North American investment trims rotary cutter regrinding service lead time to two weeks

WEST BRANCH, Michigan – Hyperion Materials & Technologies, a leading global materials science company that develops hard and super-hard materials for a wide variety of industries and applications, recently completed a major investment into its facilities in West Branch, Michigan, to expand the capabilities and capacity of its rotary cutter regrinding services to meet the growing service demands in North America.

Driven by a surge in demand for adult care products, the North American disposable hygiene market has been experiencing growth since 2020. With this trend expected to continue, manufacturers of disposable hygiene product have responded with increased investments into rotary cutting solutions to meet the growing demand for adult care.

This increased production creates more than just greater demand for rotary cutting equipment. It results in greater wear on the rotary cutting dies, anvils and the frame itself.

Hyperion understands the performance and longevity of tools are crucial to manufacturers’ productivity and a driver for sustainability. The company offers resharpening and regrinding services and frame maintenance for rotary cutters at its service centers in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Opened in 2010, Hyperion’s service center in West Branch supports rotary cutter customers in North America needing sharpening and regrinding services. The facility lacked the equipment to service larger diameter cutting dies and anvil rolls, like those used for adult care applications.

Rotary cutter customers in North America needing resharpening and regrinding services for larger rotary cutter tooling, like those used for adult care, had to ship equipment to Hyperion’s service center in Epinouze, France, resulting in longer lead times of six to eight weeks. Other alternatives Hyperion tested were also not producing satisfactory results in terms of quality or turnaround time. An acceptable solution to locally service these customers’ needs did not exist.

In response, Hyperion invested heavily to develop expertise in West Branch and increase the capabilities and capacity of the service center to ensure customers have access to regrinding and resharpening solutions that adhere to its stringent standards for consistent quality and satisfactory lead times.

A large share of the investment in West Branch was for the purchase of new equipment. Hyperion acquired a new outside diameter (OD) grinder for servicing larger cutting dies and anvils, like those used in adult care products. Manual filing stands for heavy cutters for high-accuracy edge finishing, like the ones used in Epinouze, were also added.

Investments were also made to enhance the facility’s existing equipment. Improvements made to Hyperion’s sharpening equipment extended the capabilities to service larger tools up to 1600 millimeters in length and 380 millimeters in diameter with its weight capacity increasing to 400 kilograms. Also included in the upgrades was high-magnification imaging and inspection equipment for the test benches to ensure the highest accuracy and tooling performance.

With the new equipment and improvements fully installed at West Branch, Hyperion is now capable of supporting North American rotary cutter customers with larger cutting equipment maintenance while achieving the same sharpening precision and consistency of its other service centers around the globe. Equally important is the increased capacity from the investments that have allowed Hyperion to reduce lead times for maintenance service to two weeks.

“Investing in West Branch allows Hyperion Materials & Technologies to provide consistent maintenance service to our North American customers that adheres to our stringent quality standards ,” explained Stephanie Baty, rotary cutters segment manager at Hyperion. “Customers are now able to receive high-quality service for a wider range of equipment with improved lead times of two weeks.”

To learn more about Hyperion's rotary cutter services, including resharpening, regrinding and frame maintenance, visit the rotary cutters maintenance page.