by Tim Harrison, Yaskawa Electric America

Like virtually every American manufacturer these days, Ramcon-Fiberlok faces tougher competition from rivals and increased demands from customers. So Werner Schmidt, president of the Memphis-based company, which makes machinery for the non-wovens industry, looks for any advantage he can get.

Responding to requests from his customers, Schmidt began to look for ways to cut costs on the Ramcon-Fiberlok guillotine cross-cutter, yet still provide a machine that was capable of meeting his customers’ requirements. With the help of Yaskawa Electric America and its Memphis-based distributor Advanced Industry Support (AIS), Schmidt replaced a servo motor and amplifier with a Yaskawa F7 AC drive and induction motor which trimmed the price of the machine and reduced maintenance without any reduction in performance quality.

Over the past several years, Schmidt has found increased resistance to the price tag of Ramcon-Fiberlok’s guillotine cross cutter, which costs as much at $55,000. “Pricing is always important in the industry we are serving,” Schmidt said. Ramcon-Fiberlok sells a number of machines for the heavy duty felt non-wovens industry, including line slitters, cross-lappers, automatic pad stackers, ovens, coolers, floor apron systems, and dry powder resin applicators.

View the complete article published in Control Engineering October 2005.