Emral Ltd - Achievements

Some Career Achievements:

Winner of DuPont 2000 Engineering Excellence Award as team member for "Zero Bend Mill Reel Core Design for DuPont Teijin Films Line D53 at Dumfries, Scotland". Applied web handling science to wide width roll formation, developing a fault-free winding process and removing a speed limitation.

Acknowledged expert in web handling and winding. Provided technical tutorials, and helped group of 20 company experts to produce Best Practice guidelines. Presented papers at international conferences.

Diagnosed the cause of a severe wrinkling problem manufacturing a pyrotechnic film. Worked with a consultant to develop a model explaining the interplay of web tension and heat input from vacuum deposition. Advised on requirements on dimensional stability of the base film.

Developed a spreadsheet model for assessing film traction and tension changes over a train of rollers. Validated the model with measurements on a production slitting machine using a hand-held tension sensor ("Tensor") and a PC-based roll speed comparator using optical sensing designed by myself. Used the model for design of new film lines in conjunction with the Winding Engineer.

Conceived and supervised development of an instrument to measure quality of roll formation. Devised the mathematical treatment of the signal to extract the information and wrote the prototype data analysis program in BASIC.

Carried out winding trials on production lines and experimental rigs, assessing roll quality and hardness. Used designed experiments and statistical data analysis. Implemented changes in tension and contact roll force curves leading to improved production roll quality. Other trials established ways of improving winding by various actions on the moving film.

Used programs for predicting stresses in wound rolls to analyse different winding conditions in PET film. Applied also to develop control curves for Optical Data Storage tape used for archiving.

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Polymer Materials Science Specialist

Pioneered an FEA model to predict PET film flatness and shrinkage by formulating theory of film behaviour based on lab experiments, deriving equations and leading the model development by specialists. It successfully predicted all the major effects of design and process parameters.

Devised and ran a project to clarify the fundamentals of film drawing in the process. Took published data on development of molecular orientation and crystallisation during drawing of PET from synchrotron X-ray diffraction, and used a heat transfer analysis of the film drawing process to predict crystallinity after drawing. Confirmed the predictions using on-line measurements.

Initiated and supervised research at Oxford University on PET drawing, leading to new theory of deformation, and software for incorporation in a finite element simulation of the film process. Applied results in combination with web mechanics to optimise and uprate the film process.

Developed spreadsheet models for the prediction of curl, warpage and shrinkage of film from various stages in the production process, and of laminate structures made from the product.

Developed understanding of deformation, failure and toughening in mineral-filled and toughened polypropylene by testing and electron microscopy.

Improved understanding of plastic impact testing by utilising high-speed photography to aid interpretation of features on the force-time curves.

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Manufacturing Improvement Leadership

Led a team on roll quality improvement. Analysed the business implications and reported regularly to the Business Team. Compared performance with competition and other lines in-house. Developed metrics to track progress. Carried out statistical analysis of production data and corrective actions.

Critically appraised manufacturing capability in the thickness profile control, winding and slitting areas as part of a "Thin Film Audit" team, which came up with recommendations for a new film line and necessary development work to ensure it met its targets.

Led a team on improved consistency of film thickness profile. Produced variability analysis; generated and implemented "quick hits". Performed systematic analysis to identify key work areas.

Investigated and reported on issues influencing strategic technical decisions. Process involved analysing available internal and external information sources, and consulting with staff from technical, marketing and business functions.

Designed a database for PC software and other process models using Lotus Notes, with structured information on programs and platforms, and supervised implementation. Now contains 100+ models with > 100 users.

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