Web Industries, a leader in outsource converting and manufacturing solutions, has announced its capability to wind micro-width flexible materials onto spools, to meet the demand from manufacturers in the food, personal care, industrial and alternative energy market segments seeking greater production throughput with materials down to 1 mm wide. The announcement comes after more than two years of successful production for a single customer.

According to Web Industries Director of Operations James G. Oas, films and laminates can be slit to exacting customer specifications and wound onto spools in lengths exceeding 130,000 linear ft. for lay up or inline production in a variety of applications. The extra-long length spools enable manufacturers to save downtime by reducing changeover and splicing requirements.

Examples of micro-width flexible material end uses include package-opening strips in personal care products, food applications, such as chewing gum and cheese packaging, and metalised films in industrial and alternative energy equipment.

“The types of materials that can be precision micro-slit and then spooled often depends on factors such as coefficient of friction (COF), tensile strength, cross contamination concerns and other considerations,” said Mr Oas. “At Web Industries, we take a customer’s sample material and quickly determine if it has the necessary qualities for precision micro-slitting and spooling.”

Precision-slit micro-width materials must be wound on spools with sufficient precision to maintain a stable build. “There’s a lot that goes into spooling,” explained Mr Oas. “To ensure material integrity, we maintain proper tension throughout our process. Traditional processes lack this robustness and often deform or damage the materials during converting. Our attention to material quality, combined with Web’s ability to precisely wind material into a spool form within a .25 mm variation of customer specifications, brings a unique set of precision converting capabilities to the market.”

Spooling of thin micro-width flexible materials is a Web Industries formatting development. A 100% employee-owned company, Web Industries is one of the largest and most diverse providers of precision converting and outsource manufacturing.

“We help customers in the aerospace, medical, personal and home care, and industrial markets bridge their capability gaps and accelerate their go-to-market success by leveraging close, trust-based relationships to develop ingenious solutions precisely tailored to their needs. From project inception through commercialisation, Web offers creative problem-solving backed by deep technical and operational expertise,” the company concludes.

www.webindustries.com