Who are these Misbehaving Sheets and how to catch them?

Published / Updated: October 8, 2026

Who are these Misbehaving Sheets and how to catch them?

In every 2,000 sheets, 1 will skew, move sideways or register earlier or later as it goes through the coater.

It seems that no matter how well a process is controlled, these problems still occur and will cause issues down the production line and even the value chain. With our can maker friends, we were able to investigate the reasons why these issues happen, here’s my report:

THE SUSPECTS:

Lacquer Ruiner or “The Skewer”

Misbehaving Sheets case #1, "The Skewer": a skewed metal sheet that rotates as it enters the coater and ruins lacquer margins

“The Skewer” – He’s so fast, you’ll never know he’s there!

He ruins the production line because he has totally misplaced margins caused by his sudden change of
movements.
You know when a sheet goes through a coating or printing press and the leading (or trailing) edge of it
should be at a 90-degree angle with the axis of the line? The Skewer always rotates and hates to be at
90 degrees. He does this to screw your entire production and increase your sheet spoilage. Beware of
him as he is not easily detected and could form during the last minute of its entrance to the coater.

Diagram of sheet skew on a coating line: a sheet rotates between the unloader, coating roller and oven, with the amount of skew measured in mm

The Tool Breaker or “Mis.aligned”

Misbehaving Sheets case #2, "Mis.aligned", the tool breaker: a misaligned sheet that drifts sideways off the side guides into the coater

“Mis.aligned” – She doesn’t mean to move sideways but she can’t help it!

She’ll blunt your tooling once you let her pass your production. She loves to miss the side guides when
entering the rollers, which makes her drift sideways.
She increases the chances of breaking your weld wires because her weld margins are not properly
aligned! If she succeeds without getting caught, she will cause your cans to leak and damage your
tooling!

Missing-in-action or “MIA”

Misbehaving Sheets case #3, "MIA": a sheet that arrives at the coater early or late, out of sync with the spot coat on the lacquer roll

“MIA” – He doesn’t have a sense of time!

Spot coats and lacquer rolls should always be in sync during the coating process. MIA is either late or
early, he doesn’t care about the lacquer roll and when he finally decides to arrive, he causes drama! If
left undetected, you’ll end up with lots of spoilage for sure!

 

THE BULLSHEET SLAYERS: The best guardians of quality this industry has ever
seen!

For a complete system to detect these three misbehaving sheets, use the IS416 Sheet Skew.

Measurement or The SKEWminator, to exterminate The Skewer no matter where or how fast he is.

It provides a complete set of data to better analyze and improve the can maker’s process capability.

An add-on to the SKEWminator is the IS430 Sheet Translation Measurement or Misaligned Assassin – it kills Mis.aligned on the spot.

To complete the trinity is the PROMPTpetrator, the IS450 Sheet Registration System – it makes sure that all sheets are in perfect timing as they enter the coater!


Customer Testimonial:

“I have had experience with this system now for many years and still believe it to be the best solution
available for skew and position measurement.”

~ Chris Debrincat, Electrical Technician

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