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

A method for registering 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;
• sequentially adding component parts to the substrate at a second speed;
• providing a machine axis that generates counts that correspond with locations along machine direction;
• assigning a timestamp to each count, wherein each timestamp is based on the controller clock;
• detecting positions of the component parts with the sensor;
• communicating component part position detections from the sensor to the communication network;
• assigning a timestamp to each component part position detection, wherein each timestamp is based on the sensor clock;
• receiving the component part position detections and corresponding timestamps from the communication network into the controller;
• comparing the timestamps of the component part position detections with the timestamps of the count data;
• adjusting the second speed based on the comparison of the timestamps associated with the component part position detections with the timestamps associated with the count data;
• cutting the substrate with component parts added thereto into discrete absorbent articles;
• and
• packaging the discrete absorbent articles.