At the cutting edge

27 May 2014



Converting Today looks at some recent installations and innovations in slitting and rewinding technology.


Recent technology developments in slitting and rewinding equipment have borne witness to evolution rather than revolution. The integral functions have remained the same, with developments mainly helping to improve speed and productivity for the end-user.

One company that has benefited from improved equipment in slitting and rewinding is Nampak, with its recent purchase of two Titan ER610 slitter rewinders from Atlas Converting Equipment. Africa's leading packaging company, Nampak not only has extensive operations in South Africa, but also in 10 other countries on the continent, as well as nine production sites in the UK supplying lightweight HDPE bottles for the food, drink & dairy industries. The company provides high quality solutions in paper, board & glass packaging, rigid plastics, metal containers, bar coding and labelling, and also has extensive recycling operations and research &
development in packaging.

"We already had seven Titan slitter rewinders at our plants in South Africa including the SR6, SR7 and TS350 models installed from 1994 through to 2001," explains Anand Padayachee, general manager at Nampak Flexible in Pinetown, Durban. "So we were familiar with the high performance, quality and service which Titan provides for processing flexible packaging materials.

Improved productivity
The company has now installed two 1,350mm wide Titan ER610 compact slitter rewinders - one at the Flexibles Division in Pinetown, and the second at its operations in Cape Town, to boost its expanding production of a wide range of flexible packaging materials.

Good control of web tension is critical in producing the highest quality rewind reels for our customers, and the ER610 slitters provide
this, as well as faster acceleration and higher running speeds giving us much improved levels of productivity," Padayachee confirms.

In Pinetown, Nampak Flexible has a number of slitters served by a common materials handling system, so the more compact design of the Titan ER610 has actually improved the working space around the machine without any modifications required to the existing handling system.

Available in two widths - 1,350 and 1,650mm - the ER610 compact slitter has been a great success for Titan, with more than 100 machines now installed in many locations across the world. It features a pneumatically controlled braking system, and a digital edge guide system controls lateral movement of the unwind reel to within 50mm. Slitting systems available include shear knives, rotary razor (burst) or razor slitting in air or groove. The two ER610 slitters installed at Nampak Flexible include an edge trim extraction system, laser core positioning and shaftless unwind roll pick-up from floor.

The Titan ER610 slitter can process a wide range of flexible materials, including plain, printed, coated or metallised film from 20-200 micron, a wide range of laminates, and paper from 30-200g/m2. Atlas says it is a more environmentally friendly solution, with
reduced power consumption, no hydraulics for oil-free, hygienic operation, un-lubricated compressed air for zero oil/air emissions - and its 'one-piece' design also enables rapid installation and commissioning.

"Both Titan slitters were operating at the expected running speeds from the first day in production, so all our expectations have been
met," Anand Padayachee confirms.

Ashe Converting Equipment doubled the size of its production facilities a few years ago and invested in state-of-the-art CNC
milling equipment to meet the demand for its standard and bespoke slitting and rewinding equipment from customers around the world. In addition to its existing range of Sapphire, Emerald, Opal and Solitaire models the company has developed a number of new
models, which have been well received, resulting in increased sales. For example, a customer in the US recently placed an order
for eight 'new generation' Sapphire S2 slitters valued at more than £1.8 million, and an order for nine rewinders was also received from
another North American converter.

The Sapphire S2 has been developed to run a wide range of films, flexible packaging, and film and paper laminates, This machine is
designed to meet the demand for higher output and more versatile machines. Operating at speeds of up to 800m/min, ergonomically designed and compact, the Sapphire S2 is equipped with a completely integrated PC colour touchscreen with full software for job storage. The "feature rich" on screen display offers setup and maintenance screens, diagnostic and management data information, as well as time based control graphs, etc.

Other recent developments from Ashe include the Emerald 100, a 100% inspection rewinder and the Jade range of primary film slitters.

The Emerald 100% inspection rewinder is a stand-alone compact machine designed for label applications. The Emerald 100
incorporates the latest state-of-the art linescan camera technology for full roll scan in one direction, with the ability to edit faults
while running at speeds of up to 250m/min (scan and reverse speed).

Featuring 'Auto Teach' for new product image scan, the Emerald 100 is said to provide converters with the ability to enter - at a low
investment cost - into the demanding pharmaceutical/automotive markets - or other business segments that adhere to ISO or other accredited standards and who demand 100% inspection from their suppliers. In fact, all markets where any faults found will
immediately result in rejection, reworking, financial penalties or possible loss of business, states Ashe.

The 100% inspection rewinder comes with a built-in splice table and inspection lamp, and is available in various web widths,
including, 330mm, 410mm, 510 mm and 800mm, with a single high resolution camera.

The Jade primary film slitter can accommodate rewind diameters of up to 1,200mm and operates at speeds of up to 1,200m/min. The arms incorporate individual on-board AC digital drive with built in PLC control for each arm. Power to motors and Profibus control is via enclosed bus bar, and each arm has its own diameter measurement. Different cores or rewind diameters can be wound with no adjustment needed.

Leading Dutch supplier of foil based products Vaassen Flexible packaging, recently installed the first Euromac duplex slitter in its Dairy division, to process aluminum foil and aluminium laminates suitable for the company's food packaging webs. The new machine allows the slitting of mother rolls with 1,300 mm diameter into slit reels of up to 600mm diameter "with a high productivity output and excellent roll quality".

The slitting section of the Euromac machine is specifically designed for various foil based substrates and allows a fast setup for both tangent as wrap slitting method, while the duplex rewind system and the automated offloading device allow output of alternate finished rolls. This latest machine joins the existing four Euromac automatic turret slitter rewinders that Vaassen Flexible packaging has installed in its other businesses.

Euromac recently staged an Open House in its Villanova Monferrato plant. The machines presented were the model TB-810CM, a new primary slitter with a maximum film width of 6,800mm, and the TB-3.06T2 double turret slitter for high production output.

www.ashe.co.uk
www.atlasconverting.com
www.euromacslitters.com



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