Common sense. Americans like to think they invented it. In the five or so years that Converting has been featuring retrofits and rebuilds in our July issues, we’ve heard just about every story there is about converters who took a look at the difference between what they had and what they needed—and decided to make a change for the better. Whether or not they had big capital budgets (and let’s face it—they usually didn’t), they managed to boost efficiency, cut waste, and make their customers happy in the bargain. While some of these success stories resulted from profitable partnerships between converters and their suppliers, often they did it themselves, with just a good idea and a couple of talented guys with a wrench. Following are this year’s tales of retrofit common sense, as well as some seasoned wisdom about making best use of supplier service programs.

In an expanding industry with increasing global pricing pressures, it makes sense for every printer/converter to think about steps they can take in their own shops to create the most efficient operation possible.

When John Wojcik arrived at Heartland Label Printers (www.hrtlp.com) five years ago, the Little Chute WI, converter had been around for a decade, making stock and custom-printed direct thermal labels for the weigh-scale, barcode and compliance labeling markets. “We really weren’t even thinking in terms of being globally competitive,” Wojcik recalls. “But it made sense to take some preemptive steps in that direction—to start laying a foundation for future growth.”

Heartland’s production manager, Wojcik began to look for ways to track cost, cut waste, and improve profit margins. An obvious target was material waste. “About 60 percent of our cost is in the substrate,” says Wojcik. “So controlling substrate waste is always an issue.”

Saving a mile of waste

While the lean manufacturing philosophy of increased efficiency and reduced waste was beginning to spread throughout the industry, one idea that hadn’t yet taken hold, at least in Heartland’s narrow-web niche, was automatic roll change. The conventional wisdom stated that automatic roll change had value in long-run applications but was impractical for the label business—and likely not worth the significant investment.

John Wojcik disagreed. “The way I see it, a roll change is a roll change,” he explains. “Short run or long, you have the same downtime and the same waste with every change.” He had a target in mind—substrate waste. Wojcik had several choices among suppliers of automatic roll change systems. After a careful analysis of Heartland’s business, Martin Automatic (www.martinautomatic.com) developed a projection showing an annual cost savings of $60,000 achieved through waste and downtime reduction.

The ROI analysis proposed the installation of a Martin butt-splicer system. By Martin’s estimation, this could eliminate two hours of downtime—and nearly a mile of wasted substrate—caused each day by 21 roll changes on Heartland’s 10-in. press.

Wojcik took the plunge. He installed the Martin MBS-05-16-40 butt splicer on his 10- and 13-in. Mark Andy (www.markandy.com) presses, and began to track the results. “It turns out that Martin’s savings estimates were actually a little conservative,” says Wojcik.

Moreoever, the improvements are not only financial. “We have gotten greater throughput, higher productivity, and improved quality,” says Wojcik. “The presses just run smoother with the Martin equipment. The operators can now watch the end amount of each job because they do not have to worry about when the roll is going to end. It’s like running an endless roll.”

“We’re certainly pleased about the quick ROI, but this was a decision made for the long term,” says Wojcik. “This investment is going to add value for years to come. It positions us for the future, whatever it holds. Higher margins equal increased flexibility, which equals a competitive edge. That, more than anything, will help guarantee a future for Heartland.”

When you can’t find exactly what you want, make it instead. Robert Srebalus, who has been in the converting business for more than 20 years—the last seven at the helm of his own company—had the vision to change the roll-stand handling method on his board sheeter, abandoning the fixed-position, shafted four-roll stand in favor of a shaftless backstand.

Srebalus was looking for an option that offered improved roll positioning, easier roll loading and core discharge, and quicker turnaround of roll loading, while making the operation safer. In the search for an inexpensive solution to acquiring a large mobile roll stand, he found that there was an abundance of used, inexpensive small-diameter roll stands. These used units were in fact available for a small premium over scrap value, and offered all the attributes he wanted, except of course the ability to handle large-diameter rolls.

“I didn’t want a 50-in. diameter stand, but an 84-in. diameter stand to handle every diameter range my customers require,” says Srebalus. “I thought that I could modify an existing 50-in. diameter stand which would allow the flexibility to chuck the biggest rolls. I also didn’t want to make a huge capital investment on the purchase of new roll stands.”

To that end, he enlisted the help of Pat Dwyer, of Dwyer Welding & Line Boring, Inc. Dwyer was no stranger to paper converting machinery, having been the plant engineer for Paper Group of Chicago. He looked at the pictures available on the stand and agree to take on the project.

Right the first time

Srebalus purchased two Martin roll stands, and using the expert craftsmanship of his in-house maintenance staff (Frank Perez, and his assistant Manuel), disassembled, cleaned, and readjusted all components upon reassembly, while Dwyer created new arm extensions. Dwyer laid everything out using AUTOCAD drawings, which were made from as-built measurements, while investigating the best method for achieving the diameter conversion without adversely affecting center of gravity and roll pick-up.

The diameter conversion took a few weeks to perform on each stand, at Midwest’s maintenance shop. New chucks and arbors were also made, to give the additional flexibility that Srebalus wanted, while reusing the original proportional braking system.

The roll stand was installed in a weekend, by removing the old fixed-position stand and setting the new tracks and grouting. Preliminary layouts and benchmarking using standard surveying methods were performed, while operating the old fixed-position back stand, to minimize downtime during the change-out, as well as to achieve proper geometry and establish elevation requirements.

The stand was installed in a “plug and play” method, and was running rolls “right off the bat without having to do anything more than making the power connection,” according to Srebalus. Everything was pre-tested in the maintenance shop to faultless operation before being considered ready for the change-out, according to Frank Perez. “We wanted to do things right the first time,” says Srebalus.

Startup and commissioning of the stand took only a few minutes, as everything was ready to go. Because the Martin cantilevered, hydraulic, shaftless stand is easy to operate, operator training also required only a few minutes. Dwyer suggests that anyone who is working with equipment designed for smaller rolls, while wishing that bigger charge rolls could be chucked, may do well to investigate a similar “diameter conversion,” as this is one method for getting the most out of your equipment, without making a large capital investment.

However, Dwyer advises stepping back and looking at the whole picture. Performing necessary calculations and layouts, while establishing the best roll-positioning geometry to minimize necessary modifications is a must. Projects like this need to be well thought out, he says. The Martin stands that were rebuilt came from an era where small-diameter product was often the norm.

As the market in paper and board has changed over the past decade, the ability to handle the larger-diameter rolls is a distinct advantage. The installation of the second completed stand is planned for this summer.