CGT is a world leader in power generation, power quality and power protection markets. The Stamford operation (formerly Newage International) manufactures the world’s broadest range of alternators up to nearly 30MW, for applications such as marine, telecom, standby, rental and construction industries.
“There’s no problem so big or complicated that it can’t be run away from.” Graffito, London 1979
Here at speedworks we don’t run away from problems...
Manufacturing at CGT conforms to rigorous quality standards. All generators must be uniquely identified throughout the manufacturing process - achieved by the use of tags. As part of the process, the primary generator components pass through ovens curing the resins that hold the windings firmly in place as the machine rotates at high speed. CGT challenged us to find tags that would withstand temperature of 200 degrees for up to 4 hours. Ideally, they also needed to be on A4 sheets and go through a laser printer. Each sheet of A4 would be perforated once vertically and three times horizontally producing eight tags on a sheet, each with a punched hole, using a material of substance to remove the need for a reinforced hole.
speedworks’ mission was to find the right material for the job and then to get the material converted quickly into tags.
• Our first thoughts were to use ‘Tyvek’ (which offers all the best characteristics of paper, film and fabric in one material - lightweight yet strong, vapour permeable yet water resistant.) but the material would not withstand the heat from the fuser unit in the laser printer.
• Next we tried ‘Picophan’ (not as tough as Tyvek but strong enough to take a hole punch and withstand some heat) made up of layers of paper and plastic. This didn’t work because the paper element became badly discoloured in the oven.
• Then we sampled a thermal transfer card 170 micron in thickness - this also didn’t withstand the temperature of the oven, became discoloured and wrinkled.
• Finally we trialled a 100% synthetic material with heat resistant properties - and after lengthy testing this was finally declared suitable.
In summary, after a lot of testing, a three-week delivery time on the 125 micron matt white coated Polyester material and a week’s printing and finishing time, speedworks made a delivery to CGT of 60,000 A4 sheets of tags that did the trick!