Novation: Press Information

Novation, Inc. will be introducing their new “RollCode” defect location tracking system at the 2003 CMM show in Chicago April 14th through 17th. RollCode is said to replace the tradition in web coating and printing lines of manually inserting a flag (half in and half out) of the rewinding roll to flag defects. This traditional approach requires an operator to be positioned near the rewind of the coating or printing line at all times, or to be able to get there quickly. The operator must put his hands near running machinery and spinning rolls to insert the flag, which creates obvious safety issues.

This approach also requires an operator to be positioned near the unwind of the downstream process any time a roll with a defect is running. The operator of this subsequent process machine, most often a slitter, then watches the unwinding roll and stops the machine when he sees the flag approaching in order to make his edits or cull out the scrap material. Since he must watch for the flag as it approaches the outer diameter of the roll, the machine typically runs at less than its maximum speed to enable this “looking for the flag” process. Also since an operator must err on the safe side, she will typically slow down the machine early and creep at usually a very slow speed to the actual flag, or stop point.

Novation’s RollCode system addresses the abovementioned safety and productivity issues. RollCode will automatically apply a flag (pressure sensitive label) to the web at process speeds with the push of a button, or an output from a web inspection system sensing an “out of spec” situation. Multiple buttons can be placed at different locations on a line so that a defect observed at that location will be tracked through the line and the flag placed at the correct location. A second flag will also be applied marking the end of the “out of spec” condition. Up to eight types of defects are able to be recorded.

RollCode keeps track of the distance between the start of a roll, all scrap start and stop points, and the end of the roll. This information will then be conveyed to the RollCode box on the downstream equipment (by various methods). RollCode can anticipate when a flag or stop point is approaching, allowing the machine to run full speed, decelerate, and stop it just prior to the defect, without any operator involvement.

Additional benefits are said to include:

Multiple causes for scrap may be input into the system. This information can then be logged and used to generate productivity reports with “ScrapTracker” software.
Since the distance to core is known, it can be used to calculate and display the number of feet remaining on a running roll, the “time to core” remaining at the current speed, and the downstream machine can run full speed and stop automatically just prior to the roll running out. This information could also be used to trigger an automatic splice on machines so equipped.

In order to prevent adhesive on the flag from sticking to idler rolls or machine parts, the flags are pressure sensitive labels with the adhesive “deadened” on the portion of the flag which hangs off the web’s edge.

Perhaps the most difficult problem which needs to be addressed with this type of system is re-synchronizing a roll’s flag positions if material is removed from the OD of the roll between the time the roll is produced and subsequently loaded onto the downstream equipment’s unwind. Sometimes a roll is only partially consumed and then returned to inventory to be finished at a later date. This too creates a re-synchronizing situation.

RollCode addresses these situations first of all by using real flags. That is, although this system could purely “remember” where the scrap is without physically marking it, flags are applied. This means that in the worst case, the age old method of watching for the flag will still work.

Also, since the flags are uniquely identifiable, and are then correlated to a position in the roll, if the outermost flag is scanned, the system can always re-synchronize from that point forward.

In a situation where rolls are to be partially used and moved into and out of inventory regularly, RollCode can either update the new information for this partially used roll to the LAN or website, or print a new roll label with the new data encoded into the bar code.