Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing: An Introductory Discussion

Presented By: Joseph Therriault

Thursday, 30^th March, 2006, 8:00 am to 9:00 am

On March 30^th, 2006, Joseph Therriault a masters student at Binghamton University in the Industrial Engineering department spoke about initial research findings in the Roll-to-Roll manufacturing.  As enterprises continually search for cost savings ideas and economies of scale have lead to the development of Roll-to-Roll (R2R) for flat panel displays in the manufacturing industry. In combination with the market’s desire to have displays flexible enough for applications such as clothing and watches.  The United States Display Consortium (USDC) recently endowed the Integrated Electronics Engineering Center (IEEC) at Binghamton University (BU) with 10 million dollars in equipment in an attempt to develop a fully integrated manufacturing line. However, current glass substrate technology for flat panel displays does not have the prosperities necessary for proper flexibility. Moreover, transitioning R2R manufacturing in solar cells, a well established practice, to manufacturing flexible transparent substrates presents additional challenges that must be overcome.

Joseph covered the motivation for the industry to go to convert to R2R manufacturing in the presentation and open discussion forum. The materials currently in use in both solar cell and flat panel manufacturing were highlighted in detail. New materials for flexible displays and the process accommodations that have to be made were also outlined. Finally, the discussion concluded with specific areas that need to be researched in R2R manufacturing from an Industrial Engineering perspective.