The Customer

The Company is a leading manufacturer of flexible and rigid packaging. Their products are sold to the beverage, food, pharmaceutical, personal, and homecare industries. They have manufacturing plants located all around the world.

The Process

Solvent based inks are applied using rotogravure and flexographic printing to various substrates including paper, plastic, film and foil. Dryers are used to evaporate off the solvents leaving the finished product. The Company was using infrared detectors to monitor the solvent levels in the dryers so they would maintain safety.

The Problem

The Company was having many issues with the IR detector: response times of 20 seconds, condensation issues because of high dew point vapors, constant low flow alarms stopping their process and calibration issues because of different solvents and solvent mixtures. All these problems forced them to look for a different technology that would offer them accurate and reliable performance avoiding unnecessary downtime.

The Solution

After a thorough investigation and education of the monitoring technologies available, the Company chose Control Instruments’ PrevEx Flammability Analyzers. Theses analyzers offered a number of advantages:

  • heated sample train up to 250°C which effectively prevents condensation of high dew point vapors
  • extremely short response times 
  • the unique ability to accurately measure most common process solvent vapors, including mixtures to within a few percent of the LFL without the need for recalibration 
  • rugged , industrial design and more resilient with difficult sample gases
  • low maintenance  and easy servicing featuring a “Service Needed” message and relay contact that anticipates the need for maintenance before faults occur
  • failsafe operation

The Company has been successfully adding these analyzers in their plants worldwide.

SIC Code

  • 26719903: Plastic film, coated or laminated for packaging

NAICS

  • 326112: Plastics Packaging Film & Sheet (including Laminated) Manufacturing