Blown and Cast Film Extrusion Course

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Attendees will benefit by receiving a better understanding of film extrusion technology and the ability to use this information to improve existing film extrusion processes.

In this introductory-to-intermediate level course, participants will learn about common resins used, and equipment from the extruder through to the winder utilized in both Blown and Cast Film applications processes. In addition there will be discussions on troubleshooting problems such as occurrence of gels, and winding defects. Experts in the field will discuss commonly faced problems in the cast film and blown film industry. Please bring your questions to the class, as it is conducted in an interactive format with the attendees.

Who Should Attend?

• Extrusion Engineers, Extrusion Supervisors, and Packaging Engineers
• Extrusion Line Operators
• R & D Personnel
• Technical Service Personnel
• Technical Directors, Superintendents, and Technical Assistants
• Blown Film Converters
• Cast Film Converters
• Equipment and Resin Suppliers
• Auxiliary Equipment Suppliers
• Process Engineers
• Quality Control Personnel
• Plant Managers
• Set-up Technicians
• Purchasing Managers

For maximum benefit, participants should have a very basic knowledge of film extrusion coating technology and the ability to use this information to improve existing film extrusion processes.

This course is designed to help participants learn to:

• Understand properties and processing issues of various film resin
• Identify capabilities, specifications, and limitations of various film extrusion & winding equipment components
• Evaluate equipment and resin requirements for differing co-extrusion application
• Methodically approach processing problems and gel issues during extrusion
• Comprehend terminology, general theory, and troubleshooting techniques used in designing extrusion screws
• Address safety concerns in extrusion processes

Carmelo Declet-Perez - Dow Chemical

Course Chair

Carmelo Declet-Perez is a Technical Service &    Development Scientist for Dow in the Food and Specialty Packaging in North America.

Carmelo earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota.  

Carmelo joined Dow in 2014 as part of the Packaging and Specialty Plastics Materials Science R&D group. In this role, Carmelo worked on a variety of polyethylene technologies to correlate materials performance to their structure in the context of various applications.  He has also developed new capabilities and testing methods to validate the value proposition of Dow materials. 

In his current TS&D role Carmelo is responsible for managing Dow’s relationship with several major customers by delivering innovative solutions and technical expertise. Carmelo is also leading a research platform to gain fundamental understanding of multilayer structures and their role in incorporation of recycled material for more sustainable packaging. He also supports development work to establish end-of-life solutions to reduce plastic waste and enable a plastics circular economy.   

David Anzini - Macro Engineering & Technology Inc. as the Technical Sales Manager

Dave works for Macro Engineering & Technology Inc. as the Technical Sales Manager for the Northeast and Southeast regions of the US, with an office in Fort Mill, South Carolina. 

Macro Engineering is a global supplier of systems, components and services for value-added films and sheet for food packaging, medical, industrial and consumer products markets.

Prior to this, Dave has held various positions at Celgard, Zip-Pak, Pactiv, Conwed Plastics, and Mobil Chemical.  He holds an MS and a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Connecticut and has spent 40-plus years in the plastics and packaging industries.  Dave holds multiple patents and has several patent applications pending.  He is a member of the Association of Roll to Roll Converters, the Plastics Pioneers Association, and is as an Honored Service Member of the Society of Plastics Engineers, where he serves on the Extrusion Division Board of Directors.

Andy Christie - Optex Process Solutions

Andy Christie is currently Managing Director of Optex Process Solutions. This company is the sales, service, and support group of SAM (Sung An Machinery), a South Korean converting machinery manufacturer of printing, coating, laminating, and extrusion coating machinery. Optex, is a sales and service organization for North and South America, and operates a state of the art high speed co-extrusion coating and laminating line with up to 14 layer co-extrusion for converter customers product development needs.

Prior to starting Optex, Andy spent 15 years with Black Clawson Converting Machinery in engineering design, applications, and management. After graduating with his BSME degree from Rochester Institute of Technology he held various machine design engineering positions at several companies.

Andy has been active in SPE & TAPPI where he has authored, co-authored, and presented at many conferences and symposiums. He is a past Chair of the TAPPI Film Extrusion Committee, and has been a co-instructor at several TAPPI short courses. He is the inventor of three US Patents relating to screw design and a co-extrusion feed-block, and has an additional patent application pending for an improved extruder screw mixing device. Andy lives in the heart of New York State with his wife Mary. They enjoy outdoor activities with their two sons families including their three grandchildren.

Andy Svenningsen -  Nordson Extrusion Dies Industries, LLC

Andy Svenningsen is an application engineer with Nordson Extrusion Dies Industries, LLC, part of the Nordson Polymer Processing Systems line of business. In this role, he serves global EDI® extrusion and fluid coating die system customers by providing the commercial and technical support that enables improved efficiency and performance in their production.

Andy holds dual bachelor’s degrees, in Manufacturing Engineering and Plastics Engineering, from the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

Scott Weber - Lyondell Basell

Scott Weber is an Application Development and Technical Support Engineer at LyondellBasell.

Scott holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering Technology which he earned at Miami University of Oxford, Ohio. As an industry veteran, Scott has over 35 years of experience in extrusion coating and lamination, blown and cast film most of which focused on flexible packaging applications. Scott currently has two patents and has been involved in the development of other products that have also been patented during his career.

Continuing to help others develop and grow in the industry is very important to Scott. This has led him to become involved with TAPPI. Scott is currently Division Chair within the IFPED Division Leadership Team. Scott has chaired the TAPPI Extrusion Coating Short course and has presented at the Blown Film Extrusion Course and TAPPI Place / IFPED conferences. Scott was also award in 2018 the Division Leadership and Service Award and the Andreas Ahlbrandt Prize.

Scott resides in Mason, Ohio with his wife Lori. Together they enjoy spending time at Lake Cumberland, Kentucky with their family and friends. Scott is the proud father of two daughters and grandpa of 5 grandsons.

Lou Piffer - Davis-Standard

Lou Piffer is currently a Senior Sales Engineer for Davis-Standard LLC, Converting Systems.  He has been with D-S for the past 33 years, mainly in the Field Technical Sales function.  He is currently responsible for sales of cast film, extrusion coating, and liquid coating equipment in the central & southern USA, the Latin American region, and also several Strategic Worldwide accounts. He received a BS in Chemical Engineering from Drexel University in 1985, and has been a proud Dragon ever since.  Lou has been a recipient of the Davis-Standard 'President’s Award', which is given to the top employee in the organization. Lou and his wife Linda currently reside in their beloved 'TreeHouse' in southern Delaware. Lou began teaching in the Tappi Extrusion Coating Short course in 1993, and also began teaching in the Film Extrusion Short course in 2017.  He has consistently received top scores for faculty via course attendee evaluations for both the Extrusion Coating and Film courses. Lou has been very active in Tappi since the late 1980's.  He has written multiple papers, chaired conference sessions, and has contributed chapters to each of the last two Extrusion Coating Manual revisions.  Lou has held all the officer positions in the IFPE Division Council, and is currently a practicing Chair Emeritus.  In 2001, Lou was the recipient of the Division Leadership Award & Andreas Ahlbrandt Prize.

Richard Kanarski - Davis-Standard

Rich Kanarski is a chemical engineer who began his professional career in polymer extrusion process development. He held a process engineering role at Coperion, responsible for conducting twin screw extrusion technology scale-up, various process developments, and developing research programs serving the polyolefin, bio-plastics, food, ceramics, and pharmaceutical industries. Rich than has expanded his process expertise by joining Davis Standard where he focuses on the process development of larger scale polymer converting lines, including the single screw extrusion technology and many of the various upstream and downstream technologies composed in cast film and extrusion coating products. His responsibilities extended on projects across the world and correspondences with people of various cultures, gaining business experiences with a vast network of other polymer professionals and industrialists. Rich has been a member of the SPE Extrusion Division since the beginning of his career in the plastics industry and now serves on the Board of Directors Extrusion Division.

Mark Wodrich - Macro Engineering

Mark Wodrich, currently is an Account Executive with Macro Engineering, in charge of sales for the USA.  He is based centrally in the Chicago, Illinois area.   

Prior to joining Macro in 2012, he held a similar position for many years with Brampton Engineering also serving the USA market. Mark has been in the Film Extrusion industry for over 30 years, predominantly working in the sales function as an account executive for equipment manufacturing companies, including Davis-Standard, and for machinery representative K-Incorporated.   He is very knowledgeable about complete extrusion lines, and also on the topic of winders and web handling equipment for retrofits.  Mark has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Technology and has presented at various conferences on the topics of Film Extrusion and Web Handling.

At present Mark and his wife Stacey are keeping themselves young by being in their second phase of child rearing.  They now have two adorable adopted children, after being empty nesters when their elder children finally moved out on their own.  Mark believes round two is easier since he got all the learning done on his older children, and... because children do not come with instruction manuals like Film Extrusion equipment!

Robert Kleinschmidt - ITW Pillar Technologies

Robert Kleinschmidt, holds a degree in Tool and Die Design along with a minor in Machine Design from AIT School of Engineering. His career began in 1992 at Pillar Technologies, a company renowned for its corona and plasma surface treatment and induction equipment. 

At Pillar, Robert designed the market's first Universal style treater, allowing end users increasing flexibility in their operations.

In 1995, Robert ventured into the specialty machine field, focusing on hydraulic equipment design for notable firms like John Deer and Tenneco. His expertise was soon recognized, leading to his recruitment back to Pillar Technologies in 1997. The following year, Robert revolutionized the Narrow Web corona treater, earning a patent for its multifaceted design, which included novel features like hands-free high voltage and single-point gap adjustment.

Since his return to ITW Pillar Technologies, Robert has been a key innovator in Corona and Plasma Treater technology. He has amassed an impressive portfolio of patents and accolades, thanks to his groundbreaking work in the field. His role extends beyond design; he is integral in the initial stages of client engagement for specialized equipment.

Elevated to the position of engineering manager in 2015, Robert steers the Pillar engineering team with his commitment to excellence and customer service, with expansive 30-years of experience to draw upon. Robert is set to share his extensive knowledge and insights during his presentation, focusing on the mechanics and applications of corona and surface treatment.

Jake Eisenacher – ITW Pillar Technologies

Jake Eisenacher is a Product Manager at ITW Pillar Technologies, where he leads product strategy and development focused on solving real-world manufacturing challenges. He collaborates closely with customers and cross-functional teams to identify process inefficiencies, enhance operator usability, and deliver solutions that produce measurable performance gains.

With a foundation in manufacturing engineering from Ohio University, Jake brings a strong technical perspective to Pillar’s product portfolio. His hands-on, customer-centric approach enables him to convert shop-floor insights into practical, market-driven innovations that reinforce Pillar Technologies’ commitment to reliability, safety, and productivity.

Olivier Catherine - ExxonMobil

Olivier Catherine is a Polyethylene Customer Application and Development Engineer with ExxonMobil, based in Baytown Texas, since April 2023. In his current role, Olivier is responsible for the technical relationship of various customers with flexible packaging applications.

Prior to this, Olivier was the Technical Director at Cloeren Incorporated (Orange, TX) a leading supplier of coextrusion solutions for cast film, extrusion coating and sheet. For over thirteen years, Olivier’s main focus was to develop flow channel designs, performing intricate flow models, and characterize complex flow behaviors through rheology. He was also supporting customers globally with their technical projects, and assisting Cloeren’s Global Sales Team in order to grow market shares through technical expertise.

From 2004 to 2010, Olivier worked as a Senior Research Engineer at Saint-Gobain Research America, located in Northborough, MA, where he developed modeling tools for injection molding and extrusion, and participated in various polymer and ceramic processing projects.

Throughout his career, Olivier has been an enthusiastic speaker at conferences, seminars and webinars, including TAPPI, SPE and AMI conferences. He is currently the Vice Chair of the IFPED Technical Team for the 2024 FlexPack PLACE Conference, and is a member of the Board of Directors for SPE Extrusion Division.

Olivier graduated from ParisTech Mines (France) in 2001, and holds a MS degree in Materials Science.

John Chalmers - Cloeren Incorporated

John Chalmers began his career with Cloeren Incorporated in 1986 after graduating from Lamar University. He started in engineering roles, serving as both Designer and Project Manager, before moving into technical sales in the mid-1990s.

Over the years, John has held a variety of sales and marketing positions, ultimately becoming Global Sales Director and now serving as Vice President of Sales.

With more than 35 years of experience, John has worked with clients and partners around the world and has played a key role in shaping Cloeren’s global reputation for innovation in coextrusion flat film, sheet, and extrusion coating tooling technology.

His deep technical knowledge and international experience continue to support Cloeren’s mission of delivering world-class extrusion solutions to the global plastics industry.

Ranadip Ganguly - ExxonMobi

Ranadip has 10+ years of professional experience in polyolefin product and application development. He has published more than 15 patents and publications in peer reviewed journals. Ranadip has a Ph.D. in Polymer Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and executive management education from the Wharton School.

Mike Rutkowske - The Dow Chemical Company

Mike Rutkowske is an Associate TS&D Scientist with 20 years of experience in polymer research and technical development at The Dow Chemical Company.  The primary focus of his career has been centered around improvements in operational discipline and fundamental process analyzation for both small- and large-scale packaging/extrusion equipment.  His practical application expertise includes blown film, twin-screw extrusion, extrusion coating/lamination, and various types of packaging conversion machinery.  As a coordinator for the Pack Studios campus in Freeport, Texas, Mike was responsible for training new operators and engineers, method development, improving workflow, machine safety, and mechanical troubleshooting/design. In his current role, Mike is the North American application development lead for machine direction oriented (MDO) films and supports efforts to implement targeted machinability requirements for future sustainable packaging designs.

Mike is an author of one patent and has extensive experience with optimizing polymer fabrication processes and equipment for efficiency, reliability, and quality.  Mike holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering Technology from The University of Houston.

Josh Heidebrecht - NOVA Chemical

Josh Heidebrecht is a Research Scientist for NOVA Chemicals’ Product Safety and Additives Technology team located in Calgary, Alberta. He has been with NOVA Chemicals’ for over 6 years and currently focuses on evaluating emerging additive technologies for polyethylene application, particularly those tailored toward PFAS replacement or improving recyclability. Josh also provides technical support to customers on additive-related issues and collaborates with manufacturing to implement new technologies.

Paul Carter - Advanced Blending Solutions

Paul Carter is the Regional Sales Manager for Canada at Advanced Blending Solutions, an industry-leading supplier of blending and convey equipment to the extrusion and compounding industries. Blown film machinery veteran Carter has over 35 years of experience in the extrusion industry, with a strong focus on engineering, manufacturing, and project management. He previously held various technical roles at extrusion machinery manufacturers in the greater Toronto area. Paul is a Certified Engineering Technician (Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians & Technologists) and a Certified Sales Professional (Canadian Professional Sales Association).

Martin Antensteiner - ExxonMobil Technology & Engineering Company

Martin Antensteiner is a Product Development Staff Engineer at ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company, developing novel resins in the ExxonMobil Signature Polymers ExceedTM Polypropylene, VistmaxxTM, and ExactTM (PVE) product families. He joined the company in 2018 as a Polyethylene Product Development Sr. Engineer, commercializing two novel polyethylene grades and publishing three Patents. In 2022, he supported global flexible packaging customers as Polyethyelene Customer and Application Development Staff Engineer, overcoming conversion challenges as they appear, and developing customized solutions for applications ranging from secondary packaging through primary barrier packaging, including those with a focus on sustainability. He began his current role, initial focusing on product quality, the development of novel film sealant resins, and rapidly expanding from there.

Martin completed his B.S. and M.S. at Penn State University in Materials Science and Engineering, and his Ph.D. at the University of Houston in Biomedical Engineering. In his free time, he enjoys tinkering with everything from electronics to cars with varying degrees of success.

Steve Post - Windmoeller & Hoelscher Corporation

Steve has a lengthy career in polymer processing with compounding and film production. Beginning as a process engineer for Honeywell’s polyamide and fluoropolymer film business, he transitioned into the extrusion machinery market, holding several positions at Davis-Standard over a twenty-five year period including Asia Business Development Manager and Vice President of Cast Film Machinery. From there, he managed the Material Characterization division of Thermo Fisher expanding the twin screw extrusion and rheology businesses. Most recently, Steve was Product Manager for Leistritz Extrusion’s Life Science and Direct Extrusion business in North America.

During his career, he authored more than thirty papers for TAPPI, SPE, AMI and other organizations and holds a Bachelor’s in Science degree from the Pennsylvania State University in Chemical Engineering.

Connor Daugherty - AIS Gauging Systems

Conner Daugherty is a sales and technical leader with AIS Gauging Systems, supporting extrusion and converting manufacturers with measurement and inspection solutions. He works closely with customers to apply gauging technologies that improve process stability, product consistency, and operational visibility.

Conner’s experience includes web handling applications, production data visualization tools, and supporting process improvement initiatives across a variety of converting environments. His role focuses on bridging technical capability with real-world manufacturing needs through practical implementation and ongoing customer support.

Shane VanHorn - Davis-Standard

Shane VanHorn is a Principal Product Line Architect at Davis-Standard, LLC, with an extensive mechanical engineering background specializing in unwinding, web handling, winding, and roll-to-roll converting systems. He brings a strong focus on mechanical machine design and solving real production challenges for converters. His work centers on improving line performance through practical engineering solutions that increase reliability, reduce defects, and support consistent, high-quality output.

Shane has held engineering and customer-facing roles at Black Clawson Converting Machinery and Davis-Standard, LLC, where he has worked directly with customers throughout the world on the design, integration, and optimization of converting equipment. His experience includes machine architecture development, diagnosing web handling, unwinding, and winding issues, supporting machine design and upgrades, and optimizing system performance across liquid coating, extrusion coating, cast and blown film lines, and specialty web processes. He routinely supports operations, engineering, and maintenance teams in resolving challenges such as tension instability, unwind and splicing issues, web handling and winding difficulties and defects, roll structure problems, and process limitations.

He is the inventor of one awarded patent in winding technology and has a second patent pending that has been approved for final examination, reflecting his ability to convert customer challenges into engineered innovations.

Shane is a member of the Association for Roll-to-Roll Converters (ARC) and serves on the Web Handling Committee. He is also a co-author of the ARC Web Handling Testing Best Practices book and has assisted in multiple web handling webinars, contributing practical guidance on testing, diagnostics, and system validation used across the converting industry.

Wes Hobson - Dow Chemical

Wes Hobson is a TS&D Scientist in Dow Chemical’s Performance Plastics Technical Service and Development group. Wes has over 30 years’ experience in the plastics industry focusing on cast, blown and sheet extrusion. Wes has served as Fabrication Technology Leader where some of his responsibilities included vetting of new fabrication equipment and technologies to bring into Dow’s Pack Studios laboratories, as well as training new Dow employees and customers on fabrication techniques, troubleshoot fabrication issues, or optimizing process conditions to improve product performance. Currently Wes’ role is North American Application Development Leader in the Industrial and Consumer Packaging Group focusing on stretch film, and Global Stretch Film SME.

Wes has B.A. in Operations Management and a M. S. in Packaging Science from Michigan State University and is a member of ISTA, TAPI, and the Society of Plastics Engineers.

Karen Xiao - Macro Engineering

Karen Xiao has been in the plastics industry for 25 years. Karen is currently the Vice President of Technology for Macro Engineering and has overall responsibilities for Engineering, R&D, sales and marketing teams. Karen also sits on the Board of Directors of Kwik Lok Corporation based in Yakima, Washington. Previously Karen was with Celgard LLC in Charlotte, NC (an Asahi Kasei group company) in the battery separator film development area. She also spent more than 10 years with Brampton Engineering (now a part of Davis Standard) in extrusion equipment design especially in the field of multilayer blown film.

Karen has been on the Board of Directors of the Extrusion Division at the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) since 2009. She was elected Fellow of the Society in 2016, and was the Extrusion Division Chair in 2015. Karen was also named one of the Women Breaking the Mold by Plastics News in 2025.

Karen has more than 50 publications and 2 book chapters in the field of extrusion and die design, and has 32 granted and pending patents in the field of battery separator film. She holds a B.A.Sc. from the University of Toronto, and M.A.Sc. and a Ph.D. from the University of Waterloo all in Chemical Engineering

Arnaldo Lorenzo - Dow Chemical

Dr. Arnaldo Lorenzo joined Polyolefins R&D of the Dow Chemical Company in January 2012 in the materials science group and transferred to the Technical Service and Development (TS&D) group of the Dow Chemical Company in July 2018. He has worked in various research and applications development areas including polyolefins characterization, structure-processing-properties relationships in polyolefins, and product development in variety of applications. He is currently the North America Product Technology Leader for High-Pressure Copolymers.

Arnaldo received his PhD in Polymer Science and Engineering from Simón Bolivar University (Caracas, Venezuela). He has 40+ external peer reviewed papers, 3 book chapters, and 10+ patent applications. He is also a certified Six Sigma Green Belt Project leader. In 2023, he received the DOW’s Alan Vanderhider award for Innovation and Excellence.

Tuesday, March 24th

8:00 - 8:15 AM: General Welcome, Course Overview, and TAPPI Antitrust Policy
Carmelo Declet-Perez - Dow Chemical

8:15 - 9:00 AM: Intro to Product Structures and Terminology
Carmelo Declet-Perez - Dow Chemical

9:00 – 10:15 AM: Polyethylene for Blown & Cast Film
Mike Rutkowske - Dow Chemical

10:15 – 10:30 AM:  Short Break

10:30 – 11:15 AM: Polypropylene for Blown & Cast Film Extrusion
Olivier Catherine & Martin Antensteiner - ExxonMobil Chemical

11:15 AM – 12:00 PM: Additives for Films
Josh Heidebrecht - Nova Chemical

12:00 – 1:00 PM:  Lunch Break

1:00 – 2:00 PM: Specialty Resins for Blown & Cast Film Extrusion
Carmelo Declet-Perez --- Dow Chemical

2:00 – 2:45 PM: Understanding Rheology for Processing, & Hot-Stage Microscopy for Troubleshooting
Olivier Catherine - ExxonMobil Chemical

2:45 – 3:00 PM:  Short Break

3:00 – 3:45 PM: Resin Conveying & Blending Technologies for Blown & Cast Film Extrusion
Paul Carter - ABS (Advanced Blending Solutions LLC)

3:45 – 4:30 PM: Extruder Designs & Configurations for Blown vs Cast Film Extrusion
Rich Kanarski - Davis Standard

4:30 – 5:15 PM: Extrusion Processing
Scott Weber - LyondellBasell

5:00 - 6:30 PM: Networking Happy Hour

Wednesday, March 25th

8:00 – 8:15 AM: Welcome, Housekeeping, Reminders, etc.

8:15 – 9:00 AM: Screw Designs for Blown vs Cast Film Extrusion
Andy Christie - Optex Process Solutions

9:00 – 9:45 AM: Cast Film Feedblock Technologies: Fixed Plane, Movable Vanes, Layer Multipliers, and Nanolayer
Andy Svenningsen - Nordson Corp.

9:45 – 10:00 AM:  Short Break

10:00 – 10:45 AM: Cast Film Die Technologies: Manifold styles, External Deckles, Internal Deckles
John Chalmers - Cloeren Incorporated

10:45 AM – 12:00 PM: Blown Film Die Technologies Nested Spirals, Stacked Plates, Stacked Cones, Nano-Layer, IBC vs non-IBC designs
Karen Xiao - Macro Engineering

12:00 – 1:15 PM:  Lunch Break

1:15 – 2:00 PM: Air Rings for Blown Film: Single/Dual/Triple lip; Fixed/Elevating/Stacked; Auto-adjusting air rings (for gauge control)
David Anzini - Macro Engineering

2:00 – 2:45 PM: Film Casting Section configurations: Vacuum boxes, air knifes, soft boxes, embossing, etc.
Lou Piffer - Davis Standard

2:45 – 3:00 PM:  Short Break

3:00 – 3:45 PML Processing Parameters
Mike Rutkowske - Dow Chemical

3:45 – 4:30 PM Extruder System Resin Transitions & Purging
Carmelo Declet-Perez - Dow Chemical

4:30 PM – Midnight:  Evening on your own

Thursday, March 26th

8:00 – 8:15 AM: Welcome, Housekeeping, Reminders, etc.

8:15 – 9:00 AM: Blown Film Haul-Off systems
David Anzini - Macro Engineering

9:00 – 9:45 AM: Corona & Plasma Treating Systems for Blown & Cast Film Extrusion
Jake Eisenacher  & Robert Kleinschmidt - ITW Pillar

9:45 - 10:00 AM:  Short Break

10:00 – 10:45 AM: Online Gauging Measurement for Blown & Cast Film Extrusion
Connor Daugherty - AIS Gauging

10:45 – 11:30 AM: Tools for Process Improvement
Andy Christie - Optex Process Solutions

11:30 AM – 1:00 PM:   Lunch Break
* Allows extra time for those checking out.

1:00 – 2:00 PM: Winders for Blown & Cast Film: Surface, Center, Center-Surface, Gap Mode winding, Shafted vs Shaftless, etc...
Mark Wodrich - Macro Engineering

2:00 – 2:45 PM: Extrusion Processing: Troubleshooting Gels and Various Other Issues
Lou Piffer - Davis Standard

2:45 – 3:00 PM:   Short Break

3:00 – 4:30 PM: Web Handling/Winding in Blown & Cast Film: Challenges and Case Study Examples
Shane Van Horn - Davis Standard

4:30 – 4:45 PM: Turn in Evaluations / Hand out Certificates

4:45 PM: End of Class

Cancellation Policy:

If you find that you have to cancel, your full registration fee will be refunded if TAPPI’s Registration Department receives written notification (fax acceptable at  +1.770.209.7206 by (Feb 23, 2026). 

Please note: There will be a 50% refund for all written cancellations made after (Feb 23, 2026) but no later than 5 business days prior to the start of the course (March 12 2026). 

Understandably, after March 12 2026, no refunds can be issued.

Substitutions, however, will be accepted any time without a penalty.

Refund:

• 100% - Cancellation received by (Feb 23, 2026)

• 50% -  Cancellations received after (Feb 23, 2026) and no later than (March 12, 2026). 

• NO REFUND- Cancellations received after (March 12, 2026).

TAPPI Press is known as an industry leader for publishing reliable and practical publications and training products created and peer reviewed by industry experts for professionals and students alike. 

Course attendees can take advantage of a 15% discount on TAPPI Press Publications when ordering with registration.  This is a great time to refresh or master new skills and restock your corporate or personal library.

Purchase with registration and receive a 15% discount. Pick-up onsite at the event and SAVE ON SHIPPING!  

These titles have been selected just for this event: 

Ultimate Roll and Web Defect Troubleshooting Guide
Member:  $135               
Non-member:  $176   

Extrusion Coating Manual, fifth Edition
Member:  $174            
Non-member:  $227                    

Film Extrusion Manual, Third Edition
Member:  $174           
Non-member:  $227

Mechanics of Rollers  
Member:  $74                 
Non-member:  $111            

Winding Machines Mechanics and Measurements
Member:  $173                
Non-member:  $227

Web Handling Handbook                                                                     
Member:  $258               
Non-member:  $258