October 5, 2026 The Thermal Process Challenge: 100+ Tin Food Can Sheets

Instead of trying to build every component from scratch, International Thermal Systems (ITS) partnered directly with an industry leader.

In high-speed manufacturing, unexpected downtime directly cuts into profits. When a line running thousands of parts per minute suddenly shuts down, the cost of lost production far outweighs the price of replacement parts.

A leading metal packaging manufacturer faced this exact problem: chronic component wear on a high-speed container line was causing frequent, expensive shut-downs.

The Challenge: Continuous Belt Failures

The client’s oven line runs steel food cans at a blistering pace of 4,000 cans per minute. However, the oven’s support bed relied on traditional ceramic materials, which were designed for slower-moving belts- not high-speed operations.

The heavy friction caused the transport belts to wear out and snap every 45 days. Every time a belt broke, the line went dark for 12 full hours for repairs, bleeding thousands of dollars in lost productivity.

The Solution: Replacing Ceramic with Synthetic Materials

While competitors claimed the setup couldn’t be changed, the ITS sales engineering team took a closer look at the friction problem.

Instead of sticking with rigid ceramic standards, ITS engineered a custom retrofit using a specialized synthetic surface along the slidebed. This smoother material drastically reduced belt friction while comfortably handling high oven operating temperatures.

The Impact & Results

Since installing the synthetic slidebed retrofit, the plant has seen immediate improvements:

• 7+ Months of Zero Downtime: The line has run continuously for over 7 months without a single belt failure.
• Massive Cost Savings: Completely eliminated recurring 12-hour maintenance shutdowns.
• Proven Problem-Solving: Showed the value of custom engineering over “standard” industry fixes.

internationalthermalsystems.com

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