Lining materials come in a bewildering array of types, styles, materials, thicknesses, print….and strip widths to be purchased, tracked, paid for, and managed. For a lined plastic closure, the liner disc usually represents the single largest cost component of the finished product.
Commercial cap lining materials are typically laminations or extrusions that are first created in a wide “master roll” and then slit to narrower strips per customer purchase order. The range of master roll widths currently being used by suppliers to the closure industry range from a low of 27” to a potential high of 60”. The most commonly used master roll widths are currently 40” and 42”, with some exceptions for specialty materials and suppliers.
A key factor in lining material costing is how efficiently a particular strip width fits into the master roll. That is, how much scrap is left over after the master roll is converted into the chosen narrower strip width. The industry has long promoted the use of strip widths that create as much as 20% scrap from the master roll.
Unfortunately, there are more areas of potential cost or loss that can affect closure manufacturers. The total cost of managing a diverse closure lining material supply chain is affected by some or all of the factors listed below:
- The use of strip widths that are inefficient versus the material’s master roll width, raising the cost/yard of material
- The creation of master-roll scrap at the liner manufacturer, when that scrap material could be used productively
- The fragmentation of the supply chain for a given material by purchasing many strip widths of the same material
- The loss of efficiency at the liner supplier from the closure mfg customer buying small orders of many strip widths
- The loss of closure manufacturer sales orders because the correct material strip width is not in stock
- The cost of management time trying to expedite or track lining material deliveries
- The cost of downtime from not having lining material to run
- The cost of stranded or obsolete lining materials, because of customer or market changes…and the material being size-specific
CapTech is leading the industry in the development of analysis tools, strategies, and capabilities to address all of the above cost issues, and increase the profitability of a lined closure manufacturing operation. Call us to find out how you too can benefit.