As one of Asia’s leading manufacturers of extrusion, coating, and laminating technology, Sung Am Machinery (SAM) is viewed as a pioneer and always attracts the attention of competitors and users across the global market. As such, its decision to work with Danish manufacturer Vetaphone for surface-treatment solutions across a variety of substrates from PET to BOPP, aluminum foil, and metallized film is seen as significant. The move is in line with the company’s commitment to provide top-class machines to the converting industry and offer the most diverse capability on the market.
As demand for the company’s technology grew, a Test Lab facility for coating and printed electronics was opened at the Mado complex in Korea in 2016. It was here that SAM first took an active interest in Vetaphone technology. Joon Shin, grandson of the founder, explains, “We were first made aware of Vetaphone by a customer, but it was only when we began to investigate the best technology for our Test Lab that we came to understand the depth of knowledge that Vetaphone offers because it is the company that invented the corona-treatment process.”
Highlighting the custom service offered by the Danish supplier, Joon Shin said that one of the key factors in his company’s decision to choose Vetaphone was the advice and support it provides on a global basis. “We are an international provider of sophisticated technology, with over 600 machines installed in more than 30 countries, so it is vital that we work with suppliers that can match this global coverage with a commitment to after sales support.” Since installing its first Vetaphone corona treater, SAM has begun to appreciate the variety of processes that benefit from the consistent quality of its surface treatment and controllability for use on different substrates.
The Solution Coating Lab into which the Vetaphone unit was commissioned is a highly efficient and capable facility. Designed for customer product development trials and solution coating research, it offers solvent and water-based as well as UV and 100% solids coatings opportunities. In a clean room environment. The exclusive cartridge system concept allows quick and easy change between processes, and a special dryer design enables flotation and roll support trials. More than 35 different coating methods are available for fluids and product conditions, and these can be based on viscosity, percentage solids, pH, solvent or solvent less, water-based, hot melt or coating weight criteria. And a SCADA-HMI computer system records and analyses all test data. For the record, the Vetaphone corona treater is a single-sided 16KW model, with a 25 Watt output, and is fitted with a conductive ceramic coated backing roller.
On the day-to-day operational side, SAM Business P&M Director Heiss Kang says, “We have complete trust in Vetaphone’s high-speed performance and reliability, and this is essential as we develop our global business with the leading converting companies. The ease and speed with which we can clean and maintain the unit because of its removable cartridge system is a major benefit in any busy working environment.”
Sung An Machinery was founded in Seoul, Korea in 1960 by M.C. Shin, and is now managed by his sons, D.H. Shin (Chairman) and D.S. Shin (CEO). The company began by manufacturing gravure-printing presses before moving into extrusion coating in the 1980s. In 2000, the company was accredited with ISO 9001 and moved premises to its current site in Mado, near Seoul, and set up its new R&D center. With UL registration obtained, SAM began selling into the US market in 2008, and two years later established SAM North America LLC in Fulton, NY. Today, the company has four locations, two regional offices, agents in 26 countries, and sales representation in 32 more.
Today, SAM employs around 150 people around the world, mostly at its modern 20,000-sq-meter facility in Korea, which manufactures about 15 machines each year, including retrofits. Its production program includes extrusion coating and solution coating and laminating machines, as well as rotogravure presses. It offers process and solution support to the flexible packaging industry, as well as to extrusion and solution coating processes, with performance capabilities up to a line speed of 800 mpm on web widths to 3,500 mm.
SAM has enjoyed major sales success around the world, with key customers in Finland (32 machines), Australia (24 machines), and India (15 machines). Since entering the US market, SAM has sold 17 complete lines and 48 machines to North American companies. The company sets quality and safety at the heart of its business, and is expanding rapidly.
