Latest News

New Automotive Extrusion Lines:

A combination of over 50 years extrusion line manufacturing experience together with the incorporation of the latest technology has produced an extrusion line to meet with high demands for quality and performance associated with manufacturing components for the automotive industry. The line is capable of producing fuel lines in accordance with the known automotive industry standards including tube structures, tolerances and polymers (PA, PVDF, PBT, ETFE, EVOH, etc.)

In addition to producing the necessary accuracy and performance to meet the quality levels required the new line from Boston Matthews provides manufacturers with such features that allow them to remain competitive in today’s global market. These include complete production flexibility; fast set-up and change-over; energy efficient operation; quick and easy maintenance; and product traceability.

Accuracy, Energy-Efficient & Low Maintenance;

Advanced Screw Design, AC Vector and Direct-Drive technology ensure precision accuracy and maximum energy efficiency at all times as well as providing a clean extrusion operation with maintenance reduced to an absolute minimum.

Precision accurate and easy to adjust Vacuum Calibration and Cooling Systems ensure the tube is produced to the exact tolerance specification required and with a high quality surface finish. AC Flux Vector Caterpillar Haul-Off and Servo-Cutting ensure precision accurate, clean, swarfless cut lengths are continuously produced. If the fuel lines are required to be coiled then a choice of Semi-Automatic and Fully Automatic Winding Systems are available to meet the exact requirements of the production operation.

Understanding the pressures faced by today’s manufacturers Boston Matthews have designed the line so that any routine maintenance required can be quickly and easily undertaken by the operator without the need for dedicated maintenance personnel. This not only reduces (and in some cases) eliminates the need for dedicated maintenance personnel it ensures the line is only out of production for a minimum amount of time. Sales Director Simon Brookes states "The design philosophy behind all Boston Matthews Extrusion Lines is to satisfy the production demands faced by our customers today and at the centre of that is the ability to be completely flexible and maintain performance at all times.”

New Die Head Technology Provides Greater Production Flexibility:

Boston Matthews Helix Die Head Technology has many essential advantages over ‘alternative’ die head design including the ability to produce mono and multi-layer fuel lines on the same line without any disruption and therefore allowing the manufacturer to benefit from complete production flexibility.  Material change over or die head cleaning is very fast and non-complex and can be undertaken completely in-house and therefore remains under the complete control of the fuel line manufacturer.  

Tube Quality Management & Traceability:

Automatic Laser Diameter Control Measuring System further ensures tube specification is always adhered to as well as providing assistance during line start-up.

Complete PLC control through the SMART system is also available with the Automotive Fuel Line.  The SMART colour touch-screen control system allows for simple line operation and quick start-up as well as providing essential tools for the tube manufacturer’s management Password protection ensures line settings and production security is always controlled and maintained. Production data, including all process variables is fully accessible and transferable through a variety of means including Ethernet and modem. This allows for production data to be used for product quality analysis, traceability and efficiency reports. Simon Brookes states "The Smart control system provides the manufacturer with the means to control the extrusion operation as well as the ability to access a large amount of data if required.”

The All-Electric Servo Driven Saw is able to achieve higher levels of accuracy by being the first to link servos motors to a precision ball screw on both axis allowing the entire cutting process to be controlled. This differs from other manufacturers who only seek to control the saws carriage travel, neglecting control of other movements during the cutting process. The resultant control achieved through the use of servos rather than pneumatics brings about numerous benefits to the user. The new All Electric Servo-Driven Saw will totally eliminate the need for secondary off-line cutting, making substantial savings for all extruders of rigid profiles. The new saws repeatedly cut to considerably closer tolerance levels than can be reached by the best pneumatic saws available. The  All Electric Servo-Driven Saw is controlled by a digital interface bringing numerous benefits to the user. Set-up is a fast, non-operator reliant, simple process of entering precise numbers via a ‘touch screen’ as opposed to pneumatic saws long, arduous task of manually turning valves to ‘rough’ settings.PLC intelligence enables the saw to perform a ‘programmed’ or ‘feasibility’ test after every new parameter is entered into a recipe. This acts as protection against potential damaged caused by the machine attempting to meet a users ‘inappropriate’ number inputs. Storage of recipes and product referencing enables the All Electric Servo-Driven Saw to have complete automatic set-up and provides the user with total production flexibility with the guarantee of easily retrievable, repeatable performance at all times. Additional benefits of the Saw include such production enhancing features as length cut-display, batch size display and password protection. Boston Matthews believe repeatable close tolerance cutting and superior cut-quality will represent significant material savings through a substantial reduction in off-spec or marked profiles, whilst eliminating lengthy complex set-procedures, signifying the new way forward for profile cutting.  

 The new saws are available in a number of sizes, with options to suit the requirements of all rigid profiles.

Boston Matthews is pleased to announce we are expanding our sales network in certain countries and are looking for professional, successful sales agencies to work with.

If you would like to work with Boston Matthews or Munchy please email sales@bostonmatthews.com for further details.

Yes 2019 is a K Show year and and Boston Matthews Munchy will be there again in full force.

We will be located at the heart of Hall 16 with a big presence.

We look forward to showing off our latest developments and welcoming you all onto our stand.

See you there !

Hall 16, Stand B22

Single Access, Fully Integrated System:

Extrusion lines with fully integrated Quality Control Management Systems with accessible and exportable data are now available from Boston Matthews.

Using Boston Matthews’ own SMART Control System technology as the main platform and central control unit, several additional ‘Quality Management Systems’ are capable of being fully integrated into a single operating interface. This eliminates the need for separate mounting and interfacing of additional processing hardware normally associated with secondary or tertiary quality monitoring systems. Processing Data, including the ‘standard SMART Control Extrusion Data’ is collated and stored into a single seamless unit (SMART) for export to either an already established SPC data interface or tailored to meet the exact requirements of the organisation. Such Quality Control Systems include but are not limited to Wall Thickness Measurement; Tube Diameter Measurement Control; Lump Recognition; Defect Analysis; and Loss in Weight.

Boston Matthews Sales Director Simon Brookes states "We developed the SMART System several years ago when the ability to access production data for analytical purposes was a wishful luxury and considered to be only necessary for certain industries and multi-national organisations. This is no longer the case as more and more manufacturers are turning to factual historical data as a means of monitoring and improving their production. Boston Matthews design and manufacture the complete extrusion line and therefore understand the entire extrusion process from ‘resin-in’ to ‘product-out’.  Combining this knowledge and understanding together with our latest technology we are able to integrate all technologies and present the user with a complete ‘extrusion manufacturing cell’ with statistical analysis which they can monitor, store and base practical production decisions upon.

Improved Quality and Reduced Operating Costs:

 With ever greater pressures from increasing resin prices, rising energy bills and limited skilled operator’s production and plant managers must scrutinize every element of their operation. The only effective way of doing this is through statistical data analysis. Access to this data in conjunction with the precision extrusion technology (AC Flux Vector Control and Servo Control) found throughout Boston Matthews Extrusion Lines enable the processor to achieve higher, more consistent ‘guaranteed’ production whilst greatly reducing scrap levels, and overall operating costs.

When it comes to investment in new machinery many organisations make the mistake of ignoring the Caterpillar Take-Off or Puller and the pivotal role in plays within every extrusion line.

The Take-Off provides tension to the extrusion line and forms a vital link from the good consistent quality of melt produced by the extruder through to the successful cutting/sawing/coiling operation at the end of the line.

If the Take-Off is underperforming, then issues throughout the line are likely to occur :

·        Product inaccuracy at the die face leading to poor product and possible line downtime

·        Calibration inaccuracy / line down time

·        Inaccurate cutting/sawing/coiling

All too many times a company will make a good investment in a new Cutter/Saw/Coiler for them not to see the true benefits due to an inaccurate, ageing Haul-Off.

It is therefore essential to have a Caterpillar Take-Off that has precision speed holding at all times.