A Communication from the PLACE div. of TAPPI
- Published: February 29, 2004, By David J. Bentley, Jr., Editor
Providing practical information to the converting & packaging industries
Course Offers Valuable Information
The 2004 Film and Extrusion Coating Short Course will offer attendees the opportunity to learn the latest information concerning basic extrusion resins and the extruders and dies for their use. In addition, the course will provide information on the equipment and process technology that is specific to the blown film, cast film, and extrusion coating operations. Presenters at the course will also discuss common process problems encountered in these operations.
The Millenium Hotel in St. Louis, MO, USA is the venue for the course on April 19-21, 2004. Lou Piffer of Davis Standard and Nicole Dowling of Dow Chemical USA are the developers for this short course. In addition to the technical presentations by the various instructors, the meeting will also provide adequate time for networking opportunities. Piffer emphasized that the developers wanted to “provide as many opportunities as possible for the attendees to interact with the recognized industry experts who will be making the formal presentations.”
Introductory Material
The meeting will open with a presentation by Scott Marks of duPont entitled “Introduction to Product Structures — How Do They Make That?” “Gak! It's Polymer Chemistry” by Janevieve Parks of AT Plastics will give course participants the basic knowledge of chemistry they need to survive in the fields of film extrusion and extrusion coating. Jim Cooper of Dow Chemical USA and Scott Marks will then discuss polyethylene and polypropylene resins and specialty resins, respectively. The afternoon session of the first day will feature a talk on color additives by George Upton of Colortech, another talk that will provide an introduction to the extruder, Christine Ronaghan of Davis-Standard talking on screw design, and Lou Piffer offering information on gel troubleshooting.
The second day of the short course opens with a talk by John Vansant of duPont covering various aspects related to purging. Gary Oliver of Cloeren will then address coextrusion feedblocks in his presentation. Gauging is the topic of a talk by Ted Schnackertz of NDC. Duane Smith of Black Clawson will close the morning session by covering various aspects of winding. In the afternoon, David Margraf of Enercon Industries will talk on methods for treating including flame, corona, and ozone. Derek Hook of Eurotherm will discuss instrumentation for the audience. The day will conclude with a talk on plating by Bill Bode of Gloucester Engineering and one on preventive maintenance by John Kelly of Dow Chemical Co.
Two Tracks
On the final day of the 2004 Film and Extrusion Coating Short Course, the group will split into two different tracks. One will cover extrusion coating, and the other will address blown and cast films. The first paper in the extrusion coating track will address paper substrates. Tom Dunn of Printpack will then discuss film substrates. Eric Miller of Alcoa will talk on foil substrates. Jaime Foederer of EDI will cover extrusion coating dies and control. Primers and testing will be the subject of the paper by Ginger Cushing of Mica Corp. Her coworker, Bruce Foster, will explain to the group “Why Don't It Stick?” Gary Jerdee of Cloeren will explain laminators during this session.
During the blown and cast film track, Cliff Weinpel of Foremost will cover material handling followed by William Bode of Gloucester Engineering who will discuss film cooling. Bode will also offer a presentation on blown film dies. Bill Helmuth from the same company will talk on auto profile of blown film and blown film stabilization and hauloffs. Tom Butler of Dow Chemical USA will make a presentation on fabrication variables for cast film. Cast dies and control will be the subject of a talk by Gary Oliver.
The content of the short course will have special interest to people who work for converters and equipment suppliers. Typical job titles of people who will benefit from attending the meeting are extrusion engineers, technical directors, technical assistants, research and development personnel, and operators. Although not a necessary requirement, attendees should have a basic knowledge of extrusion coating and film extrusion technology and have basic familiarity with terminology in these fields. One to five years experience in the field would be ideal. The level of content for the course will be introductory and intermediate.
People interested in additional information about this short course can contact Piffer or Dowling at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., respectively. Additional information covering registration is also available from the TAPPI Member Connection by calling 1-800-332-8686 in the United States, 1-800-446-9431 in Canada, or +1-770-446-1400 in other countries.
ePLACE Electronic Newsletter Debuts
The PLACE Division published the first issue of its new electronic newsletter on January 5, 2004. Called ePLACE, the newsletter will appear every other Monday. The co-publisher for ePLACE is Paper, Film & Foil CONVERTER published by Primedia Business Magazines & Media Inc. This organization publishes E-Clips on the alternate Mondays. Subscribers to both electronic newsletters will receive all the important information they need to do their jobs in the packaging and converting industries delivered to their computers every Monday.
ePLACE will primarily offer a technical approach to the packaging and converting industries by providing a brief abstract from a technical paper submitted to the PLACE Division. The complete technical paper will be available with a simple link for those readers who want all the background, test results, and other information originally presented by the authors.
Another section of ePLACE is Focus on Technology. Each issue of the newsletter will highlight in this area a special report of a technical advance that is commercially available from various suppliers and end users in the packaging and converting industries.
The other two sections of ePLACE are PLACE Division News and In My Opinion. The news section will provide information about short courses, conferences, and other pertinent products for the packaging and converting industries available from TAPPI and its PLACE Division. In My Opinion provides an editorial comment on some aspect of the industries.
Contributions for technical papers and products to mention in the Focus on Technology section are welcome as are comments on the editorials presented. Simply access tappi.org/email_signup.asp?bhcd2=1072387749 and provide the requested information. All subscriptions to ePLACE arefree.
For information about the PLACE Division of TAPPI, access the TAPPI web page at www.TAPPI.org. To obtain the complete papers whose expanded summaries appear in the PLACE section of PFFC, go to the TAPPI web site at TAPPI.org. Then click on “the PLACE” in the section designated Journals.
Telephone inquiries are welcome at the TAPPI Service Line by calling 1-800-332-8686 in the United States, 1-800-446-9431 in Canada, or +1-770-446-1400 in other countries. Send FAX to 1-770-446-6947. Address mail to TAPPI, Box 105113, Atlanta, GA, 30348-5113. Contact “the PLACE” editor by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
