Plastic film and sheet processor Boltaron is installing a new sheet extrusion line next month to meet demand for its PVC and PVC/acrylic alloy sheet and to help the processor continue to keep its delivery times low. The line includes a twin-screw extruder from Milacron and a K-Tron feed system, with the roll stand and ancillary downstream equipment engineered by Boltaron.

Boltaron (Newcomerstown, OH) claims to be the only plastics processor in the U.S. offering calendaring, extrusion and press laminating in a single location. Press laminating is when multiple sheets of calendered or extruded plastic are layered and fused using heat and pressure to form a single, solid sheet. It comes in handy processing sheet in thicknesses that are impractical or impossible to produce by extrusion, particularly in short runs. The company markets 50 different grades of sheet.

Once the new line is installed the company will have one calender line, three extruders and three laminating presses in its circa 200,000 square feet of manufacturing and office space. The company's sheet sees use in aircraft interiors, train and mass transit parts, and in other commercial or industrial uses.  

Consistent with the company's existing sheet extrusion lines, the new line produces gauges from 0.028 - .312 in. (0.71 - 7.92 mm), in widths to 60 in. (1524 mm). "In addition to high performance sheet products, formers and fabricators need short lead times to meet their commitments while keeping just-in-time inventories low, and the new line enables us to deliver on both counts," commented Dean Li, the processor's president and owner.