Guill aims to save customers time, money

WEST WARWICK, R.I.—Guill Tooling & Engineering believes that the best way it can help customers is not just to provide them with products, but to be problem solvers. With a full-service engineering staff on hand, that role of being a problem solver takes on greater importance, especially with its customers expecting more consultative services.

At the recent Interwire show in Atlanta, the largest and longest-running wire and cable show, the West Warwick-based firm featured its in-line, five-layer extrusion crosshead of its 800 series. The offering is a single-point concentricity extrusion crosshead and Bullet II extrusion head.

The 800 series are used in a wide variety of industries and applications, according to R.J. Masse, a Guill sales manager and sales engineer. "Bullet heads are a wonderful fit for single-layer applications typically in wire and cable for jacketing conductors," he said. "The 800 series has found a home in multi-layer applications such as medical tubing and also for industrial applications where tight tolerance wall thicknesses are required."

The Bullet heads are a cost and time saving solution when compared to other heads on the market, Masse said. They have a fixed-center design that requires no intervention from the operator to make "in spec" product. Secondly, the ease of disassembly of both the Bullet I & II heads saves time and money by being easy to clean and maintain.

Guill also said the 800 series fits into cost and time saving goals of customers. "The bottom line is that both the end user and the plant manager are satisfied," Masse said. "Our heads satisfy the operator because they are simple to use and maintain. The plant manager is happy because the heads reduce the startup time, cleanup time and also the scrap normally generated with older style heads."

Potential 'game changer'

One of the latest advancements developed by Guill has a chance to become a game changer, according to Sales Manager Bill Conley. He said the firm has manufactured and is now selling a 500 series crosshead with mechanically assisted gum space (MAGS) adjustment. The 500 series is designed specifically for the flow characteristics and unique processing challenges of elastomeric compounds.

One of the key features engineered by Guill as part of the new crosshead design is the MAGS adjustment system. This new method of gum space adjustment allows the operator to make an effortless adjustment from a single point using a common socket wrench. Gum space refers to the distance between the face of a dye and front of the tip.

Conley said the goal is saving time and money.

"It's really a mechanical method of moving gum space inside and out," Conley said. "In the past we used a big wrench to move the gum space. The problem is that rubber can act like a doorstep and be very difficult to move. This makes the whole process easier, allowing users to change the pressure inside the head. The fact is it's actually hardware-free."

In other words, customers won't continue to struggle with multiple nuts and bolts in order to adjust gum space, which leads to faster adjustments. The visual indicator on the core tube allows the operator to see how far the gum space has been moved, making those adjustments much more accurate and repeatable, Conley said.

"Among the cost-saving benefits is that this allows customers to continue using their existing tips and design," he said.

These days no product is put into the marketplace by Guill that can't be considered innovative, Conley said. The 500 series rubber/silicone crosshead was created as a cast aluminum liquid-fed cooling sleeve that allows the user to switch out the cooling jacket in the event of a line obstruction. This can significantly reduce downtime compared with traditional integrated cooling systems.

The creation of this product was roughly a six-month process from the creation of the initial prototype to having a marketable product. "Customer ideas often drive innovation," Masse said.

As with many new products and services, he said the idea was generated from conversations with customers regarding what keeps them up at night.

"The industry has developed into a mature one here in North America," he said. "Our customers have standard products that we can help breathe new life into through innovative strategies and designs. If we can help customers save an hour a day on the line, the cost-savings are significant. You could be talking hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more, in savings each year."

Guill expects to find more revenue opportunities in the future related to silicone- and plastic-based products. Masse said there is always a large amount of potential in the medical tubing and industrial markets.

Specifically, companies are hoping to find ways to gain the desired shape needed to support applications. Guill employs more than 80 professionals and mainly services such industries as health care, automotive, energy and electronics.

"We're looking to identify new markets and identify clients who have needs we can help with," Conley said. That anticipated increased demand means Guill expects to be hiring additional mechanical engineers, designers and machinists in the near term. The company has exhibited all over the world from the U.S. to China in an attempt to further market its global capabilities and collective knowledge.