New slitters prove themselves

Whether brand-new machines or rebuilds, converters find the right fit.

Managing Editor Melissa Larson -- Converting Magazine, 2/1/2005

New rewind shafts from Convertech Inc. for a Dusenbery 835 duplex slitter have boosted running speed, cut setup time at slitter RTG Films.

Guillermo Garcia of Nowpack SA (Queretaro, Mexico) shakes hands with Bobst sales manager Stan Braycotton on the converter's purchase of a Titan SR8 slitter/rewinder.

This Stanford Model 1038 slitter/rewinder recently took up residence at Advanced Flexible Composites, a converter of tapes and fabrics for high-tech industries.

Phoenix Model 650FL 80-in. slitter/rewinder is one of three such units installed at three different Multi-Plastics facilities.

Whether the end-use product is films, tapes and fabrics, labels or polypropylene overwraps, all of the converters profiled here improved their particular operations through a boost in their slitting/rewinding. They appraised the deficiencies in their old machines, or saw that new capacity was needed, and either made the capital commitment for new machines or managed a savvy retrofit to boost the capabilities of older units. The results, as you'll read here, were well worth the investment in time and money.

Choosing "small and innovative"
As one of the nation's largest converters slitting thin-gauge plastic films, Multi-Plastics, Inc., provides the envelope, carton, label and printing industries with either slit-to-order rolls or press-ready sheets from eight strategically located facilities in the US, Canada and the UK. Three of those facilities have seen the installation of new Model 650FL 80-in. duplex slitter/rewinders from Phoenix Machine (Flanders, NJ), in 2004—the Peachtree City, GA; Swedesboro, NJ; and Romeoville, IL, plants.

For rapidly expanding Multi-Plastics, the type of supplier they chose to partner with was just as important as the slitters they bought. Their current stable of more than two dozen slitters included mostly Conweb units and custom in-house rebuilds. They did three months of research before choosing their new slitter supplier. "We wanted a small company that could be innovative and not too fixed in their ways," says Dick Beaulieu, vp-manufacturing for the converter. "At the same time, we wanted good, heavy, reliable machinery. We feel we picked a good company to partner with in Phoenix."

Beaulieu also proclaims himself satisfied with the new Phoenix systems. "They are three excellent machines."

"We consider Multi-Plastics to be one of our best customers—they are an absolute pleasure to work with," says Phoenix president Mike Coulson. "They are knowledgable in their wants and firm on their requirements. We look forward to working with them as we both continue to grow."

"Low bidder" steps up
Managers at converter/slitter RTG Films, Chalfont, PA, did their homework and got three quotes to supply new rewind shafts for a Dusenbery 835 slitter. Tom Cheatle, vp of RTG's Film division, hoped that new shafts would improve the performance of the 60-in. duplex unit, as well as cut down on the setup time between jobs—an unacceptable 2-3 hrs at the time. "After reviewing the quotes, we took the middle bid in terms of price," says Cheatle.

RTG does a variety of slitting and rewinding, specializing in OPP overwrap for cosmetic and tobacco packagers, and also finding a profitable niche in DVD/CD overwrap. Widths can range from 1 in. all the way to 60 in., although most jobs are 24 in. wide or less.

Unfortunately, problems with the replacement shafts from a quality manufacturer, referred to only as "XYZ Corp.," began almost immediately, according to Cheatle. Within two weeks after the installation of the shafts, the cores started to drift and, in turn, caused telescoping rolls. After trying everything possible for many months to correct the problem, RTG finally asked XYZ Corp. to remove the shafts and, desperate, went back to its original bidder list and contacted Convertech, Inc. (Wharton, NJ).

"They were the low bidder in the original list, and we were a little leery of contacting them, as the lowest price normally does not represent quality," says Cheatle. "But since these [shafts] were installed in mid-2004 on the Dusenbery, we have had no problems with them, they've consistently worked.

"Not only that, but thanks to the Convertech shafts, we can now run the Dusenbery slitter up to its rated speed of 1,000 fpm, which we never could before." Cheatle adds that Convertech has been extremely helpful in advising RTG on the correct way to service their shafts, as well as vacuum-injecting oil into the shafts so that the converter no longer has to oil them.

In addition to running at higher speeds, the setup time for the Dusenbery slitter is down to 45 min to 1 hr with the retrofit shafts, leading to a lot more profitable slitting time. And it's likely that RTG Films has changed its viewpoint on the "low bidder."

Turret rewinder travels well
A fourth Vectra turret rewinder, supplied by AB Graphic International, Inc. (Anaheim, CA), has recently been installed at WI-based Heartland Label Printers for roll-to-roll rewinding of labels for the papermaking and grocery industries.

"The Vectra is used in a number of production sites, primarily based on run length, line speed and productivity requirements," says Don Van Roy, Heartland plant manager. "For example, the Vectra may be sited at the end of one of the OMEGA slitter/inspection systems from AB Graphic Intl. for a particular job, then it may be moved to the end of a narrow-web flexographic printing press [a Mark Andy four-color] for efficient rewinding of printed labels. We especially like the fact that the Vectra system does not require any connection between the turret and the press or slitter."

Co-founded in 1990 by Van Roy and Peter Helander, Heartland Label Printers has seen steady year-on-year growth of at least 30 percent with current staffing of 48 employees in its label division. Comments John Gallagher of AB Graphic, "The addition of this latest turret brings to six the total number of systems we've supplied to Heartland, including unwind units, a slitter/rewinder and other turrets. We are delighted to again have been the supplier of choice." Van Roy confirms that Heartland has experienced increased productivity and decreased production costs directly attributable to the Vectra rewinder.

Swapping four for one
Bobst Group (Roseland, NJ) recently sold a new Titan SR8 slitter rewinder to Nowpack SA in Mexico, which will be in production early in 2005. This cantilever-type slitter will handle web widths of up to 53 in. and rewind diameters up to 24 in. with a maximum running speed of 2,300 fpm. The machine will be installed at the company's production facilities in Queretaro, about 200 miles from Mexico City.

The Titan SR8 will substantially boost productivity of PP, polystyrene, polyester and laminated substrates for this small, privately owned converter of flexible packaging materials. "After carefully considering all the different machines currently available on the market, we were convinced that the Titan SR8 was the best slitter/rewinder we could buy for our operations," explains Guillermo Garcia Ayala, Nowpack managing director.

"We already have four small slitters, but the new Titan SR8 will easily handle all of their production and more, so one new machine will replace the capacity of the four older machines."

Nowpack produces flex-pack materials mainly for the domestic market in Mexico and serves both large multinational corporations like Procter & Gamble, Merck, and Sharp, but also smaller domestic manufacturers like Gamesa (part of world snack-food leader Frito-Lay), French company Gem Plus and even Banamex City Bank.

"We are a fairly small operation, producing only 300 tons of flexible packaging materials in 2004," says Garcia. "The main problem for expansion was our low slitting capacity, but in 2005 this will change dramatically. With the new Titan SR8 slitter we expect to more than double our production to more than 800 tons/year."

The machine's optional programmable automatic knife-positioning system enables accurate positioning of 10 razor or rotary-type knives in 90 sec. The additional investment in this feature is quickly recovered through reduced machine downtime and re-starts for frequent, short-run production. This was an important consideration for Nowpack.

The company has ambitious expansion plans and will also add a new Bobst Schiavi EF4040 electronic flexo press (delivery scheduled for March 2005) and a solventless laminator to its operations during the second quarter of 2005.

Twenty percent of Nowpack's business is exported and its current business expansion is expected to continue during 2005, with sales anticipated to exceed US $8 million for the first time in the company's history.

Homegrown capacity
Advanced Flexible Composites, Inc. (AFC), Lake in the Hills, IL, a world leader in the manufacture of high-performance coated and laminated fabrics, recently added a new 62-in. Stanford Products Model 1038 rewind slitter. The new slitting capabilities will support AFC's pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes and PTFE-coated fabric product lines.

AFC specializes in the manufacture and engineering of PTFE- and silicone-coated fabrics and p-s tapes for use in the aerospace, composites, flexible-packaging, heat-sealing, screen printing, textile, polymer-manufacturing, food-processing, chemical, electronics and pulp and paper industries. The new rewind slitter line from Stanford Products (Salem, IL) is capable of slitting rolls from 1-in. wide and up.

Founded in 1988, AFC, a family-owned and operated company, sells its products through distributors and OEMs under the trade names DuraFab®, DuraFlow®, DuraSil®, DuraStick®, DuraLam® and Dura-Chef.

"We've been shopping for a unit like this for about three years," says Bill Lewis, AFC president. "The Stanford slitter will complement our Lever and Cevenini single-knife slitters because it can handle long, continuous rolls of tapes and fabrics. We also like the fact that it's built in the USA. We first saw it at CMM 2003." The new unit's attractive features include touchscreen control with recipe storage, remote diagnostics via modem connection and automatic tension control. n