Here at Al’s Business Service Reviews, this week’s business service spotlight is on Converted Products, Incorporated of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and their traverse winding or spool winding services. We take this from a customer’s perspective and go through what questions were asked of us as we tried to get a quote on a job, on through to shipping the final product.
In the 21 years that Converted Products, Inc. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin has been in the contract converting business, 18 years have included traverse winding services. What started out as a simple four position spool winder has now morphed into 2 – 24 position slitter/spoolers. Whether referred to as as traverse winding, spool winding or spooling, Converted Products, Inc (CPI) has the experience and capabilities to handle most materials.
The Quoting Process
CPI starts out by digging into their customer’s traverse winding needs. Specifically, they asked the following questions:
Finished Goods
1) What are the dimensions of the finished spools you are looking for?
2) What are the spool package size you are looking for? Specifically, Width of face, Maximum diameter of the spool? Flanges or no Flanges?
3) What is the material? Tape? Film? or Nonwoven?
Raw Goods (this is assuming the customer are supplying the base material for slitting)
1) What is the material?
2) What is the width and length of the parent rolls that need converting?
Purchasing Process
Once we got the quote which took about a day to get back, and after clarifying a few things with Scott, our Customer Service Account Manager, we issued a purchase order for the spooling work. The lead time we were quoted was 5 to 10 working days from the time we delivered material to CPI. One thing of note on spooling, it will not be less expensive than normal slitting into pancakes. The savings comes on the actual usage end. We were able to save on down time by having a 30,000 foot spool versus a 3,000 foot pancake. We estimate our production rates to increase by 20% by changing to traverse wound rolls.
Spool Winding Pre-Production Work
While the material was shipping, we sent our final, traverse winding specifications regarding splices (as this was a unique release liner that we needed spooling). Mike, the Quality Manager, took our info and after a few questions and answers back and forth, we were set.
In this particular case we requested to visit once they were comfortable, just to make sure that things were up to our quality expectations from the start. Due to confidentialities, we did have to sign a nondisclosure agreement due to other security issues with their other customers.
Actual Production
Once we had material there, quality expectations were established and security agreements were signed, we were ready to go spool winding. Once we arrived, things went pretty smoothly. The job was set up before we got there and a partial run had been made to make sure things were all set. After some minor issues with our material, CPI’s operator made a full set. Since we were doing only 3 sets, the other two sets were finished after we left.
Shipping
Once the product was shipped, we received the shipping documents via email as the product was shipping to our production facility in Mexico.
Overall Summary
After the back and forth on quality specs, expectations and the nondisclosure agreement, things went well with the actual order. Once we received the material, we ran the small production and we came very close to meeting our productivity expectations. Converted Products spooling capabilities are an excellent service for those don’t need spooling that often or don’t want to get involved in buying a very expensive traverse winding line.
Here is an overview of CPI’s traverse winding capabilities:
Material Types: Paper, Film, Foil, Tapes, Nonwovens
Incoming roll Specifications:
51” wide max x 36” OD (2000 lbs)
Package or Finished Spool Specifications:
- Face width: 4” minimum – 13” maximum
- Maximum OD: 19”
- ID: 3” or 6”
- Core Type: Paper or Plastic
- Slit Width Maximum: 1-½” Wide
- Flanged or Non-Flanged Spools
