UK Extrusion’s debut Interplas UK September 2021 was certainly a baptism of fire. Not just all the usual anxieties for first-time exhibitors, but unique issues surrounding the pandemic and associated concerns.

Steve Trainor, managing director of UK Extrusion says “It would be arrogant to say we got everything right first time. This has been a learning curve and we have a few things that on another occasion we would do differently, in regard to how we exhibited our machinery. But the long and the short of it is, we were able to talk to large numbers of people face to face and demonstrate how we can help to make them more efficient and cost-effective.”

UK Extrusion sells, install and support Bandera, manufacturer of blown film, foil and sheet extrusion lines and both  Plasmac and Syncro Group products associated with extrusion and post-industrial waste recycling by manufacturers. Steve Trainor comments “One of the things our customers find particularly reassuring about UK Extrusion is that we have a team of engineers based here in the UK. This strategy came into its own during the travel restrictions of the pandemic and is a feature of both of our Finalist entries into the Plastics Industry Awards.

Featured on the company’s Interplas UK stand was the Plasmac Epsilon post-industrial waste recycling system, which attracted a great deal of attention. Taking plastic sprues from an injection moulding machine manufacturing on a neighbouring stand, it demonstrated how quality, uniform pellets can be produced by this small footprint recycling extruder. An order for another model within the Plasmac range of equipment, which was finalised at the exhibition, will be showcased shortly.

Also displayed, was an automatic Typhoon air ring from Syncro Group. Designed for efficiency and accurate profile control, the air ring guarantees the best performances in terms of cooling capacity, bubble stability, minimum pressure drop, and easy handling. Visitors also showed interest in the Syncro Pure Continuous Loss in Weight Gravimetric Blender. Uniquely designed, it is the only inline quality control device to blend multiple components simultaneously for all processes where a homogeneous mix is critical to achieving an excellent final product.

An eye-catching display of the 100% visual inspection system for plastic film from Syncro lived up to its name of ‘EYES’.  Thanks to the high-resolution cameras and the different backlighting configurations available, the system can provide 100% film scanning capability, detecting and categorizing all common defects. EYES’s provides film inspection with a complete mapping of defects detected within each roll.

Bandera lines were clearly prohibitively large to consider installing for display at Interplas UK on this occasion, but video reels were available and UK Extrusion was supported by 2 technical managers from the Italian company who constantly chatted with visiting customers.

Steve Trainor is delighted that a final agreement to purchase a Bandera Smartflex HP Plus 3 layer blown film line was made at Interplas UK by Elite Plastics. Elite is undergoing a multi-million-pound investment strategy that includes investing in state of the art blown film lines to increase Elite’s technical capabilities, sustainability and site capacity. He says “During the specification and quotation phase of this sale, the pandemic created the impossibility of visiting site. Therefore, regular meetings were held via Teams video conferencing between the team from Elite, UK Extrusion and Bandera in Italy.  By using such technology, we were able to bring a group of experts together to discuss Elites technical requirements in detail, which provided them with a great deal of confidence in the outcome of their investment.”

The post Post-Industrial Waste Recycling Lines a Hit at Interplas UK first appeared on UK Extrusion.

Bandera’s Plastic Week 2021 Virtual Open House was held 21, 22, 23, and 25 June hosted by the Bandera Technical Centre, The House Of Extrusion® which specialises in Bandera’s Testing and Research and Development activities. Throughout the week a common theme of the Circular Economy was the underlying trend as Bandera showed their innovation.

Bandera are no strangers to the concept of video streaming from their premises, having been pioneers of the concept during the early days of the pandemic. Their streaming from Italy to the rest of the world, last year, was met with enthusiastic accolades from the plastics industry.

Day One saw a focus on Blown Film. A 7-layer Barrierflex extrusion line was in production. These lines are intended for processing barrier and high barrier film. The technically advanced “IoE-Internet of Extrusion”, line supervisor system, was featured. The concept of the Circular Economy was explored and the reuse of post-industrial materials in film production.

Day Two moved on to foil/sheet extrusion lines.  Focusing on current challenges concerning PET and PP and importantly, on their 100% recycled and 100% recyclable formulas – and highlighting tray-to-tray recycling.

Day Three was dedicated to Bandera’s commitment to the Circular Economy. The company introduced its Revotech recycling technology. This complete range is devoted to PET recycling and the recycling of post-industrial and post-consumer polyolefins.

These recycling lines utilise Bandera’s highly developed twin-screw technology for processing post-industrial or post-consumer scrap and offer customised solutions for PET and all Polyolefins.

The Final Day of the Event featured a seminar comprising Bandera’s main partners and suppliers. The primary topic being the evolution of the plastics market and its associated processes and technologies.

Commenting on the event, Steve Trainor M.D. of UK Extrusion Ltd who are agents for Bandera in the UK, is complementary to the Italian company on their event. “There is a lot of work in organising an event of this magnitude and the team at Bandera put a great deal of effort into coordinating such an informative, and insightful view of their company. UK Extrusion already knows how well Bandera can organise installations of production lines, so their ability with this event came as no surprise. Talking to UK participants in the Virtual Open House, I was delighted to hear how enthusiastic they are about the Circular Economy and the technology that Bandera can offer them”.

The post Extrusion Lines and Recycling in Virtual Open House first appeared on UK Extrusion.