Plionyx slashes downtime for surface cleaning in paper and textile converting applications
Two major players in the converting industry—who provide specialized equipment for paper mills and textile factories—are using Plionyx atmospheric plasma systems to clean and protect essential mechanical components that keep production rolling at their sites.
Creating quality paper and textile products goes hand-in-hand with properly maintaining the machines used to produce them. While it’s vital to prevent process-generated contaminants—such as dusty debris, sticky pulp, or clingy fibers—from being transferred onto products during the manufacturing process, it’s equally important to ensure they don’t impede the performance of expensive factory-floor equipment.
The discovery of the Plionyx solution allowed these customers to dramatically reduce downtime by using plasma surface cleaning. The companies had become frustrated with traditional surface cleaning methods—such as sandblasting, grinding, and dry ice blasting— for contaminant removal and surface preparation.
These methods were inefficient and costly, requiring operators to shut down the entire production line for as much as 2 to 3 days. In today’s paper and textile converting applications, downtime can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per day in lost revenue, depending on the size of the operation. In addition, using chemical solvents to clean industrial equipment is expensive, presents environmental compliance challenges, and introduces a level of risk to employee health and safety.
Implementing Plionyx plasma surface treatment system was a clearly a financial and operational benefit. The test results showed a reduced downtime to just 4-6 hours by using a Plionyx plasma cleaning system with multiple plasma pens in operation at the same time. The speed and complete cleaning of rollers lowered labor costs and lowered the environmental risks.
Today, both of these customers are leveraging Plionyx for both proactive and reactive corrective cleaning solutions in their converting processes. They each have an automated plasma treatment system that is adjusted for their unique situation, working in tandem with their machinery, to treat target areas even while the assembly line is running. Both companies also utilize a portable system with a handheld plasma pen to do precision work to prevent build-up in target areas.
The success of this project has our customer in the textile industry planning to implement Plionyx technology to even more facilities.
Meanwhile, an executive from the paper-converting customer referred to the Plionyx solution as a “game-changer” in the industry, since this technology rewrites the playbook on how to clean and maintain converters.
Top 3 Customer Wins:
- Dramatic downtime reduction: Production line shutdowns reduced from 36 hours 2-3 days down to 4-6 hours or less; Enables more efficient and productive process product creation with less “post-cleaning” clean-up.
- Environmental & Health & Safety benefits: No more dust and media clean-up; No more harsh solvents or hazardous chemicals to dispose of; Improved health and safety for employees who are no longer at risk of exposure to liquid chemicals or fumes.
- Cost savings: Now saving hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars in lost productivity costs; No more expensive chemical or abrasive cleaning solutions; Protecting valuable industrial equipment from damage or failure.
Is your manufacturing application getting stuck in downtime? Great news: there is a superior surface cleaning solution that eliminates waste, removes contaminants, and prevents costly production line shutdowns. Contact APS to learn more about how a Plionyx atmospheric plasma treatment system can boost your productivity.
