GBIG is Proud to Co-Sponsor: Wisconsin Drives Manufacturing Summit June 1-2

Find Out More Here
Green Bay Innovation Group
GBIG News

Category: More Stories and Links

The Future of Plastic and Recycling Event April 12 Researchers

Posted on by admin
Dr. Aurora del Carmen Munguía-López

Dr. Aurora del Carmen Munguía-López

Dr. Aurora del Carmen Munguía-López is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the Technical Institute of Celaya and a Ph.D. from the University of Michoacan in Mexico. Her research interests include mathematical optimization, sustainability, social justice, and process modeling. Aurora currently participates in the Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics (CUWP) center. Specifically, she works on developing computational frameworks for the economic and environmental analysis of the solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation (STRAP) process.

George Willis Huber

George Willis Huber

George Willis Huber is the Richard Antoine Professor of Chemical Engineering at University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focus is the design of disruptive technologies for the recycling of waste plastics and working to bring these technologies to market. He is the director of the $12.5 million Center for Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics (CUWP).

He is co-founder of two companies that are commercializing technology he developed: Anellotech (www.anellotech.com) and Pyran (www.pyranco.com). He has been named a “highly-cited researcher” in the area of chemistry, an award given to the top 1% most cited chemists. He has published over 230 papers, more than 20 patent applications, and received over 40,000 citations.

Professor Huber has received visiting professorships from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2015 (at Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics), from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019-20 and the ExxonMobil Visiting Chair Professor at National University of Singapore in 2019. He obtained his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from University of Wisconsin-Madison (2005). He obtained his B.S. (1999) and M.S. (2000) degrees in Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University.

Zhou Xu

Zhuo Xu

Zhuo Xu received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering at Michigan Technological University, focusing on the study of removing hazardous compounds from wastes through thermal treatment. Zhuo holds a B.S. degree in Automobile Engineering from Tongji University, China. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering at University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on upscaling the Solvent Targeted Recovery and Precipitation (STRAP) technology to recycle pure polymers from the waste stream.

Kevin Sanchez-Rivera

Kevin L. Sánchez-Rivera

Kevin L. Sánchez-Rivera graduated from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez in 2019 and is currently a PhD student in the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His current work with Prof. George Huber focuses on developing the Solvent-Targeted Recovery and Precipitation (STRAP) technology to recycle different types of multilayer plastics, as part of the efforts of the Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics (CUWP) center.

Kevin Nelson

Kevin Nelson

Kevin Nelson received a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from UW-Madison. Currently, he is a Senior Fellow in Amcor’s Global Core R&D Group where his research focuses on understanding process/material and product/package interactions.

Amcor is a global packaging company that develops and produces flexible packaging, rigid containers, specialty cartons, closures and services for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, medical-device, home and personal-care, and other products.

Dr. Horacio Aguirre-Villegas

Dr. Horacio Aguirre-Villegas

Dr. Horacio Aguirre-Villegas is a Scientist at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research lies at the intersection of climate change, energy, waste management, and food production. He has extensive experience evaluating renewable energy systems and integrating waste-to-energy technologies to increase environmental sustainability. Over the last ten years, he has worked closely quantifying the environmental impacts of conventional and organic dairy systems including greenhouse gas emissions, ammonia emissions, resource use, and nutrients fate. More recently, he has joined the Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics (CUWP) project and is working to better understand current collection of recyclable materials and estimating the impacts of different plastic waste management pathways.

Dr. Aguirre-Villegas received his doctorate in Biological Systems Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and has a Master Degree from the Chemistry Institute of Sarria in Barcelona, Spain.

Recycling of Plastic Films through Solvent Targeted Recovery Precipitation (STRAP)

Posted on by admin

Plastics Production and Impacts

It is often said that we live in the plastics age. Plastics are consumed across all sectors (clothing, medicine, construction, food packaging, etc.) as plastics are versatile, low cost, and easy to manufacture (Singh et al., 2017). However, the final disposal of plastics is a global concern. If plastics leak into the environment, some microplastic could break away from larger plastic products, and move through air and water systems, finding their way into the food chain and posing risks to biodiversity, food availability, and human health (Li et al., 2016). One of the main priorities of governments and cities across the globe is to address these issues by reducing the production of virgin plastics and limiting the generation of waste plastics through recycling. The current plastic recycling industry is primarily based on mechanical recycling of rigid and clean materials that are easier to process such as beverage bottles (made from polyethylene terephthalate, PET), and milk jugs (made from high density polyethylene, HDPE). Most plastic materials, however, are contaminated with other plastics, dyes/inks, fillers, and other materials. Mechanical recycling often does not produce high quality plastics from these contaminated materials, which is the case for most flexible packaging containers (Al-Salem et al., 2009). Flexible plastics, like plastic bags, account for over 35 % of the plastics produced in 2015 (UNEP, 2018) and are the most used material for packaging globally (Figure 1). Unfortunately, flexible plastic materials usually end up in open dumps, landfills, or are incinerated after use since they cannot be easily mechanically recycled, resulting in a series of cascading environmental impacts. Figure 1 shows the breakdown of packaging by material type detailing the demand of rigid and flexible plastic packaging.

CUWP logo
Pie graph showing global demand of packaging materials 2019

Figure 1. Global demand of packaging materials in 2019 (adjusted from Statista, (2022)) detailing the demand of rigid plastic packaging (for 2017 based on Ceresana, (2019)) and flexible plastic packaging (for 2017 based on Grand View Research, (2018)).

Plastic packaging materials, in the form of multilayer films, are mixtures of several and different plastic layers which are combined to achieve specific properties that cannot be provided by single plastic layers. Combining different layers of plastics results in stronger and impermeable materials with unique properties that help preserve food quality and lifetime (Figure 2). The multilayer packaging materials allow less material to be used which reduces greenhouse gas emissions. These multilayer plastics can also help reduce food waste through smaller portion packaging that can be consumed more efficiently. The properties of these multilayer films cannot be achieved with one single plastic material. The advantages of multilayer films are numerous, but multilayer plastics cannot be mechanically recycled easily because the different layers are chemically incompatible. One promising technology to effectively recover these layers is known as solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation (STRAP), which breaks down multilayer films into their original plastic building blocks (Walker et al., 2020).

Graphical representation of the different layers of multilayer films and properties/attributes of each material

Figure 2. Graphical representation of the different layers of multilayer films and properties/attributes of each material. PET: polyethylene terephthalate, EVOH: ethylene vinyl alcohol, PE: polyethylene.

Recycling Plastic Films through STRAP
Technology Basics

Multilayer films are among the most challenging plastic wastes to recycle, but the STRAP technology can recover the individual plastic components in multilayer plastic materials. In general terms, STRAP “washes” multilayered films several times with solvents to separate the multiple components mixed in plastic films into single components, known as resins (Figure 3). These resins can then be reused to make more of the product from which they originated, or they can be used to manufacture products with higher value or quality (known as upcycling). There are different multilayer materials that can be processed with STRAP including clear rigid multilayer films used in food containers, printed multilayer films used for food packaging, mixed multilayer plastic waste, disposable face masks, and other plastic waste collected along with municipal solid waste (MSW). For more information on the technical details of the STRAP process, the reader can refer to (Walker et al., 2020).

Production of single layer films from multilayer films through STRAP

Figure 3. Production of single layer films from multilayer films through STRAP.

Showing the Scalability of STRAP

The current limitation of STRAP is that our process only produces small quantities of final material, less than 0.11 kilograms (0.25 pounds) per week. To make this technology commercially viable, larger quantities of materials that plastics converters require in production need to be manufactured. To demonstrate the STRAP technology at a larger scale, a process development unit (PDU) was designed and tested to produce 25 kilograms (55 pounds) per hour of recycled resins from waste flexible and rigid plastics. Figure 4 shows a simplified STRAP diagram featuring the recovery of high purity plastic resins from mixed plastic waste or flexible plastics.

Simplified STRAP process flow diagram

Figure 4. Simplified STRAP process flow diagram.

The first step in the STRAP process is to shred the as-received mixed plastic waste into smaller size particles that are uniform and small/light enough to move continuously and steadily (or flow) in the reactor tanks. After shredding, the smaller plastic particles are fed into a specially designed-dissolution tank. A solvent selectively dissolves a targeted plastic from the mixture. The dissolved plastic (liquid/slurry form) and non-dissolved plastic (solid form) are separated using filtration. The non-dissolved plastic is transferred to a solvent recovery system while the dissolved plastic is pumped into a precipitator. In the precipitator, the solvent is cooled, and the plastic precipitates; that is, it turns into a solid. The plastic is then sent to a solvent recovery system for a second time. The solvent is completely recovered and re-used in the process. The recovered plastic is then extruded into pellets and sold to plastic convertors. The amount of solvent in the pellet is controlled during the drying and extrusion processes.

Economics and Environmental Benefits of STRAP

The STRAP process can produce high quality resins at costs comparable to the virgin resins, according to detailed process models based on our experimental data. The STRAP process has 60 to 70 percent lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than producing the virgin polymer. Figure 4 shows the emissions to recover polyethylene via STRAP from a multilayer food packaging film vs emissions of virgin packaging made from petroleum. All energy (electricity, steam, natural gas, etc.) and material (e.g., water, solvents, other chemicals) inputs were evaluated from extraction of raw materials to production of polyethylene at the plant for both polyethylene products (STRAP vs petroleum). Figure 4 shows that the total GHGs of extracting polyethylene via the STRAP process (0.7 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents per kilogram of polyethylene) are 68% lower than the impacts of producing polyethylene from fossil sources (2.2 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents per kilogram of polyethylene).

Climate change impacts from the STRAP process and the production of polyethylene (PE) from fossil fuels

Figure 5. Climate change impacts from the STRAP process and the production of polyethylene (PE) from fossil fuels.

There are several other environmental benefits from STRAP. These include eliminating undesirable end-of-life scenarios like disposal of mixed plastic waste in landfills, incineration, creation of micro and nano plastic contaminants, and pollution of oceans.

Initiatives to Install the First STRAP Commercial Plant

The Green Bay and Northeastern Wisconsin area is a major hub for flexible packaging, label production, printing, and associated plastics industries and constitutes a natural location to develop the first STRAP commercial plant . Wisconsin ranks 8th in the nation in terms of plastics industry employment with over 43,000 people working in this sector and a direct plastic’s payroll of US$2.3 billion. This leadership is even higher (3rd in the nation) for flexible packaging products with over 25,000 people currently employed with projected 9% growth in the next 10 years (Plastics Industry Association, 2023). For example, Amcor, one of the largest packaging companies in the world, has 17 facilities in Wisconsin. Many companies in the food industry use plastic products, which generate billions of dollars annually. In addition, there are numerous local, national, and international manufacturing companies in Northeastern Wisconsin that make equipment to support the plastic and flexible packaging industries. As a leader in both production and consumption of flexible packaging products, Wisconsin has an enormous potential to host the first STRAP commercial plant, maximizing the efficiency in terms of material availability and transport of waste plastic multilayer films and recovered resins. Moreover, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Wisconsin-Stout have well-established programs in plastics and packaging and are currently doing outstanding research in plastics and STRAP.

Summary

Plastic waste generation has been increasing over the years, as the recycling rate for plastics is low compared to other materials. Moreover, conventional mechanical recycling methods are not technically or economically feasible for many multilayered plastic films, which are the main materials used for food packaging. The solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation (STRAP) technology breaks down the mixed plastic waste and recovers high-quality pure plastic resins. STRAP can process various types of plastic wastes including printed multilayer films used for food packaging, mixed multilayer plastic waste, disposable face masks, and other plastic waste collected along with municipal solid waste. A process development unit is being built to demonstrate this technology at a larger scale.

  • The STRAP process can economically recover polyethylene from multi-layer film waste at scale.
  • The environmental analysis shows that the recovery of polyethylene via the STRAP process generates fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the production of virgin polyethylene from petroleum.

References

George Huber CUWP Introduction

Posted on by admin
George Huber inside a chemical lab

George Huber UW Madison Chemical Engineering and Director of CUWP (www.cuwp.org) will be our GUEST Speaker on April 12, 2023, introducing STRAP to the Flexible Packaging, Plastics, Printing and Converting Industries. One of the largest sectors for plastic waste is the packaging industry which accounted for more than 35% of the plastics produced. These plastic packaging materials come in the form of multilayer films, which are composites of distinct polymers that are combined to achieve specific properties that cannot be provided by single plastic layers and impossible to recycle through mechanical recycling ending up in landfills!

To register, go to: www.greenbayinnovationgroup.com EVENTS. The cost is $40.00 including a tour of Convergen Energy, lunch at Johnsonville Tailgate Village followed by 4 guest speakers!

The Center for Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics (www.cuwp.org) is developing a technology that allows the recycling of flexible and rigid multilayer and mixed plastic wastes.

This technology is called solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation or STRAP. STRAP uses non-toxic solvents to produce food-grade resins from previously unrecyclable materials. STRAP has been demonstrated in the laboratory and is now being scaled up. A larger 25 kg/hr pilot system is being built at Michigan Tech University and will be complete at the end of 2023. We are working with several Wisconsin plastic converters (Amcor, CNG, ePac, Placon and others) to convert their plastic wastes into high quality resins. The pilot system will provide enough material to plastic converters to qualify them in several applications. After we successfully operate the pilot system we hope to design the first commercial facility in Green Bay, WI. This facility will produce high-quality PE and PP resins from plastic wastes and sell them back to plastic converters.

Bio of George Willis Huber

George Willis Huber is the Richard Antoine Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focus is the design of disruptive technologies for the recycling of waste plastics and working to bring these technologies to market. He is the director of the $12.5 million Center on Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics (CUWP). He is co-founder of two companies that are commercializing technology he developed: Anellotech (www.anellotech.com) and Pyran (www.pyranco.com). He has been named a “highly-cited researcher” in the area of Chemistry, an award given to the top 1% most cited chemists. He has published over 230 papers, more than 20 patent applications, and received over 40,000 citations Professor Huber has received visiting professorships from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2015 (at Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics), from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019-20 and the ExxonMobil Visiting Chair Professor at National University of Singapore in 2019. He obtained his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2005). He obtained his B.S. (1999) and M.S.(2000) degrees in Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University.

GBIG PRESENTS: THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF PLASTIC RECYCLING on April 12, 2023 with 5 Outstanding Speakers!

Posted on by admin

The EVENT will be held at the JOHNSONVILLE TAILGATE VILLAGE BY LAMBEAU FIELD and a morning Tour of CONVERGEN ENERGY 600 Liberty St. Green Bay, WI.

GBIG logo

DATE: April 12, 2022

SCHEDULE OF KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

  • 9:00 – 10:30 a.m. – Tour Convergen Energy in Green Bay hosted by Ted Hansen – President
  • 11:00 a.m. – Registration and Check In at Johnsonville Tailgate Village by Lambeau Field
  • 12:00 -1:15 p.m. – Lunch with Doug Peckenpaugh BNP Group Publisher of Packaging Strategies and Flexible Packaging. He is the Manager of Converters Expo 2023.
  • 1:15 p.m. Introduction – Marty Ochs the Executive Director of the Green Bay Innovation Group
  • 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. – George Huber at UW Madison Engineering & (CUWP) Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics Director.
  • 2:30 – 2:45 p.m. Break
  • 2:45 – 3:30 p.m. John Elliot and Justin Bowers from PRI – Plastics Recycling Systems
  • 3:45 – 4:15 p.m. – Ted Hansen President of Convergen Energy, Inc. in Green Bay
  • 4:15 – 4:45 p.m. – Evan Arnold Vice President Business Development of Glenroy, Inc.
  • 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. – Networking
  • 6:00 pm.: Kick Off of Converting Expo at Lambeau Field.

To register, go to: www.greenbayinnovationgroup.com EVENTS and sign up. The cost is: $40.00 which includes lunch and the tour.

Quad Plus: Pulp & Paper Line Optimization

Posted on by admin

Pulp & Paper Line Optimization

Inefficient actions throughout the papermaking process can result in a shorter life for your equipment, increase changeover times, and decrease speed, capacity, and productivity.

Addressing these inefficiencies by optimizing your line can help lower operating costs, reduce waste, shorten lead times, and improve your operation’s safety and working conditions.

Common Challenges in Pulp & Paper

Web handling and paper defects can lead to emergency stops and off-spec product rolls. Web tension and speed differentials in the winder and the paper machine can help identify flaws, while live measurements ensure moisture, basis weight, and thickness are within range.

Bottlenecks can limit the paper machine’s and winder’s overall production capacity. Slowdowns and limitations must be identified through analyzing machine data and managed with automation technology, innovative design, and replacement of legacy equipment where necessary.

Mitigating hazards by implementing changes that meet industry standards, automating hazardous functions, and adding safety features like guarding, fencing, and safety controls can minimize personnel risks and reduce exposure to liability issues while improving production capacity.

paper machine in the pulping department
Paper Mill – Pulping department

Automated Controls for Better Efficiency

A paper manufacturer wanted to upgrade its process to include automation technology. Their machine required maintenance personnel to adjust the valves manually, and the customer wanted to reduce worker interaction and improve the consistency of their production lines.

The first step was to audit the existing controls. Then, we designed an automated control system and acquired the instrumentation and control devices. Lastly, we developed the control software and provided a SCADA system. The customer can now have a single operator control the paper machine through the visualization system and reduce their raw material consumption by ensuring a more consistent paper grade.

75-Year-Old Equipment Gets an Upgrade

A paper mill in the midwest specializes in limited runs that require frequent grade changes. The original paper machine is more than 75 years old, and market demands meant searching for more viable methods for controlling the speed of the machine and its various sections.

Quad Plus engineers started by thoroughly analyzing existing equipment and carefully considering the paper mill’s customers. Our solution included sectionalizing the drives and installing an AC-coordinated drive lineup. We then provided a system to regulate the speed of the entire machine and its various sections. For additional safety, we added safety-rated VFDs, safety processors, and an additional I/O.

Automating the line allows the current crew to focus on value-added areas rather than operations. The younger, less experienced workforce can come on board as automation helps with the overall burden of training. Lastly, the new line shaft and DC motor will need less maintenance so the mill can enjoy less downtime.

Meeting Market Demands

For most manufacturers, the market determines how to manage operations. When the customer demands outpace the capabilities of your equipment, it’s time for a change. Automation technology is the answer to a more efficient production process, no matter your industry.

To learn more about using automation technology for safer, more efficient operations, please get in touch with Jim Woulf at (920) 515-4155 or via email at jwoulf@quadplus.com.

5 Ways Pouch Converting Technology Can Protect Your Materials Investment

Posted on by admin

Thanks to dazzling artwork and the latest in science and technology – from the extruder to the printer to the laminator, today’s packaging film is eye-catching and durable.

It’s stunningly beautiful. And expensive.

In fact, by the time the parent roll gets to the converting machine to be made into pre-made pouches, it is at the most expensive point in the ‘film-making’ process.

colorful packages laying flat

As much of that valuable film as possible needs to end up as a successful package -and as little as possible in the scrap bin.

“Pouch converting technology has come a long way to preserve the investment that brand owners make in the materials which ultimately must protect and promote their products,” says Scott Fuller, Pouch Equipment Product Line Manager for CMD.

Here are 5 suggestions to utilize that technology to get the best overall efficiency and least amount of waste in your pre-made pouch converting process.

1.) Choose machines that utilize a shorter footprint and reduced web path – this results in less material needed at thread-up, better web control and less waste.
“Pouch machines have historically been very long,” says Fuller “Threading up the entire length of a 50 or 60 foot machine uses a lot of film, and when adjustments are made at the back of the machine, a lot of material can be wasted waiting for the adjustment to work its way to the front”.
Reducing the machine length and shortening the web path, allows for better web control and more efficient adjustments. “This makes so much sense that CMD reduced the overall length of our 760-SUP machine by 11 feet, and the web-path by over 20 feet” adds Fuller.

2.) Insist that the pouch system your pouches are converted on is easy to use so operators can competently dial in recipes for fewer mistakes, waste and downtime.

man touching touch screen

“After years of consulting with customers, partnering in SMED events and collecting data, it became very clear that the amount of waste associated with difficult-to dial-in-systems was much higher than originally estimated,” says Fuller.

Today’s machines offer sophisticated controls systems that are capable of automating much of the process. “The unresolved step was not the capability of the machinery; rather, it was a matter of refining why, and how the operator needed to interact with the machine.” notes Fuller, adding that simplifying the process and incorporating ease-of-use concepts were critical to closing this gap.

“The updated design of our stand-up pouch system focused on simple, fool-proof adjustments throughout the machine, and intuitive touch screen controls with data-rich reports to predict and prevent downtime,” says Fuller. He notes that the system includes an on-board standard operating condition (SOC) worksheet that can be used to pre-set the machine so very little film is wasted at changeover.

3.) Your system should have robust sealing technology with a wide operating window and a methodology to confirm that the pouches you produce are not only beautiful, but strong, with no leakers.
“With today’s technology, there is no reason you can’t have verifiable data on your pouch quality, and with the price of the film being converted, it makes good sense to expect it,” says Fuller. Data acquisition and IoT has evolved to produce real-time reporting, and powerful KPI dashboards that can be accessed on the machine or remotely.

4.) A reliable system will consistently produce the same quality on each pouch in your production run – resulting in less waste and fewer complaints on final package quality.
“The reliability factor is huge,” says Fuller. “Your pouch machine should consistently produce the same results, without the need for constant minding or excessive readjustment.” Relying on the system to produce the same quality, pouch after pouch, means you can also rely on fewer adjustments and less waste.

5.) A system designed with flexibility in mind is helpful to add the finishes and function that today’s convenience-conscious consumers demand – easy open/close, sturdy stand up properties for shelf appeal, etc… The pouch converting system should be designed to easily add the tooling needed for these extras.

cash on a conveyor belt

“While most pouch systems are designed to add these capabilities, finding one with a design that flexibly moves tooling in and out while retaining robust process stability, is the best choice for consistent quality and less waste.

Much is invested in producing the perfect aesthetics for your packaging. Utilizing ever-improving converting technologies to ensure the most efficient use of that investment is a wise strategy for growth and success.

About CMD

CMD is a technology-driven innovator of converting machinery and automation for plastic bags and pouch packaging for the medical, food and shipping industries. CMD also designs and manufactures quality fueling equipment for the CNG (compressed natural gas) industry. Custom and stock machinery, parts, upgrade kits, and engineering services are offered in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East.

CMD is known for advancing technology that offers real value to customers. The firm’s inventions include: high-speed, continuous-motion bag sealing and drawtape trash bag converting; overlap bag winding for one-at-a-time dispensing of bags-on-a-roll; and Intelligent Sealing for verifiable pouch quality. All equipment is built in the U.S; and designed for durability and ease of operation. CMD employs 200 dedicated professionals and operates from a 126,000 sq. ft. campus focused on technology development and manufacturing in Appleton, Wisconsin USA.

www.cmd-corp.com

Reynolds to Speak at Leadership Webinar

Posted on by admin

Women in the 5P presents the Women Leaders in Industry Series. Lisa Reynolds, CEO of Reynolds Packaging, will be the featured presenter in a webinar from 1-2pm Monday, April 24. Reynolds Packaging specializes in flexible packaging solutions and eco-friendly packaging. Reynold Packaging was named 2020 Wisconsin Woman-Owned Business of the Year by Marketplace Governor’s Awards.

Wi5P logo

Kate Burgess of Elevate97 Joins New North Board of Directors

Posted on by admin

Possesses more than two decades of knowledge, leadership within the region’s creative space

NEW NORTH, February 13, 2023 – Kate Burgess, a dynamic leader within the creative space for more than two decades, has joined the board of directors of New North Inc., the regional economic development corporation for the 18 counties of Northeast Wisconsin. She was advanced by New North’s board development committee and approved by the Board.

New North logo

“Kate is an inspirational leader who has a passion for bringing out diverse perspectives, leading to bold ideas and innovative concepts,” says Barb LaMue, president and CEO of New North Inc. “At the start of the pandemic, Kate’s team launched Keep on Wisconsin to cultivate connections in new ways, inspire communities to help their neighbors and to navigate through the unprecedented times. We are excited to add her deep community involvement, along with her business and inspirational leadership, to our Board.”

Burgess is CEO of Elevate97, a Green Bay-based brand house that creates, produces and distributes marketing solutions for worldwide brands. She co-founded the company as FulfillNet in 1997 and became its full-time CEO in 2004. The company transitioned to its current brand in 2014 and is 100-percent women-owned.

Kate Burgess

She began her professional career by working for more than a decade in sales & marketing and human resources positions, primarily in the food-production industry.

Burgess holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from Marquette University.

She is active in the Northeast Wisconsin community, serving on the board of directors of the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center and the Green Bay Packers.

New North, Inc., is a 501(c)3 non-profit, regional economic development corporation fostering collaboration among private and public sector leaders throughout the 18 counties of Northeast Wisconsin, known as the New North region. The New North brand unites the region both internally and externally around talent development, brand promotion and business development, signifying the collective economic power behind the 18 counties. The counties include Outagamie, Winnebago, Calumet, Waupaca, Brown, Shawano, Oconto, Marinette, Door, Kewaunee, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Marquette, Florence, Menominee and Waushara. www.thenewnorth.com

Media Contact: Jeff Blumb, 920.328.5454 or media@blumbcc.com

RUST TO TECH, part 5 By Susan Stansbury Industry Consultant

Posted on by admin

This is Part Five of our series: Rust to Tech. While we know that converting and associated industries have made a leap from the old rust belt days into a world of technology and advancement, we need to consider how further innovation, even disruptive technologies, can propel—and challenge—new outcomes.

two rolled papers

What are disruptive technologies?

One way to define the world of disruptive technology is to look at solutions that move beyond established technologies, ranging from significant displacement of current approaches and even creating entirely new advancements. Harvard Professor Clayton M. Christensen has also noted that disruptive technologies transform the competitive landscape.

What are factors affecting manufacturing?

  1. Robotics, automation & machine learning
  2. Smart technologies & digital recording
  3. Big data, algorithms & cloud computing
  4. Intelligent monitoring & sensors
  5. Material innovations, renewables & sustainability
  6. Energy storage, recovery & efficiency
  7. The “internet of things” merge data streams

Examples and expansion of these items follow. But first, a comment from Kevin M. Lee, Director of Solutions Engineering & SafetyChain Software, providing a view of the interconnectivity of all:
Manufacturing plants generate volumes of productivity, environmental and safety data daily. Harvesting and marrying machine collected data with human collected data empowers operators, supervisors, and executives to visualize abnormalities and trends in real time. Real time data capture combined with immediate visualization allows plant management to action the data for production improvements.

It’s the use of the above factors that results in improvements and disruptive changes described by Kevin Lee.

Robotics & Automation

The latest robotics offer higher levels of precision and hygienic standards. When combined with automated production lines, results are transformative. Looking specifically at the converting industry where slitting-winding and related operations are common, Bryan Reilly, Technologies Sales Manager, brings home concrete examples:

The questions I’ve received from my customers over the past couple of years center on what automation options exist for the slitter / rewinder and what downstream automation is available.  On the slitter / rewinder, options can include automatic knife positioning (AKP), laser core positioning, automatic core loading & positioning, automatic cross-cut of finished rolls, automatic tape-to-tail, automatic tape-to-core, automatic finished roll extraction (pushers) and choice of Left-hand or Right-hand drive.  Currently, only a handful offer Left-hand or Right-hand options, but demand is increasing for machines that can be “mirrored”.

Once finished rolls are pushed off the rewind shafts and onto the unload ‘tree’ – what additional automation can be used to improve quality and throughput of finished rolls?  Some manufacturers either offer or partner with automation integrators to include robotic removal of rolls from the ‘tree’ and 90° rotation so that rolls are eye-to-the-sky then placed on a conveyor.

Reilly adds: Next, there’s the option for automatic core labeling and outer wrap label placement along with edge/profile inspection. Yet further sophistication can even incorporate automatic bagging and palletizing.  A few larger converters are already at this stage of utmost automation while others are trying to focus on what level of automation they want to achieve and at costs in the next few years.  One thing is for sure, if the automation provides enhanced safety, reduced
roll damage, increased throughput and higher quality finished rolls – it’s only a matter of time before everyone will want higher levels of automation.

Smart technologies & digital recording, along with cloud computing, big data and other aspects of advancements all overlap and work together for the best efficiencies. Just looking at the stock market, CNBC Correspondent Bob Pisani notes that the market floor had some 4,000 traders when he began there, and now it’s down to some 200 traders. This type of worker shrinkage has occurred almost everywhere. With manufacturing still looking for workers for well paying jobs, technology is filling the gap with smart shop floor input.

Further regarding industry employment, according to David Manney (Manney’s Manufacturing Minute):

Even though these technologies can ease some of the stress of working in a factory setting, they don’t entirely eliminate the need for workers who understand what is going on in each process and can react if things break down or something doesn’t go as planned. These new processes also allow manufacturers to rethink how they handle every step of production, from raw materials to finished shipping goods.
[When] you’re talking about factories where human hands are still the last step in production, which means manufacturers need to think about ways to integrate their machines seamlessly into their workflow.

The Midwest is the engine of manufacturing in the U.S., particularly manufacturing and converting roll goods. Indiana and Wisconsin vie for best areas in terms of the number of workers in manufacturing. In Wisconsin, with an industry labor force of nearly 500,000, the state is heavy on small-to-midsized manufacturers who are not prone to moving their business overseas, but sometimes challenged by lack of big business capital. Interestingly, LinkedIn listed Madison as first of the top 10 in “tech’s most resilient hub,” where engineering talent is showing growth.

Among the factory floor inputs are sensors that report everything from electric current data, to humidity, pressure, temperature, flow, and various defect detections. In paper and printing, visual inspection and sensors report imperfections such as holes and imperfect print. Consider a flexographic 10-color, gearless press run at high speed with cutting-edge features like second pass in-register printing, automatic impression setting, automatic viscosity control and the ability to track performance 24/7.

It’s a world away from the days when samples were taken to the lab to determine many of these factors. Companies who run roll goods had higher challenges in getting in-process samples. You could not stop a high-speed coating process, for example, to check quality every hour or so. It was a challenge when compared with products like pouches, canisters, pads and individual items that could automatically be kicked out of line at a specified point for inspection. Now, it’s all done at smart tech levels.

In the current tech environment if “AI is designing perfect custom knee implants” (Healthcare Packaging) and 3D printing is increasingly making medical “parts,” it’s happening in manufacturing too. “From file to 3D object is also revolutionizing manufacturing,” says GE Additive. At AdvancedTek of Waukesha, WI, production parts and tooling are major 3D activities.

Consequences of advancements also affect waste. Paper is already the most recycled material, being natural and renewable, with automated processes also reducing waste. And source reduction of waste is superior to trying to recycle, biodegrade or compost after sale. In addition, companies like Stora Enso and GP mills have had drastic reductions in process water usage. Plastics, too, are under major moves to reduce plastic. Manufacturers are finding disruptive avenues throughout their factories.

Materials and containers are changing rapidly. From the U.K.’s “Ecover” refill stations allowing bottle reuse up to 50 times, to sensors that indicate food shelf life—the ability to design new materials and packages is game changing. Who would have imagined, just a few years ago, that one of the older nonwovens web technologies, needlepunch fabrics, would be used in a new Nike Forward apparel line to reduce its carbon footprint.

“The Internet of Things,” sums up a popular view. It is described as technology that allows addition of a device to objects such as electronic and other factory systems to connect and exchange data.

Robotics & Automation

Susan Stansbury is a converting advocate with extensive experience in paper, converting, printing and related industries serving in roles including sales, marketing and product development.

Reprinted with permission from www.PFFC-Online.com

THE GREEN BAY INNOVATION GROUP: BUILD BACK the WISCONSIN PAPER INDUSTRY

Posted on by admin

The Green Bay Innovation Group would like to thank ALL of our Keynote speakers and our excellent panelists for a very successful event. We all recognize the importance and impact that paper has on the 5P, Converting and Supporting Industries in the State of Wisconsin. We would like to thank First Business Bank as a major sponsor of the event.

Crowd shot during build back event

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

Marty Ochs – Executive Director of the Green Bay Innovation Group
Marty Ochs – Executive Director of the Green Bay Innovation Group
Michelle LeMere – Vice President of Engineered Specialties at Pixelle Specialty Solutions
Michelle LeMere – Vice President of Engineered Specialties at Pixelle Specialty Solutions
Jerimiah Janssen – Vice President of First Business Bank
Jerimiah Janssen – Vice President of First Business Bank
7 panelists speak at the Build Back the Wi Paper Industry event.
7 panelists speak at the Build Back the Wi Paper Industry event.
Brit Swisher Midland Paper – Area Vice President – Northern Region
Brit Swisher Midland Paper – Area Vice President – Northern Region
Sam Rikkers – COO – Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.
Sam Rikkers – COO – Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.

PANEL:

  • Jim Koronkiewicz – General Manager at BPM, Inc.
  • Nick Mares – President of Virdiam
  • Henry Schienebeck – the Executive Director of the Great Lakes Timber Association
  • Paul Fowler – Wisconsin Institute for Sustainable Technology at UW Stevens Point
  • Daniel J. Leeson – Director of National Sales Western States Envelope & Labels
  • Mykaela Chaffin – Wisconsin Paper Council
  • Michelle LeMere – Pixelle Specialty Solutions

The event brought together a wide group of individuals and companies that are very committed to Building Back Paper Manufacturing to Wisconsin. We ALL recognize the impact Paper Manufacturing has on our businesses and our communities. We understand the potential obstacles that confront the paper industry. However, as a group we agreed that we can move forward to support Building Back the Wisconsin Paper Industry. The Green Bay Innovation Group will be moving forward to build a group of individuals to form a committee to advocate, educate and move forward on plans to support the paper industry. If you want to be part of the committee, please contact me.

Green Bay Innovation Group

Bringing Green Bay Companies Together. Green Bay Innovation Group is committed to building an authentic networking experience where innovation can thrive.

Quick Links
Contact Information

Phone: 608-698-3333 
martinpochs@gmail.com
Subscribe to Newsletter

© 2021 Green Bay Innovation Group

Site By: Packerland Websites

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Share