09.16.10
At the Martin Automatic booth at Labelexpo, the company discussed the recent use of its machinery at the Flexographic Trade Services (FTS) in Fort Mill, SC, USA. They were proud to report on the high marks FTS gave the company in regard to the productivity and ease of use of Martin Automatic’s MBSC butt splicer and STR turret rewinder combo.
Art Fields, president of FTS, comments, “We tested the MBSC/STR automated splicer and rewind system on jobs that we’ve been running for up to 10 years, so we had solid production numbers to compare to. When we ran jobs on a Mark Andy XP-5000 with Martin roll automation on the ends, we were able to increase throughput performance by 60 percent. Now understand, that was with Flexographic Trade School students running the press, so part of that gain came from the fact that automation covered up for a lack of operator experience. However, with an experienced pressman you can easily increase throughput performance by 40 percent with the Martins. Basically, jobs that normally took us two days to produce we were finishing in under a day with roll-change automation.”
Fields also reported that with automated roll change, waste almost disappeared. Jobs that produced 8 percent waste using manual roll change produced only 3 percent waste using Martin roll-change automation. Print quality also improved throughout the run due to non-stop production. Fields continued, “If I was to open a new print shop and wanted to compete in today’s market, I would absolutely have Martin automated roll-change equipment on my press. It doesn’t matter if you are a short-, medium- or long-run printer – automated roll-change makes you more competitive and profitable.”
Art Fields, president of FTS, comments, “We tested the MBSC/STR automated splicer and rewind system on jobs that we’ve been running for up to 10 years, so we had solid production numbers to compare to. When we ran jobs on a Mark Andy XP-5000 with Martin roll automation on the ends, we were able to increase throughput performance by 60 percent. Now understand, that was with Flexographic Trade School students running the press, so part of that gain came from the fact that automation covered up for a lack of operator experience. However, with an experienced pressman you can easily increase throughput performance by 40 percent with the Martins. Basically, jobs that normally took us two days to produce we were finishing in under a day with roll-change automation.”
Fields also reported that with automated roll change, waste almost disappeared. Jobs that produced 8 percent waste using manual roll change produced only 3 percent waste using Martin roll-change automation. Print quality also improved throughout the run due to non-stop production. Fields continued, “If I was to open a new print shop and wanted to compete in today’s market, I would absolutely have Martin automated roll-change equipment on my press. It doesn’t matter if you are a short-, medium- or long-run printer – automated roll-change makes you more competitive and profitable.”