add or update entire lines all at once, the size of this single outlay might be more than a manufacturer is willing to stomach.
But sticker price is only a surface-level cost. Many other factors combine to reveal the true cost of ownership. We encourage manufacturers to investigate them in depth. It’s harder, more tedious work to understand the impacts those factors will have, but it’s information well worth knowing.
Whole systems are less expensive and faster to engineer
Engineering through all the manufacturing steps is done at once by a single team. Not only does this result in paying for fewer total hours of engineering time, the engineering itself is stronger and more integrated. It can anticipate future equipment updates much more effectively than the tunnel-vision engineering of individual machines.
Integrated engineering also makes whole systems cheaper and more efficient to operate. This is because system engineers can consider and account for all of your process requirements at once. Not only does this create a more efficient line, it allows engineers and manufacturers to think holistically about ways to improve manufacturing efficiency. The engineering of separate machines inherently cannot account for the full picture the way whole-system engineering can.
Whole systems reduce delivery and installation costs
Even before a manufacturing line begins operation, manufacturers can realize significant savings when buying entire systems from one provider. The cost to ship the equipment is reduced, installation is coordinated from a single point of contact and only one deadline looms over a project rather than several.
In addition, integrated engineering accounts for the smooth transition of product from phase to phase. Disparate systems cannot account for those transitions as well, introducing the risk that costly field modifications are required.
Whole systems optimize labor
A key advantage of whole-system engineering is that entire lines can run on a single HMI framework. By not needing to integrate dissimilar machinery, manufacturers sink less time and money in training the labor force. Similarly, whole-system design accounts for labor requirements and user flows in ways that piecemeal procurement cannot.
Because engineers who design whole systems can think more broadly about user interface, footprint and user flows, they can collaborate with manufacturers to develop more highly automated manufacturing lines that reduce a facility’s overall labor requirement.
Maintenance is faster, easier and cheaper with whole systems
Downtime is the archenemy of profitable manufacturing. Whole systems reduce downtime because maintenance teams need only to consult one manual during troubleshooting. They also give manufacturers a single point of contact for support.
In addition, part replacement is streamlined because whole systems are value-engineered to use the same brands and part types across an entire line.
Whole systems offer more flexible financing
Imagine paying for the engine, the body, the wheels and other components that make up a car separately instead of just buying a car. How well the car works isn’t necessarily tied to how it’s paid for, but such a vehicle would be an administrative nightmare to own.
The same is true for foam manufacturing equipment. Manufacturers can secure more consistent payment terms when they pay for whole systems instead of purchasing lines piecemeal from separate vendors, each with its own financing policies. Similarly, the warranty plans for whole systems and the components they include leave fewer gaps in coverage compared to piecemeal equipment purchases.
CASE STUDY: DESIGN FREEDOM RESULTS IN INNOVATIVE INDUSTRIAL FOAM MANUFACTURING EQUIPMENT
Many foam manufacturers know exactly what they need in terms of equipment. And because they know what they need, they provide detailed, prescriptive requirements to equipment builders. They challenge builders to deliver exactly what they asked for.
But the customer in this case study challenged us in a different way. Rather than offering prescriptive specifications, they stated their desired end result and left it up to us to design and build the machinery that would get them there.
This wasn’t so much a sink-or-swim scenario as it was a customer recognizing the benefits of letting the experts do what they do best. The custom foam manufacturing and post-expansion processing equipment described below was the result.
Troubleshooting reveals need for full-line replacement
Our customer’s global network of facilities supplies foam products to a wide range of industries. One such facility, located in the U.S., was responsible for producing rolls of crosslinked polyethylene foam in a wide variety of densities and cross sections.
The customer had acquired the facility some years prior. But ever since the acquisition, the American facility was plagued by repeat problems that put production in jeopardy.
Thorough troubleshooting revealed the source of the problems: old, mismatched foam manufacturing equipment across different manufacturing lines meant only certain lines could produce certain products. This lack of flexibility made it nearly impossible to schedule work and meet existing customer deadlines. The customer wanted to grow, but this equipment did not permit it.
The solution? Install an entirely new line flexible enough to manufacture essentially everything. This would eliminate the scheduling complications and production delays (and help the customer reap the kinds of operational and cost benefits we illustrated in the first two sections of this resource).
In 2018, the customer called on a trusted provider. Davron had built several industrial foam ovens for this customer’s facilities in the past— including this batch curing oven.
One-of-a-kind design
Our customer knew that a new line was needed to address their production challenges. But those challenges were unique enough that they believed the best course of action was to collaborate with us to develop a totally custom system.
They approached our engineers with production goals and a wish list of features and functionality that they believed would improve their process. From then on, we had near-total design freedom to develop the absolute best solution.
Key design features are summarized below.
Oven and guiding frame
Our customer’s previous equipment wasn’t very flexible. The lines had poorly performing, inconsistent expansion ovens with mismatched machines, cobbled together piecemeal over time in a way that restrict- ed the variety of products they could make.
One way we addressed this was to incorporate adjustability inside the oven to direct air according to a recipe. Variable direction and mass flow of air left to right and top to bottom influences the expansion and curing behavior of the foam. A more adjustable, efficient process allows manufacturers to produce a far wider variety of products.
We also implemented a displacement guiding frame to steer the web, ensuring it’s on-center as it emerges from the oven. Sensors measure the width of a web before and after edge trimming and then output that data in real-time to a facility data collection system.
An especially innovative aspect of this system design is that during operation, the guiding frame raises above head level. This feature allows operators to pass below the web from one side of the system to the other. Given that the entire manufacturing line is around 200 feet long, this pass-through significantly improved operator mobility.
After a run is completed, the frame then lowers to between knee and shoulder height so operators can comfortably thread new webs.
Slitting and edge trimming
Adjustable knives slit whole webs into webs of various desired widths. This machine has nine such knives which are easily adjusted along a shaft. We included a precise and easy-to-read scale next to the shaft that locks in multiple common settings to reduce operator error when setting the knives.
After webs are slit, the edges are trimmed off. A series of turning bars and a small set of nip rollers direct these scraps away from the line and dump them in a container that operators remove and replace periodically.
Accumulating and cross-cutting webs
For continuous web-type foam manufacturing to work, there must always be constant tension on the web.
In this system, a series of rollers gradually raise and lower the web, maintaining proper line tension so that finished rolls can be cross-cut, bagged and removed without stopping the line.
After the web is cut and the finished roll is moved toward the rear of the line (that process is explained in more detail below), a flip table extends to support the foam and a pair of nip rollers propels the new web edge toward the winder. The rollers then position the new edge directly above the winding shaft so an operator can fasten it and begin winding a new roll. This provides greater safety and decreased work for an operator while ensuring the web is square to the shaft as a new roll is started.
Winding and bagging rolls
One of the customer’s wish list items was to find a way to allow a single operator to prepare new rolls for winding and then bag and remove finished rolls.
We realized that a cantilevered shaft design would be the most advantageous, since it left one end completely open for easy operator access. Thanks to good teamwork, strong engineering and plenty of head-scratching, we developed a double turret-mounted 95” cantile- vered expanding core shaft winder that made it much easier to move and bag finished rolls up to 88” wide, 78” in diameter and weighing up to 550 pounds—all while winding a new roll at the same time.
Due to the large size of some of the rolls coming off the line, operators needed a safe and efficient way to take them off the shaft, move them and tip them upright for storage. The “scissor cart” design we came up with is similar to an ambulance gurney. Its platform raises high enough to allow a roll to rest on it as it’s pulled away from the winding shaft. An operator then wheels the cart toward a storage area and tips the roll upright.
Poised for greater growth
Outdated and poorly matched machines put our customer’s production at risk. Updated equipment needed to address two challenges at once.
First, the system had to manufacture a wide range of products to meet the immediate needs of an established customer base. Second, it had to be versatile enough to meet the needs of customers still to come.
The system we developed checks both of those boxes, and our customer is poised to achieve the greater growth they have in mind.
CASE STUDY: ATYPICAL FOAM CROSSLINKING OVEN SPECS LEAD TO DESIGN INNOVATION
Industrial foam manufacturing is tricky.
The equipment used to create bulk foam products varies widely depending on what kind of foam is being made and into which application (and there are countless thousands of them) it’s being sold.
To that end, there are two kinds of foam manufacturers—those who know exactly what kind of production equipment they need, and those who rely on equipment suppliers to help develop manufacturing processes during equipment design.
This customer, however, was a little bit of both. Our engineers walked the balance beam, playing equal parts responsive vendor and value-adding collaborator.
They stuck the landing with this system.
Next-generation foam manufacturing
Our customer was a global manufacturer of foam products serving seemingly every sector you can think of that has foam applications. As part of their systematic global production capacity increase in 2016, a plant in the United States was due for new equipment.
Specifically, the company wanted to purchase ovens that crosslinked plastic slabs following extrusion onto a conveyor and preceding the rest of the foaming process.
Foam can be made in many ways, and this customer had developed a one-of-a-kind manufacturing process. And while their first-generation equipment was serving them well, they elected to develop a second generation for this facility to improve on the design and execute their unique process even better.
During a web search for ‘crosslinked polyethylene foam systems’ they came across the industrial foam ovens and post-processing equipment we’ve built for manufacturers across the globe. Sensing a good fit, they sent us the specs.
It was obvious the customer had done their homework. They knew exactly what they needed. The oven they specified was unusual for its small size. Most crosslinking ovens are spacious enough for people to walk around inside. (Like this triple-decker oven, for instance.)
But this customer specified much smaller dimensions. And even though they were quite prescriptive in their specs, the uniqueness of the project served up the opportunity for our engineers to propose and develop the novel design innovations described below.
Lift system improves ease of access
The small size of our customer’s specified oven meant that maintenance personnel would have restricted access to its internal components. To address this, similar ovens in our customer’s flagship plant were designed with hinges on one side that allowed them to open.
The customer wanted something similar for the new systems, but our engineers believed they could improve on the design. Instead of recreating Pac-Man, we proposed an external frame with a machine screw jack system to lift the entire top half of the oven. This allowed for 360-degree maintenance access instead of from just one side.
The customer endorsed this design update knowing it would provide even easier access for maintenance or repairs of the rollers, bearings and other components that would make up the machine’s conveyor.
Custom alternative to direct-drive fans
The customer’s original specification called for direct-drive circulation fans. These are simple in design—just a fan wheel attached directly to an electric motor shaft extending down into the heating chamber.
But this design introduces a failure risk by exposing the fan’s electric components to too much direct heat when operated continuously. We proposed a more traditional belt-driven fan design to protect the motor from exposure to excessive heat.
The customer agreed to this modification, too. But because our normal fan manufacturer couldn’t build this to our customer’s unique dimensional constraints, our engineers designed and built it themselves.
Solutions-based partnership
At Davron, we know the weight that a reputation carries. We earned ours by building quality custom foam manufacturing equipment based on strong, sound engineering, and by standing by our work and our customers.
If growth is your goal, and if you think Davron could be the problem-solving partner that helps get you there, tell us more about your plans or request a quote now.
