After the cancellation of IWF, Todd Phalen of Black Bros. said that they are continuing to contact customers through phone calls and emails. They are anticipating being able to make some in-person visits in the near future, and have used some online virtual sessions for troubleshooting machinery and training on new equipment.

“We are planning to set up our Panel Express laminating line that we would have been demonstrating live at the IWF Show and take a video feeding boards, applying high solids PVA adhesive to both sides, laying up backer and high pressure laminate, then applying pressure and heat in our Panel Express to quickly bond the panels together,” Phalen said. “This will show many of the new features and our ability to see a bond between the particleboard or MDF to the HPL after two minutes.” 

Black Bros. also previously launched a 3D tour of equipment in their demonstration lab located at company headquarters in Mendota, Illinois: https://blackbros.com/new-3d-lab-tour/

Black Bros. planned to show at IWF a new over stack feeder that considerably reduces the footprint of the machine on a shop floor. This allows customers to have the same heavy-duty board feeder for their laminating line, but allow them more efficient use of their floor space for other projects.

“We have also continued to make modifications to our Laminate Indexing Station that improves the efficiency and accuracy for our customers and their operators,” Phalen said. “Being able to lay down the glued board more accurately and consistently improves throughput and reduces scrap.”  

Phalen said that they can help customers via phone, email, virtually or by scheduling a visit from one of their sales representatives, who have an average of 27 years’ experience.

“We have an engineering team that can custom design equipment to meet the ever-changing needs of our customers,” he said. “All our equipment, rolls and many parts are manufactured at our facility in Mendota, so we can have new or custom designed equipment to meet our customers’ needs, built quickly. We also have a team of field service technicians to provide assistance in starting up new equipment and repairing existing equipment.”