TPT September 2011

quickly in order to meet with the ever changing demands of their customers. The new lines have been developed by Boston Matthews through a close association with a large number of squeeze tube manufacturers from around the world since the successful introduction of their high speed squeeze tube lines some six year ago. Observing that the ever-changing consumer markets have placed greater pressures and demands on tube makers to manufacture a more diverse range of tube sizes, specifications, blends and colours Boston Mat- thews has reacted to this by developing the medium speed line. Boston Matthews sales director Simon Brookes said: “We are always listening to our customers and con- stantly monitoring market trends. This enables us to develop and design our equipment to meet with the specific requirements and demands of today’s markets and also for the future.” The medium speed line has been extremely well received by tube manufacturers around the world with orders successfully completed and in full production within several of the industry’s leading tube producers. Interest at the K’2010 was also very high with tube manufacturers specifically visiting the Boston Matthews stand to discuss their extrusion requirements. Flexibility and the importance of quick change-over have been designed into every element of the line. The die head has the ability to change colour or polymer faster; to produce different tube layer configura- tions without adjustment; simple disassembly on the extrusion line eliminating the need for heavy lifting equipment; and shorter flow passages for higher quality production. The Die Head incorporates a com- bination of technologies to ensure the successful processing of the wide range of blends, masterbatches and additives associated with squeeze tube production takes place in order to achieve the extremely high standard of surface finish which is essential for the tube decorating operation. These advancements in die head technology are in combination with the development of calibration, cool- ing and cutting technologies that provide the processor with more flexibility whilst making improvements in production quality. The tube calibration system has been designed for easy, damage-free removal incorporating quick and easy size change and also for quick and easy cleaning when required. The unit is designed in such as way so that identification of a tube scratch/contamination issue can be quickly identified and recertified without involving heavy lifting equipment, which can potentially cause further damage. Diameter monitoring, automatic tube rejection systems and complete line control ensure that tube produc- tion quality is constantly maintained and that the Medium Speed Extrusion Line can be easily integrated within a fully automated tube manufacturing facility. Line control and operation is made simple and easy via the SMART 15” colour touch-screen operating system. Features include automatic line start-up; recipe storage; constant performance monitoring and diagnostics, language selection, process data access, and password protection. Security levels can be customised to ensure settings cannot be changed without the proper permission: very useful for night shifts. Ethernet connectivity can allow the line to be added to a computer network for production data storage, ac- cess and remote monitoring. Simon Brookes said: “For many years now there has been talk about accessing and manipulating produc- tion data but now it is a reality. More and more of our customers are using the Smart System not only as an extrusion control system but as an effective production monitoring and quality control tool.” Гибкие линии прессования труб Компания BOSTON Matthews выпустила новые линии прессования труб, работающие со средней скоростью. Линия средней скорости является частью ассортимента линий прессования сконструированных компанией BOSTON Matthews специально для производства тонкостенных полиэтиленовых труб, которые используются в промышленности упаковки.