How Coleman Modernized Its Plastic Extrusion Operations with Tempco’s Cool to the Touch Shroud System
BACKGROUND
For more than a century, The Coleman Company has been synonymous with the American outdoors. Founded in 1902 and now headquartered in Chicago as a subsidiary of Newell Brands, Coleman employs approximately 4,000 people globally with their cooler (and other products) manufacturing facility located in Wichita, Kansas. Their product line spans some of the most trusted gear in outdoor recreation, from lanterns and portable stoves to sleeping bags, camp chairs, and the rugged plastic coolers that generations of campers have depended on. Those coolers are manufactured through plastic injection molding, a process where consistent, well-managed heat is everything.
THE CHALLENGE: A TECHNOLOGY PAST ITS PRIME
For years, Coleman ran their plastic extrusion operations using cast-in heaters paired with conventional cooling tubes. It is a proven approach, and it served them well enough for a long time. But proven and optimal are two different things. Challenges in using cooling tubes on heaters in plastic injection molding machines include maintaining proper coolant flow rates and temperatures, which are crucial for effective heat transfer. Inadequate flow can lead to uneven cooling, resulting in part defects such as warping or shrinkage. Water leaks are inevitable and mineral scale accumulates in the water lines over time, steadily degrading heat transfer efficiency and driving up heater failures and maintenance costs.
There was a personnel safety dimension that compounded the problem. Exposed heater surfaces on the production floor put workers in proximity to a genuine burn hazard every day, an ongoing OSHA compliance concern that plant management carried with them on every shift. Coleman’s team knew the system had run its course. They needed a better path forward, and they needed one that handled performance and safety together.
THE RIGHT PARTNER AT THE RIGHT TIME
Big Chief, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, has spent more than 60 years building a reputation as a leading North American source for industrial thermal products. What sets them apart from a standard distributor is the caliber of their application engineering team. Their thermal engineers travel on-site, learn the process, and put together solutions built around what a customer’s operation actually requires. That approach has earned them long-term relationships across a wide range of industries, and consistent growth with the customers they serve.
Big Chief is also one of Tempco’s premier distribution partners, with hands-on experience applying Tempco products in demanding production environments. When a manufacturer in their customer base running plastic extrusion equipment had made the switch from conventional liquid cooling cast heaters to Tempco’s Cool to the Touch Extruder Heat/Cool System a year earlier and come out ahead on every meaningful measure, Big Chief took careful note of what had changed and why. When they looked at Coleman’s situation, the parallels were clear.
SEEING IT IN ACTION
Big Chief approached Coleman directly, presenting the Tempco Cool to the Touch system and walking through what it had delivered at that other facility. Heater failures were down. Energy consumption had improved. Cycle times had tightened. And the burn hazard that once required constant management on the production floor had been eliminated by design. Coleman listened carefully, and then asked the natural next question: could they go see it running?
Big Chief arranged the visit. Coleman’s team walked the floor, looked at the equipment in production, and spent time with the people running it day to day. There is a real difference between hearing about results in a presentation and standing in a plant where those results are plainly visible. Coleman came back from that visit with a clear picture of what they were getting into, and they were ready to move forward.
THE SOLUTION: TEMPCO COOL TO THE TOUCH
Tempco’s Cool to the Touch Extruder Heat/Cool System is custom engineered for each installation. At its core is a Dual Layer Shroud comprising an inner stainless steel solid layer that acts as a radiation shield, directing cooling airflow evenly across the heater surface, and an outer perforated stainless steel layer that physically isolates hot surfaces from personnel contact. That outer layer is how the system addresses OSHA burn hazard compliance directly, not as an add-on, but as a core part of the design.
The system is built around Tempco’s high-efficiency finned cast-in heaters. The reflective inner shroud shortens heat-up cycles and reduces energy consumption in a way that shows up in operating costs over time. The maxi-flow blower port channels air directly to the hottest part of the casting and distributes it uniformly across the full zone cross section, producing consistent results across the part and reducing the conditions that lead to heater failures. Blower configurations range from 148 to 1,210 CFM in 115V, 230V, and 480V three-phase options, matched precisely to each machine’s requirements.
THE RESULTS: A COMMITMENT BUILT OVER TIME
Coleman placed their first order in 2014, a single system for one machine, and let it prove itself. What came back from the production floor was exactly what Big Chief had described: fewer breakdowns, lower operating costs, better throughput, and a safer working environment that no longer required safety managers to manage around it. Over the years that followed, Coleman kept adding.
Today, six machines are equipped with Tempco’s Cool to the Touch Shroud System where they are used on the extrusion barrel before heading into the thermoforming machine. More than a decade of steady expansion is a more honest measure of a solution’s value than any initial project summary. Coleman has continued to invest in it because it has continued to deliver.
About Big Chief
Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Big Chief, a premier distributor for Tempco, is a leading North American source for industrial thermal products, with over 60 years of integrated manufacturing, distribution, and application engineering expertise. Their skilled Thermal Engineers work on-site with customers to deliver world-class thermal process solutions.
(WEBSITE)
About The Coleman Company
Founded in 1902 and headquartered in Chicago, The Coleman Company is an iconic American manufacturer of outdoor recreation products including coolers, lanterns, stoves, and camping gear. A subsidiary of Newell Brands, Coleman employs approximately 4,000 worldwide.
(WEBSITE)
