Ashe Converting Equipment celebrates 50th anniversary

Ashe Converting Equipment, a family-run business founded by John Godbold in 1976, has evolved from a manufacturer of drive control systems to offer a comprehensive portfolio of slitting and rewinding machinery for narrow, mid and wide web applications, from widths of 300mm up to 10m. It has a subsidiary in the US, a global network of distributors and more than 1,250 installations worldwide.

Its equipment is used to process a wide range of products – including labels, flexible and other forms of packaging, paper and aluminum – for food processing, security, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, decorative and other applications.

Founder John Godbold remains managing director and a regular presence in the office aged 77. His three sons run the business with him: works director James oversees production, Matthew is sales director for wide web machinery, and Simon is sales director for narrow and mid web equipment. John’s wife Barbara was the bookkeeper for many years and is now company secretary. Two members of the third generation are also among the 75-strong staff – Matthew’s son Jordan and Simon’s daughter Ella are test engineers – while a third, James’ son Oliver, will join following the completion of his university degree.

Engineering backgrounds and technical expertise run through the Godbold family and wider company alike. Some 50 percent of staff have come through Ashe’s long-standing apprenticeship program. Manufacturing 80 percent of parts in-house, the company has a strong team of mechanical engineers using a modern 3D CAD system, alongside dedicated software and electrical engineers who write bespoke software for the machines.

Natural progression

John Godbold was 27 and a director and shareholder of TS Ashe and Company, a manufacturer of variable speed drives, when he and a fellow director, whom Godbold later bought out, acquired Ashe Controls, a development company for TS Ashe, and moved it into manufacturing.

Ashe began manufacturing control system panels for Titan, and commissioned every single Titan slitter rewinder from machine number SR3R 212 to SR5 550 – a pivotal period in the early days of the company, according to Godbold.

Ashe built its first fully reversible rewinder in 1982, selling several to companies in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, particularly in the polypropylene market. It then produced its own servo-driven guiding system, as well as a fully reversible system to allow printed products to be rewound.

It was a natural progression to expand the portfolio into a full range of slitting and rewinding equipment, says John Godbold. At drupa in 1990, Ashe launched its first full slitter and sold machines to the UK, Spain and South Africa. ‘We saw there was a market,’ he recalls. ‘Slitters at the time produced a lot of waste, so we wanted to develop our own machine with much better tension control.’

Ashe bought land in Godbold’s native Ipswich and built a 16,000 square foot factory, later expanding it in 1993. It started manufacturing all its own parts in-house, then progressed to manufacturing with CNC machines.

A further assembly area was added in 2000, equipped with two 10-ton cranes to handle larger machinery. Manufacturing space was expanded again in 2017, with an additional 10-ton crane, taking Ashe’s manufacturing footprint up to 45,000 square feet.

“We have huge flexibility in the range we are able to build,” says Godbold. “We can engineer a machine to suit whatever the customer wants.”

In 2019 the company imported a fully automatic machine to manufacture all side frames. “At over £700k GBP, it was a huge investment,” says Godbold. “It’s a 5-axis machine which machines side frames up to 100mm thick. It was a key moment in terms of productivity and achieving the accuracy we needed for our equipment.”

In 2007, and with much foresight, Godbold had bought a 45,000 square foot premises on a 5-acre plot in the US state of Vermont. Today, the American market accounts for 40-50% of Ashe’s business. “We run sales, service and spare parts from the site, and well as renting out 30,000 square feet of space,” says Godbold.

Customization

As well as precision engineering, customization is at the core of Ashe’s extensive product range across narrow, mid and wide web.

After its initial successful foray into developing its slitting and rewinding range, Ashe launched its Sapphire S1 slitter rewinder with an integral unwind stand as well as remote unwind. Further fully reversible rewind machines were also added, which today reach up to 4m wide. Ashe developed its first primary slitter, up to 8.7m wide, at this time, which featured a unique center surface control that enabled customers to wind product at high speed with low tension.

In the late 1990s, Ashe began to manufacture products for the narrow web market. “We visited Labelexpo shows with a small rewinder and quickly saw the potential for building machines specifically for this sector,” recalls John Godbold.

Today, Ashe offers a wide range of equipment for narrow web applications, including its flagship Opal ISR inspection slitter rewinder, which features 100 percent inspection, automatic knife positioning and multiple slitting configurations. The Opal inline/offline turret rewinder is a fully automatic four-spindle glueless turret rewinder featuring a turner bar and automatic core loading. The Opal label converting line is a servo-driven system which is customizable with delam/relam units, flexo stations and full inkjet printing.

The Solitaire narrow web slitter rewinder also comes in a duplex turret rewind version, and can handle all filmic substrates along with papers, laminates, aluminum foils and pressure-sensitive products. The machine’s technology comes from the Sapphire S2 series of slitting machines.

The Sapphire S2 Duplex is the company’s flagship wide web slitter rewinder, and features Ashe’s vacuum roller for perfect tension isolation. It can be fully automated and handles all flexible material substrates. The Diamond Duplex slitter rewinder is a less heavy-duty version of the Sapphire S2, while Onyx and Solitaire Duplex slitter rewinders are also available.

Duplex turret slitter rewinders are available through the Sapphire S2T and Diamond T product ranges. The company also manufactures the Jade Primary and Secondary Slitters, as well as Jade Labelstock/Paper Slitter Rewinder and Emerald Rewinding/Doctor machine.

The company is now working on adding a 10m wide slitter with individual rewind arms to its wide web portfolio, and – for its narrow web range – a digital converting system which will feature inline flexo printing. The latter is earmarked for launch at LOUPE Europe (formerly Labelexpo) next year.

Innovative

Ashe Converting, believes Godbold, has been particularly innovative in developing equipment which can wind in low tension, and in which the web can be reversed without stopping and with good alignment in the reverse direction.

“Slitting and rewinding is an art,” he says. “You have to learn how to control tension and how to handle the web without stressing it.”

After 50 years in business, what is Godbold’s proudest achievement? “Training my three sons to be businesspeople,” he replies. “And creating an international company which serves the global market. We’ve been selling abroad since day one, so it has always been an international business. I’m also proud that my grandchildren are working in the company.”

“Being a boss and a father is not easy,” he continues. “The priority must be the business first and then the social side. Being able to combine the two is very hard at times. My sons are respectful of what I have achieved.”

Godbold sees increasing automation as the future of the converting industry. “There will be more automation, and more automatic web handling. Inspection and security have also become increasingly important. Security is particularly crucial for certain clients and applications, but its importance has grown even for simple products as legal requirements for information that must be included has grown.”

Still in the office at least four days a week, Godbold has no plans to retire. “I love the work. I tell my staff: they’ll take me out in a box. It’s a great industry, resilient and innovative, and it’s always developing.”