| Claus Robberts | ProJet B.V. | Wire Cleaning in Fiberglass Mat Manufacturing processes This presentation will highlight all specific technical details, features and benefits of each ProJet Wire Cleaning System. In a typical Fiberglass Mat Manufacturing process, there are three conveyor wires involved:
In the Saturator Section, binder (UF modifiers, formaldehyde free binders, and glass mat coatings) is applied to the glass fibers, typically acrylic/latex. The binder is used to bond the loose fibers, but, obviously, some of the binder material bleeds through the fibers onto the Saturator Wire. Over time, the build up of binder on the Wire gets so much that it loses permeability which leads to an uneven distribution of binder in Cross Machine Direction. The Oven Section ensures curing of the binder together with the fibers, making sure a stable and coherent mat is produced. The oven belts tend to build up fairly quickly with contamination, which is acrylic binder and fibers, during normal production. This contamination needs to be cleaned very efficiently to be able to maintain normal operation. |
| Julianne Ogden | American Chemistry Council | Formaldehyde: Regulatory Activity and Potential Implications Formaldehyde is one of the most studied, and regulated, chemical substances in commerce today. Federal standards and regulations are in place to limit formaldehyde emissions and minimize any potential human health risks. Since the early 1980s, this substance has been continuously studied to provide scientific information to improve the understanding of the potential health effects associated with this chemical and to support safe exposure levels for formaldehyde. In EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Control (OCSPP) formaldehyde is undergoing a TSCA risk evaluation in the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) division and a pesticide registration in the antimicrobial division of the Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP). In addition, EPA’s Office of Research & Development (ORD) recently released an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessment. The formaldehyde TSCA risk evaluation and pesticide re-registration will be reviewed and the potential implication of the IRIS assessment for these assessments will be discussed. |
| Charles-Andre Sirois and Dustin Leder |
AstenJohnson | Fiberglass Mat Forming and Saturator Fabrics Design Evolution and Best Practices Fiberglass mat forming and saturator fabric designs have evolved throughout the years alongside process technology changes, increasing production outputs and grade changes. In this presentation we will start by reviewing the basics of textile fabric designs along with critical properties related to fiberglass mat manufacturing. We will then review the evolution of forming and saturator fabrics characteristics and properties and how they adapted to the necessary balance between process needs, mechanical resistance and sheet properties. We will offer some insights into our vision of how machine clothing will evolve in the future then conclude on a more practical level with machine clothing best practices and safety during installation, startup, operation, and shutdowns. |
| Oliver Crasser | Voith | Online Web Quality Measuring and Control Voith supplies comprehensive automation solutions for the pulp, paper and nonwovens industry worldwide. The core of the each automation systems is a quality control system. This needs to be most reliable for the demanding environment of these production conditions. The producers must be able to rely on the precision and availability of the control system. The Quality Control System (QCS) - as a smart and integrated concept - enables manufacturers to gain control over production processes and product quality. A control system must offer the possibility to stabilize and optimize product quality and the production process, to increase productivity and to reduce operating and maintenance costs at the same time. Nowadays, new control systems consist of all the important elements required for perfect quality measurement and control: a secure cloud solution with many analysis tools and functions, virtual sensors for online and real-time measurement, as well as location- and time-independent technology consulting. |
| Brian Seabreeze | GKD | Conveyor Drier Chain/Wire Operation GKD is a technical weaving mill producing metal and synthetic meshes for various industries. With a focus on the fiberglass mat industry, GKD specializes in supplying metal belts to the through air dryers. Implementing a wide range of mesh constructions, there is a custom solution available for every process. Optimizing belt performance through start up procedures, straight tracking at high speeds, and avoiding typical failure modes has helped improve production benchmarks across the industry. Highlighting the weaving process, as well as pre- and post-weaving manufacturing steps, GKD can explain the nuances of fabricating oven belts. Variables such as coatings, tension calculations, seam constructions, and cleaning methods can all be discussed in detail to determine if there are opportunities for improved characteristics of the oven belt |
| Henning Vomhof | Andritz | Maximize Productivity for Glass Fiber Composite With the pressure on the roll good producers increasing on being able to answer the increasing market request for more products, with increasing pressure on the efficiency and availability of a line. Accordingly, is the expectation on the Wetlaid line:
Summarizing, the focus of the presentation is to show the importance of an Audit to improve a line as the requirements and expectations are rising. Potential for optimization lays in the stock preparation, at the fan-pump and headbox respectively the forming. |
| Danielle Foley | BASF | BASF’s Approach to Sustainability At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. The world is changing at a rapid pace – more urgently than ever, solutions are needed for a more sustainable future. As an industry leader and with companies in 90 countries, we want to be the most attractive partner for challenges that can be solved with chemistry. BASF has set ambitious targets along our value chain for climate protection, strengthening the sustainability focus of our portfolio, and using resources responsibly. This presentation will explain our corporate commitments and detail our sustainability programs including carbon management, sustainable solution steering, and circular economy. It will highlight some of the tools BASF has developed to measure and report our corporate and product impacts such as our digital tool to calculate carbon footprint on a product level. Creating transparency to our product carbon footprints supports more informed decision making and opens the door for partnerships on sustainable solutions with customers. |
| Mark Van Zeeland | Schneider | The North American Transportation Squeeze: Learnings; Insights and a Look Forward World events triggered unprecedented demand and labor market stress throughout the supply chain for almost two years. Pressure on transportation capacity was core to the volatility that most companies have faced. During this session gain insight as we look forward from one of the most scaled and long-standing transportation and logistics companies in North America on what was learned from the last two years to include industry actions that have been taken to increase capacity supply in the face of labor market and regulatory challenges. |
| Angela Krueger | ASI | Fiberglass Mat Drying & Sustainability This presentation will cover the fundamentals of drying and curing fiberglass mat, and will discuss the opportunities available to make this step more efficient and sustainable. Drying and curing fiberglass mat is a crucial and resource-intensive step in manufacturing glass mat. Having the correct drying system, including correctly sized and uniformly delivered air volumes and temperatures, exhaust rates, and RTO capacity, is imperative to manufacturing a quality product with high production rates. Because this step is demanding of resources, there are many opportunities available to glass mat manufacturers to make their process more efficient and sustainable. These include:
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| John Schroeder | ABB | Achieving benefits with Industry 4.0 technologies – a paper machine drives example In this presentation, an asset management use case will be explored for drive systems and motors on a paper machine. Leveraging digital technologies, both the performance and health of these systems can be monitored online. Data down to the millisecond range can be continuously collected and analyzed to detect performance issues, identify their severity, and provide proactive notifications so that these issues can be prioritized based on criticality and addressed. More than ever, Industry 4.0 solutions are providing impactful benefits to the pulp and paper industry. These solutions are helping to improve process performance by reducing process variability, lowering raw material usage, and increasing production efficiency. Asset performance is being improved through predictive and prescriptive maintenance. Operational excellence is being raised through end-to-end supply chain enhancements. Sustainability is being positively impacted by reducing raw material and energy usage and lower emissions. Finally, mobility and connected worker technologies are both supporting efficiency improvements as well as quality of life aspects. |
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Greg Lewis and Brendan Lowney |
FEA on behalf of Hexion |
Housing/Real Estate and the U.S. Market |