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| Ti Team at the start-up of the new coating line in Terre Haute |
Taghleef Industries installed a custom Davis-Standard liquid coating line at its facility in Terre Haute, Indiana, to support new markets in coated OPP films. Taghleef is one of the world’s largest suppliers of specialty and high-performance films for packaging, labels, industrial, and graphic arts applications. The Davis-Standard line, installed in the first quarter of 2021, is enabling Taghleef to bring added value and enhanced performance to OPP films to support customers throughout North America and beyond.
“Davis-Standard collaborated with us to build a highly customized liquid coating line, making it possible to achieve unique film attributes and proprietary coating methods for new applications,” said Craig Ligda, Taghleef’s Director of Operations, North America. “We have improved film printability while validating differential coating methods that are essential to our customers.”
Critical to the success of the line’s engineering and design was the collaborative efforts that took place at Davis-Standard’s Technical Center in Fulton, New York. Taghleef ran trials on Davis-Standard’s pilot line to prove and test equipment technology prior to purchase. According to Larry Mauer, Taghleef’s Senior Director of Operations for North America, Davis-Standard worked with their team to quickly address issues while guiding them through all project phases, from R&D and design to installation and qualification.
“We definitely had obstacles to overcome, but our teams did an excellent job of working through problems quickly and anticipating what was needed. This line not only allows us to support our current coating methods but is equipped to support future needs. The tandem coater is exemplary in terms of precision coating on both sides and enabling us to handle new OPP applications from our Terre Haute facility,” said Mauer.
Davis-Standard is an industry leader in liquid coating systems used for tapes and labels, silicone-coating products, and in specialty coating markets. One of the primary advantages for customers such as Taghleef is Davis-Standard’s ability to custom engineer a solution from a product portfolio of more than 50 liquid coating processes. This Davis-Standard advantage is bolstered by R&D capabilities that enable customers to evaluate and validate structures and processes or new markets and applications for film and paper substrates.
“We were able to innovate throughout the full scope of the project to address our liquid coating needs today and in the future. This is a new technology for us, and it will be a game-changer in terms of our ability to serve OPP film customers. We are already realizing the benefits of bringing these films to market,” added Ligda.
