Graham Engineering Blow Moulders chosen by manufacturer of traffic safety devices

TrafFix Devices Inc. is one of the world’s largest producers of road safety products with four manufacturing sites throughout the USA and Mexico. Their product range includes barrier drums, portable sign stands, roll-up signs, plastic barricades, and traffic cones. The blow moulding of products was previously outsourced, however increased growth and the cost savings benefits of manufacturing in-house led to the purchase decision.

The GEC-7460 dual-head blow moulding machines were installed at the newly constructed Fairfield, Iowa site. Each outfitted with a 6 inch smooth bore extruder with a 300 HP AC drive, dual 9KG series heads, XMB Navigator controls and a 1900 x 1550mm platen with 190 tonnes of clamping force. The machines run both high density and linear low density polyethylene.

A key factor in the selection of the GEC range of blow moulders was the accumulator head machines, which provide fast colour changeover. This was important as the company produce more than 100 different products.

“The new GEC equipment allows TrafFix to run all of our products on the same machine size, yielding a higher efficiency on an annual production basis. The GEC spiral heads also provide much quicker colour or material change compared to others.” Jack Kulp, President of TrafFix commented; “The entire process with GEC from order to installation, training and commissioning, exceeded our expectations”.