St. Louis, MO (September 11, 2002) - Watlow Electric Manufacturing Company will be exhibiting its latest thermal solutions for the injection molding and extrusion industries through their authorized distributor, Electron Tech, at Interplas 2002. Interplas 2002 will be held in Birmingham, UK, 30th September - 4^th October, 2002.

In Electron Tech's stand (#5558), Watlow will feature several new thermal solutions including their SD Series controllers, thick film nozzle and manifold heaters and the PPC-2000 controller. These products are very well suited for extrusion and injection molding applications.

NEW SD Series Controller Offers Accurate, Reliable & Cost Effective Temperature Control at an Economical Price
Watlow is introducing the SD Series of PID temperature controllers that provide customers with a low cost, high performance product ideally suited for a wide range of applications in temperature and process control. The SD Series offers enhanced accuracy, an improved user interface display, faster update rates and expanded I/O capability.

The SD Series of controllers offers advanced features such as an infrared wireless input to provide easy to use controller setup and monitoring, Watlow InfoSense^TM smart sensor technology and an enhanced control algorithm for tighter process control. EIA 485 Modbus^TM serial communications are utilized, enabling Ethernet/Internet connectivity that allows an instantaneous exchange of information between processing equipment and a customers management system.

Watlow's new Series SD channel controllers are available in 1/32^nd, 1/16^th, 1/8^th and 1/4 DIN panel mount sizes. They include universal sensor input and up to three outputs for maximum application versatility. The outputs can be programmed for temperature control or to operate as process or deviation alarms.

Watlow's Windows^® based HMI (Human/Machine Interface) software, Watview, can be used to setup, monitor and edit the values of controller parameters, to monitor and manage alarms and to log and graph process data. The dual display available on all models allow for better recognition of process changes.

New Thick Film Heating Technology for Hot Runner Systems Enhances Final Part Quality For Injection Molders
Watlow has introduced a new line of hot runner nozzle and manifold heaters that:

• give operators more control over temperature uniformity
• help shorten overall cycle time
• eliminate the disadvantages and unreliability of traditional cable and tubular heaters.

Watlow thick film technology lets hot runner manufacturers uniformly apply precisely calibrated heat with pinpoint accuracy, at temperatures up to 500oC (925o F). By doing away with hot and cold spots along the hot runner manifold and nozzles, these new Watlow heaters help injection molders ensure consistency from shot to shot and greatly improve final part quality.

Molders can realize several advantages from using these heaters including:

• closer center-to-center distance between nozzles
• better temperature profile along the length of the nozzle due to more uniform contact
• more uniform heat distribution and design flexibility for the hot runner manifold, as the heater clamps directly on to the manifold, regardless of shape.

This allows for smaller mass hot runner manifolds which heat up more quickly, reducing the overall start-up time of the injection molding machine.

PPC-2000 for Advanced Extrusion Process Control
The versatile PPC-2000 is a new class of high performance controller that utilizes multi-loop PID control integrated with programmable logic in a modular, flexible package. The PPC-2000 is a uniquely powerful and cost-effective approach for processors dealing with many temperature and process control applications where existing controllers are awkward, time-consuming or do not adequately solve the problem. It offers a very user-friendly alternative to the use of individual controllers and PLC units from different vendors.

The PPC-2000 offers extrusion processors complete production run documentation. Features such as data communication, process monitoringand recipe storage, along with other extruder-specific capabilities, are built into the PPC-2000 software. Some of these extrusion-specific features and benefits include auto tune software for fast start-up, rapid response to set point changes, monitoring and optimizing material usage, reducing power costs, extending motor life, cooling control of water, air and oil, screw speed control for consistent operation, and pressure monitoring capabilities.

About Watlow
Since the company's founding in 1922, Watlow has brought its thermal expertise to numerous applications, including semiconductor, plastics processing, foodservice equipment, life sciences, aerospace and others. Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, Watlow is the largest custom designer and manufacturer of industrial heaters, sensors, controllers and software with offices and manufacturing facilities around the world.