Customer Need   

A major boat manufacturer came to Budnick and wanted to create a solution for some quality issues it was having with its below water-line through-holes.  They were using gunnable, silicone sealants.  Some of the issues they were having were:

• The sealant disappeared making it hard to tell how much was applied
• The liquid became dirty, giving an unprofessional look
• The liquid did not seal completely once the fastener was torqued into place
• There was too much 'set up' time involved with the liquid
• It was time consuming to clean up the liquid to meet cosmetic requirements

These were some major concerns.  They affected the final vessels' quality, image and cost.  Budnick looked at the situation based on the needs of the application and came up with a solution based on asking these key questions:

• What is the compression set?
• Does it need to be resistant to salt water, gas & oil?
• Does it need to be UV resistant?
• Can we identify something with more flexibility compared to the silicone sealant (RTV)?
• Can we provide something that stays in place over time, unlike the gunnable materials?
• Can we match the color of the material so that it did not stick out against the color of the boat? (In this case, light gray)

The benefits to the customer were many.  They were now using a more flexible material, with no cure times.  This solution provided a complete seal against the elements, while requiring less cleanup and rework issues as compared to the liquid sealant.  They saw definite labor savings, and the versatility of the die cut gaskets allowed the customer to utilize them across product lines.

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Customer Need

Due to poor foam-in-place air/gas ventilation, the customer experienced over $3,000 per day in quality conformance waste.  Their current supplier was unable to design or produce a venting tape that was permeable enough to draw foam completely throughout their part's cavity.  Poor ventilation resulted in foam voids, causing poor insulation values, condensation, insufficient foam cure and quality rejections. The Budnick team performed a LEADR Focused Process Review.  By working with the customer's production crew, the team was able to identify production needs beyond the immediate product failure.  Budnick application engineers then sourced a more permeable venting material, designed user-friendly part dimensions, applied a custom adhesive pattern to the material and custom fabricated a dispensing system that saved production time.  To incorporate this new concept, we helped to develop dispensers, with input from the operators on the line, to help remove the liner and allow the operators to efficiently apply the parts with the same amount of speed as the roll material. We assisted in training the operators on all three shifts to help transition to the die cuts, and were successful in gaining the confidence of the operators and supervisors. Budnick's AirFlow venting tape allowed more air and gas to escape while securely holding in the foam.  AirFlow reduced foam void non-conformances to less than 5% compared to the previous year's +40% scrap rates, and lowered foam usage significantly. In addition, the customer was able to decrease labor hours and make tape usage measurable and consistent.  The amount of tape used for this application decreased about 50% by going to die cut parts vs. rolls over the previous year.  The customer indicated by switching from the rolls, and reducing their scrap rates, the lessened amount of foam used resulted in an approximate savings of over $400,000 per year.

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Customer Need

The customer required a very aggressive transfer adhesive slit to .05" wide while maintaining a .015" tolerance.

Budnick responded by working with a variety of machine manufacturers to develop the machinery, cutting blades and blade coolants necessary to slit to such a narrow width. Through a series of challenges and trials, Budnick perfected the process and currently is in full scale production on a number of extremely narrow width double coated tapes. Budnick's partnership with vendors, as well as customers, helped to provide the total solution necessary to meet this challenge.  Customers are receiving narrower width rolls than anyone could have imagined when this process began.

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Customer Need

The customer needed to improve overall productivity on their adhesive tape laminating line. Budnick determined that a major drain on productivity was due to frequent roll changes on the line.  With this in mind, Budnick spliced together 10 rolls of their existing 500 yard tape and traverse wound the tape into a continuous 5,000 yd spool. Roll changes on the assembly line were reduced tenfold while reduced roll changes increased line speeds, decreased substrate & tape waste and machine operators were free to work on other projects while the tape was being laminated.

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Customer Need:


The customer needed a 3/4" thick x 1/2" wide foam tape with beveled edges. Profile parts such as this are normally extruded, however the specified blend of foam was unable to be extruded.  The customer needed a solution. Budnick's project and prototyping team successfully adapted our existing machinery to cut at a 45° angle with ultra high pressure water, to quickly produce prototype parts. Then, our project development team purchased automated stand-alone unwind and rewind stands and engineered a conveyor system to begin the automated production of the beveled foam reels. Budnick's company-wide flexibility & team atmosphere resulted in the customer receiving timely prototypes and a smooth transition into full-scale production within one week.

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Customer Need

The customer liked the double coated adhesive system that they were using, but needed to be able to remove long strips of the release liner easily without the liner tearing. Budnick partnered with the manufacturer, Avery Dennison, to have the same adhesive system coated onto a polyester release liner. Budnick slit the jumbo rolls to the customer's desired width and created a dry edge (finger lift tab without adhesive) by scoring away a portion of the adhesive. The increased strength of the polyester liner eliminated quality rejections that were caused from liner tears.

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Customer Need

An extruder that Budnick worked with realized that they were about to lose a very large piece of business because the tape on their profile was exhibiting adhesion problems when the end user attempted to integrate it into their product. The extruder called on Budnick to audit the application to see if we could determine what was happening. During the audit, it became clear that the existing tape worked just fine for adhering to the extrusion – but was not suited for the low surface energy substrate to which the end user was attempting to adhere the substrate. In reviewing the situation, Budnick’s project team knew that the extruder had selected the original tape because they knew that it worked well on their extrusion – but they didn’t have the tape experience or knowledge to determine the right tape for the end user’s application. After reviewing the properties of both the extrusion and the end use application, Budnick was able to partner with manufacturers to find an appropriate grouping of products to test on both the extrusion and the substrate. After a quick round of testing, Budnick’s team was able to recommend a tape that not only worked for both the extruder and the end user, but that also lowered costs for each. Budnick’s quick response and problem solving helped to save the extruder from losing their client’s business. Through the audit process, Budnick also found that it would save the extruder a significant amount of both time and money to traverse wind the tape into large spools in order to increase their overall production line efficiency.

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Customer Need

Our customer used a typical cloth duct tape, as many metal treaters do, to mask off areas during the shot peening process.  However, it was time consuming to apply the multiple layers in one particular curved area and incredibly hard to remove the multiple layers of product after the process was complete.  They wanted to increase their productivity and ease of application during the mask and de-mask of their protective material. Budnick has a partnership and distribution agreement with Intertape Polymer Group (IPG) to provide customers with their innovative blast masking products.  Budnick visited this customer's plant and was able to determine what exactly would work best to achieve the goals they had.  For this particular customer, Budnick created a die-cut shape of IPG's BT100 "Blast Impact" Tape.  The BT100 product could withstand the blast force that it would be subjected to, as BT100 withstands blast times up to 100 psi.  Furthermore, this product requires only one layer of application and removes cleanly, even after the shot-peening or blasting process, in one piece. By using IPG's BT100, the customer only had to apply one layer of a masking product.  Furthermore, Budnick was able to die-cut the product to easily fit in the curved area they previously had difficulty masking.  The die-cut meant uniform coverage and adhesion to the curved area.  When our customer finished the shot-peening process now, BT100 removed cleanly in one piece.  This also saved valuable time and allowed their shot-peen technicians to quickly move on to the next item.

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Customer Need

A customer approached Budnick to help them increase their overall efficiency when manufacturing solar panels.  They were unsure of how tape products could be used in their production process, as they had always used silicones for permanent bonding.  However, they were interested in the possibility of replacing those time consuming products with products that cured quicker. 

We suggested conducting a LEADR Process Review with our team of converting experts to determine areas we may be able to help.

After conducting our LEADR Process Review, we determined a few changes that could help increase efficiency.  Instead of using silicone to permanently mount the frame or the junction box, they could use a double-sided tape.  Doing so drastically reduced the time the company wasted waiting on the silicone to cure.  Furthermore, using such tape in a die-cut form allowed them to apply the adhesive correctly every time.  We also found that spooling tape to get longer lengths meant less time starting and stopping while applying the frame to the panel.  Finally, using tape also eliminated unnecessary silicone equipment.  Due to the review of the customer's actual process and working directly with their team, we were able to see clearly areas that could be improved and determine the best customized solution to greatly increase their efficiency.

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Customer Need

A customer came to Budnick with a problem.  We did not supply their magnetic stripes, but their current provider was not able to give them the quality products they needed.  They wanted advice from some of our adhesive tape experts.  Their pressure sensitive magnetic stripes would stick to the backside of the liner or the layer below and come off prematurely.  This would require our customer to stop their production line to fix the problem and discard plastic card and magnetic stripe inventory they could no longer use. Our adhesive tape converting specialists reviewed the magnetic stripe application carefully with our customer and worked closely with some of the largest manufacturers in the industry.  Their efforts created a much more consistent adhesive system that is ideally matched to the liner.   These developments plus our improved label converting process make Budnick magnetic stripe pressure sensitive adhesive labels the best product on the market today.  Due to our breadth of capabilities, we were also able to offer them spooled labels in a size that worked better with their machinery, for a very similar price.  Due to the fact their labels were now offered in a spool, their machines needed to be halted less often to change the roll. Furthermore, the problems they previously had were no longer occurring, eliminating the machine stoppage and inventory waste caused by the previous issue.

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Customer Need

A company approached us because they were trying to mount fairly heavy products to a printed backer board display in their store for a more streamlined and eye-pleasing look -- rather than having the products just sitting on a shelf.  The problem for them was that each product was not uniform in shape and size, so using rivets or screws for the attachment just wouldn’t work.  Plus, they wanted the display to look good, so the attachment device had to remain out of sight. They originally came to Budnick looking for a permanent tape mounting solution.  But after asking them several questions regarding the application we advised against this due to their need to remove the products when new models needed to be displayed, and the high probability of tearing or breaking of the printed backer board display when the old product was removed.
Budnick introduced 3M’s Dual Lock product.  Dual Lock is stronger than traditional hook-and-loop and it locks to itself, eliminating the need to stock multiple rolls.  It can also be coated with a strong, aggressive adhesive for mounting. Budnick’s solution increased the customer’s productivity by allowing them to securely attach their products and remove them easily when new models were rotated in. Plus, this solution offered an ‘invisible’ attachment solution behind the product that gave the customer the look they were going for. To further increase the customer’s productivity, Budnick converted the Dual Lock material into 3” X 1” pieces to expedite the application process.

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Our customer received a last-minute opportunity to produce a large sign order.  Not only were they on a very short time table, but the polystyrene signs needed to be quick and easy to install at a variety of locations. A double coated adhesive foam tape was a great fit because it could be applied to the sign in the factory and once it reached the job site, it would be easy to remove the liner and stick the sign on.  However, the job sites were outdoors and all over the world, so the tape needed to withstand heat, humidity, wind, u.v. light, rain, snow and cold application.

Because of all the environmental conditions and quick turn-around, the Budnick team recommended tesa 62932, a 30 mil double coated polyethylene foam tape.  They discussed the application with the local tesa representative and received tesa’s recommendation regarding how much tape to put on each sign.

Our customer received custom cut samples and a quote within two days, they field tested the material and sent us an order the next day.   Budnick shipped the custom cut material the same day of the order was received. Budnick and our customer quickly went from concept to production in 3 days.   Budnick was able to maximize material yield and minimize the tape usage for the customer.  To increase efficiencies, the tape was automatically applied in their factory and job site users simply had to remove the tape’s liner and hang the signs up.

Tesa 62932 worked great in this application because the thickness of the foam filled any surface irregularities, it adheres to a wide range of surfaces, the acrylic adhesive withstands outdoor conditions, it has great cold slam properties and it is priced right.

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Tim Croskey, CTO of Power Fountain, LLC, came to Budnick with an idea for a unique invention that had instant consumer appeal for today's privacy concerns. Tim had invented the ZapStrip - a specialty paper that, when wrapped around a thermally printed prescription label, could erase the printed medication data. Unfortunately, he had no way to produce, package, or warehouse the product.
Budnick worked one-on-one with Power Fountain to offer not only product-specific adhesive selections and converting processes, but also partnered to develop the consumer-end presentation -including product imprint design, packaging, and retail display.  Budnick further offered Power Fountain a variety of inventory management options; including shipping and stocking of both raw and finished materials. Instead of working with five separate companies - a raw materials supplier, a converter, graphic designer, packaging house, and warehouse/distributor - the customer now has a one-stop-solution to all manufacturing, design, packaging, warehouse, and distribution needs. Because of the myriad solutions offered by Budnick, Power Fountain was able to concentrate on marketing and selling the ZapStrip instead of investing all their time in the manufacturing specifics.  As Power Fountain builds its customer base, Budnick ships product direct to their customer's distribution centers all around the world - helping Power Fountain continue to grow and reach their goals.

To learn more about ZapStrips, read this post on TapeBlog.

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