Systems and methods for controlling phasing of advancing substrates in absorbent article converting lines

A method for phasing absorbent products from a web converting manufacturing process, the method comprising the steps of:

• providing a communication network;
• connecting a sensor with the communication network, the sensor including a sensor clock;
• connecting a controller with the communication network, the controller including a controller clock;
• synchronizing the sensor clock with the controller clock such that the reported time of the controller clock and the sensor clock are correlated;
• advancing a substrate in a machine direction through a converting process at a first speed;
• virtually segmenting the substrate into a plurality of virtual products along the machine direction;
• virtually dividing the virtual products into a plurality of virtual segments along the machine direction;
• advancing a series of component parts in the machine direction at a second speed, the component parts spaced from each other at a relatively constant distance;
• sequentially adding component parts to the substrate;
• inspecting the substrate and component parts with the sensor;
• communicating inspection parameters from the sensor to the communication network;
• assigning a timestamp to each inspection parameter, each timestamp based on the sensor clock;
• receiving the inspection parameters and corresponding timestamps from the communication network into the controller;
• correlating each inspection parameter with one virtual segment based on the timestamp of the inspection parameter;
• identifying component positions in virtual segments based on the inspection parameters;
• adjusting the placement of the component parts on the virtual products;
• cutting the substrate with component parts added thereto into discrete absorbent articles;
• and
• packaging the discrete absorbent articles.