Marshall and Williams Plastics

Achieve performance advantages by down-gauging plastic film and sheet while retaining or enhancing physical properties. Founded in 1920, Marshall and Williams developed the industry's first plastics orientation system. Today our MDO, TDO and BIAX systems are installed worldwide to produce PS, PP, PET, PLA, PETG, PTFE, PVDF and many other specialty plastics film and sheet.

Machine Direction Orienter (MDO)

Uniaxial In-Line or Off-Line Longitudinal Film Stretching

Marshall and Williams Plastics is a recognized global leader and innovator in oriented film stretching. Marshall and Williams designed and built the first Machine Direction Orienter in 1961; and now with over 50 years of MDO experience, the brand remains one of the most trusted and experienced in the plastics orientation equipment industry. Machine direction orientation of plastic film and sheet is accomplished by heating the web and stretching it in the machine direction over a series of rollers. The device is commonly called a Machine Direction Orienter (MDO).

  • 50 years of MDO experience
  • Expertise with a broad variety of materials
  • Single or multi-stage draw sections
  • Horizontal or vertical configurations
  • Compression roll drawing
  • Full-scale lab facility for material testing
  • Flexibility to meet customer specific requirements
  • Engineered solutions based on proven performance
  • Innovative designs for technology advancement

For each application, Parkinson’s exclusive Marshall and Williams heat transfer simulation program is used to predict the behavior of the material as it passes through the process. Combined with extensive processing knowledge, this information can be used to select the appropriate style machine and the correct number and size of rollers needed to provide the best solution for each customer’s application.


    • Heating Mediums
    • Oil, Water, Electrical, IR, Other
    • Stretch Ratio
    • up to 20:1
    • Production Rates
    • up to 5 tons/hr
    • Line Speed
    • Up to 1500 fpm (450 mpm)
    • Web Widths
    • 4”-160” (0.1 - 4 m)
    • Operating Temperatures
    • Up to 750º F (400º C)

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