Need Service in the Northeast US?

Russ Frazier, Northeast Service Technician, was in our International Headquarters this week for some training updates. Russ has over 15 years of pulp and paper experience in a variety of technical support and service positions with Voith, Valmet, Metso Automation, and Technidyne.

Russ is the primary service contact for Technidyne customers in: CT, DC, DE, MA, MD, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VA, VT and WV.  He lives in this area and is able to respond quickly to customers. 

See the Technidyne website for more information on the services Russ can provide.

Kheops Measures Appearance for Graphic Packaging

Graphic Packaging is using the Kheops in place of the old appearance measurement device that was originally developed by a chemical supplier.  Graphic Packaging needed to continue to evaluate the variation in white appearance of its board, but it wanted independence from this old device.

The Kheops takes an image of the sample with the camera facing down 180 degrees from the sample

Kheops

using neon light.  The measurement area is a 25mm square area.  Graphic Packaging coats the board with a white coating.  The problem is a variation in the white appearance due to flocs, fiber density, voids and other variations in the board.  This variation will show through the white coating and give an unappealing mottled look to the finished product.  The Kheops can measure this variation in the different white levels as well as provide a size class distribution of the white appearance variation.  The Kheops set up to measure two size families.   The higher the index number for these two families the worse the white appearance on the board.  Graphic Packaging uses these numbers to quantify production quality.

The next time you buy beer or cereal, thank the people at Graphic Packaging for using the Kheops to give you a nice looking package.

FPInnovations Invests in Testing

I am visiting our office in Canada this week and have some meetings with FPInnovations, too.  FPInnovations recently purchased three new pieces of test equipment.  Technidyne Inc. (Canada) delivered the instruments to FPInnovations. I saw all three in the labs in Pointe Claire today.

Technidyne Color-Touch 2 - ISO conforming spectrophotometer for measuring color, brightness, opacity and fluorescence

Emtec Tissue Softness Analyzer - measures softness, elasticity and compressibility

Huygen Internal Bond Tester - Scott bond measurement

We discussed how they are going to use each instrument. I saw the PROFILE/Plus system which has been moved to a different lab (pictured below).

I am attending the PAPTAC Standard Methods Committee meeting at FPInnovations tomorrow.

Extended Wavelength Range

Traditional color measuring devices like the Color Touch™ measure from 400 to 700 nm. Some other color measuring devices measure lower than 400 nm and higher than 700 nm.  When doing normal color calculations of L*a*b* this extra data doesn't change the resulting data because the weighting factors from ASTM E308 are so small.

I have two questions:

What wavelength range do online color measuring devices measure?

If data is available below 400 nm and above 700 nm, is this data used for anything in particular?

Let me know...

Never a Dull Moment in Service

James Bruner - Service Manager

According to James Bruner, Service Manager, this week the Technidyne Service Department is especially busy.

• Emergency Service Call in the Midwest
• Training for a Service Technician in New Albany, IN
• Training on the Techpap Morfi (fiber quality) for a customer in the South US
• Preventative Maintenance in:
• Western Canada
• Northwestern US
• Southwestern US

What Do ERs and Paper Mills Have in Common?

A couple of weeks ago one of our employees was stricken with a medical emergency which forced him into the Emergency Room and a few nights in the Hospital.

Calibration and replacing deteriorating components

It reminded me of how the Preventative Maintenance program started at Technidyne.  In the early 1980's, two of Technidyne's service technicians had previous experience in the medical device industry. They realized that paper companies relied as heavily on their equipment as hospitals and emergency rooms. Neither was willing to accept equipment that had not been maintained and calibrated on a regular basis.  The Technidyne Preventative Maintenance program was born in 1985 to give paper companies the same confidence in the test equipment as the medical equipment patients and doctors rely on in hospitals.

Our employee is back on the track to recovery. However, your equipment should never have to endure this fate if a solid Preventative Maintenance program is in place for your critical instrumentation.

Made in America

Made in America has always had a connotation of quality products and service.

People don't automatically assume products labeled "Made in Sweden" are top shelf. Nor do customers clamor for products labeled "Made in Guyana."

Since it's inception Technidyne has been Made in America.  From research & development to production to phone support and preventative maintenance, Technidyne stands for quality.