Following from the EMPF HelpLine in Indianpolis, prepared by Pat Kane:
I would call one of the several "reeling" services that do custom reeling of 
components.  Two company names I have are:

Advantek Inc.
581 Clearwater Dr.
Minnetonka, MN 55343
612-938-6800


Lightner Automation Inc.
441 Carpenter Ave.
Wheeling, Il 60090
708-215-8888

These two vendors supply tape, reels, and custom reeling.  If they cannot 
resolve the problem with supplies or information, they could probably come 
up with another vendor who could in their industry.
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From: TechNet-request
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Subject: Splicing of SMT component tape
Date:  29 Nov 95 11:05AM

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From: [log in to unmask] (Leo Reynolds )
Subject: Splicing of SMT component tape
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>From time to time, we split reels of SMT taped components so that we can
run the same part on two or three pick & place machines.  Of course this
only occurs on small or end of run projects where there is only one reel
of parts available.

Our question is, Are there splicing systems available for attaching
leaders on the cut end of the reels to eliminate parts loss?

Thanks,

Leo Reynolds
Electronic Systems, Inc.