| Europe Gears Up For TWINFLEX 2000 |
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| TWINFLEX 2000 was developed from a concept originated by National Starch's technical market development manager for Europe, Kim Tagesen. After Dave Carter, product development manager in National's European Development Lab, Slough, UK, confirmed that the idea was sound, a joint project involving a key bookbinder customer (Ebner in Ulm, Germany) and an extrusion equipment engineering company (Inatec in Leverkusen, Germany) was formed. |
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| Three years later, this revolutionary system is beginning to gain acceptance in Europe, Japan, Latin America and the United States. Interest is spreading quickly. In Germany, the first PUR-with-primer system at Ebner Ulm has been running successfully for over two years. The performance, day in and day out, has had a positive influence on Ebner's plant productivity and quality of their paperback books. |
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| Also in Germany, Watchtower has been in production for almost a year with PUR, applied by the Inatec system in conjunction with a resin primer. Watchtower has built tremendous confidence in the system's performance. Whether Watchtower missionaries are in the middle of the jungle or near the Arctic Circle, durability of their religious books is assured. |
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| Two other potential installations in Europe are in the extended testing phase. There, TWINFLEX 2000 is showing improved book strength and flexibility on difficult coated and cross grain papers. |
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| Says Tagesen, "The only criteria for new installations is that production must be willing to take the time to properly install the equipment and educate the operators. This binding technique is a complete departure from the norm, and the learning curve for operators is a factor. We are there to guide them all the way, and long term we know that our customers and our customers' customers will benefit." |
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