Greg Hrinya, Editor09.02.20
Perhaps now more than ever, taking advantage of the latest enhancements to slitters rewinders is of utmost importance for label converters.
With the continued presence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the addition of modular and automated functionalities has enabled converters to accomplish more with less. Printers can better handle increased workloads while also relying on the machine to accommodate growing demand with less manpower. The ability to convert finished rolls with fewer workers enables management to better deploy their staff throughout the facility.
When the concept of automating label printing is broached, slitter rewinders are one of the first functions that should come to mind. And as press technology has evolved, so too have slitter rewinders. The increased speeds of today’s presses necessitate converting equipment that can thrive with faster speeds.
“One of the recent trends in inline winding includes the level of automation available,” states Kelly Hart, communications and advertising director at Martin Automatic. “The refinement of drives and motors, advances in differential winding for slit ribbons, and advances in ergonomics and safety features have also improved. New winders offer the operators more tunable adjustments that can dramatically affect the quality of a wound roll. An educated operator now has the opportunity to wind difficult materials, at larger diameters, than older machines would allow.”
“Lemu Group automation addresses today’s need for highly efficient manufacturing,” says Andre Beaudoin, who leads Lemu Group USA’s sales and marketing team. “A single operator can operate the machine and produce finished, sealed, boxed product as fast as they can splice new rolls. Most of Lemu’s POS roll slitter rewinders operate at speeds in excess of 2,300 fpm. The system is completely intuitive and therefore adjusts itself to the exact line speed output rate. The roll packaging automation replaces the need for an operator and multiple people on the back end who are trying to keep up with the maximum output capability of the units with the need for batching, wrapping rolls, and forming and filling boxes. The fewer human touches on the product only enhances production output. One operator is all the process requires.
“With automation, there is no longer a need for more redundant non-technical help,” he adds. “One operator can run an entire automated line. This allows the converter to bring in much fewer people and greatly reduce the risk of exposure to manufacturing employees while maintaining peak production output levels.”
Today’s slitter rewinders have been designed to handle faster speeds while also operating with improved efficiency. The equipment must check a host of other boxes, as well.
“For KTI, a big improvement has been speed,” explains Angie Ostler, VP of finance and marketing at KTI. “Customers have told us over and over they want a machine that is fast. We have worked hard to create something not only with increased speeds, but is also efficient, operator-friendly and durable. The challenge is always creating something speedy that can handle a variety of materials.”
Slitter rewinders, with all their capabilities, have been designed to simplify the life of the operator. Not only can the machine do more with less, but the operator faces simplified tasks on the equipment.
“All of our machines are equipped with the latest servo and automation technology,” states Chiara Prati, CEO and CSO at Prati. “That allows a high degree of automation and makes the operation of our equipment extremely easy. The ease of operation and productivity has increased dramatically with these new technologies. Our FastCut system sets shear slitting knives by means of robotic fingers and is extremely precise and fast, which saves the operator at least 15-20 minutes with every job change.”
Slitter rewinders have no doubt increased in importance. AB Graphic International and Kocher + Beck recently joined forces to acquire Enprom Solutions. As part of this partnership, customers have access to a product range that includes single shaft, two shaft, one turret and two turret slitter rewinders, as well as a double turret nonstop fully automatic configuration, where widths vary between 800-1650 mm. The triumvirate has emphasized the changing needs of the modern label converter, which highlights the shift to shorter run lengths.
“Our clients’ work orders have changed in recent years, from a few orders of many meters to many orders of a few meters,” explains Marc Planella, flexible packaging specialist at Enprom Solutions. “The mindset of customers in the past has been focused only on the maximum machine speed. Nowadays, due to evolution and market demands, this approach has been expanded to focus also on less machine downtime for job changes and to more automated processes with just the required personnel.”
The industry’s latest slitter rewinders also benefit from modularity, as converters can upgrade equipment to better suit their needs.
“Martin’s equipment is designed for seamless integration with any new or existing process line,” says Hart. “Martin equipment can be configured to fit the tightest of available spaces, making the benefits of roll change automation accessible to nearly all converters. And most Martin rewinders and unwinders are offered with portability packages to enable easy movement to promote re-installation on other lines as production requirements dictate.”
AB Graphic’s line of SRIs (Slitter Rewinder Inspection) have been engineered to work for each customer’s specific production needs. Converters can add fleyeVision, ABG’s camera inspection with 8k resolution and 100% print, UV barcode, ultraviolet and braille inspection, as well as auto slit, auto cut, and an optional leader trailer, all in their choice of web widths. By tailoring the machines to a converter’s specific applications, Al Spendlow, US sales director at AB Graphic International, notes that the equipment has become popular in specific production environments such as pharma, security and luxury goods.
“A multitude of options can be added to adapt the machine to the customer’s requirements,” adds Planella. “These include a splicing table, inline printing/coating, automatic knives positioning, reel extraction, automatic core positioning, unloading handling, pushing plate to reception table, reception table and also any kind of inline process such as mechanical perforation or laser for micro/macro-perforation.”
With fewer employees required to run modern slitter rewinders, the label business has also been able to absorb the surge in orders that was presented in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“With the pandemic, many companies have seen new challenges, including reduction in staff and hours resulting in lower production,” notes KTI’s Ostler. “Being able to do more, faster and with less staff is something every company is looking at improving. Our auto-core loading reduces the amount of time an operator has to spend loading cores onto the machine, which allows for faster turret cycle times permitting shorter rolls to be run at higher line speeds.”
According to Lemu Group USA’s Beaudoin, the pandemic has only amplified the need for optimized internal processes. “The pandemic has provided some very important Lean Manufacturing lessons,” he says. “As our industry has been designated as essential, people were having issues with help not wanting to go back to work with fears of possibly contracting COVID-19. This truly challenged owners with getting product out the door quickly to hospitals, pharma companies, and CPG manufacturers.”
Slitter rewinders also play a significant role in promoting sustainability, too. This equipment can impact a company’s carbon footprint, which has not been lost on the manufacturers.
“We believe that every gesture, be it large or small, short-lived or long-lasting, represents our commitment to sustainable development and underlines our environmental awareness,” says Prati. “Our finishing solutions are built to respect this commitment, the offices are designed to minimize environmental impact, and the staff act in line with the company’s green ethics.”
New products
AB Graphic International has highlighted the inspection element – fleyeVision – on its equipment. The inspection of the label is done at the first camera system, and defect labels will be stopped at the second splice table to be accepted or exchanged by the operator. Re-inspection of exchanged labels then takes place at the second camera system. Finally, defect labels will be stopped at the third splice area, where acceptance or exchange will be signed by a supervisor.
ABG offers converters a variety of machines depending on their needs, ranging from the basic Omega 150 – a servo driven, compact, bi-directional, single lane, tabletop inspection slitter rewinder – to its core SRI, which features slitting, rewinding and inspection.
The company also provides bespoke options for pharmaceutical workflows with enhanced inspection and higher productivity, as well as for rewinding, converting, inspecting and numbering. Handling foil, blister material and booklets are also available options.
“Our SRIs have become faster, more efficient and we have added more bespoke modules, which allow our machines to be used in particular environments such as pharma, security, luxury goods,” notes ABG’s Spendlow. “We can easily add RFID tags, of which the popularity has grown significantly in recent years.”
Enprom, with the support of AB Graphic and Kocher + Beck, features the latest technology to increase operator efficiency. Less operator manipulation, automation of the operator jobs, improved acceleration ratios, an agile HMI interface, fast and automatic unloading cycle, automation of the knives’ positioning and reduction time to start the new rewind cycle are all key areas for this range of slitter rewinders.
“Enprom Solutions’ slitter rewinders have been designed for high speeds and built with strong and robust benches to avoid vibrations during the slitting and rewinding process,” explains Enprom’s Planella. “Slitter rewinders include rollers with different surface finishes, depending on the material to be worked, and dynamically balanced at the maximum speed of the machine. The products also present excellent tension control between the unwinding and infeed unit by means of a highly sensitive pneumatic dancer roller and independent tension control for each rewinding shaft through load cells, thanks to which we have the possibility of working with different decreasing pressure curves. This allows for working with standard materials as well compatibility with the most complicated ones.
“Our machinery is designed and built with the modular concept, giving the possibility of integrating inline processes at that time or leaving them ready for the future, depending on the evolution of the customer and the market,” he adds.
Meanwhile, KTI offers several models of turret rewinders, including its newly-launched MTR Series Turret Rewinder. “The MTR Series offers a brand-new roll closure system with inline print and apply, allowing customers to add various product and production information to the roll closure labels,” states KTI’s Ostler. “This may include product codes, lot numbers, job numbers, date of production and more. These labels are automatically printed and applied to the finished rolls before they are removed from the machine.”
The MR Series Turret Rewinder is available in 3- or 5-spindle configurations. The integrated festoon allows cutting and transferring at zero speed to effectively handle lighter materials, film and perforated products, and there are many options that can be added, including on-board slitting with web guide.
The KR2 Series Turret Rewinder offers a 2-spindle design and is a cost-effective choice for winding a variety of materials, including pressure sensitive labels and film. It provides flexibility for the press by winding parent rolls at full press speed while allowing the slower speed roll finishing to be performed on an off-line system. “A tension control dancer provides better control of the roll structure and tension at the transfer,” Ostler adds. “The 2-spindle design allows for production of larger rolls.”
Lemu Group USA, which has seen multiple installations recently, has developed a complete line of high speed, semi-automatic and fully automatic POS/lottery/linerless/ATM roll slitting and rewinding equipment.
Lemu Group’s RoboPlus has been designed to help converters across the globe with high-speed POS roll manufacturing and roll packaging automation. Based on the varied requirements of this market segment, Lemu Group has tailored its equipment to fit every specific need, Beaudoin says.
“The RoboPlus can be outfitted with flexo print stations in order to provide completely printed and converted product at the end of the run,” says Beaudoin. “Automation is always retrofittable on any Lemu Group piece of equipment, so you always have control over production efficiency and output.”
The company’s line of equipment has been optimized for all linerless, pressure sensitive, and plotter-vinyl rolls, among others. The equipment can also be outfitted with flexographic print capabilities up to six colors.
“We’ve designed our equipment to meet the need for higher production line speeds with wider web capability,” adds Beaudoin. “The need to convert from large master unwinds to finished product rolls in a completely sealed box is what converters are asking for, as it gets the product to their customer quicker and less expensively. With a more efficient production capability, the converter can now have some control over their profit margin.”
Lemu Group has also partnered with Martin Automatic, which has been an active player in this market for years. Martin Automatic has focused on non-stop production in web-fed applications. For rewinding, Martin Automatic has concentrated on non-stop inline winders, which are intended to minimize waste. The waste can be associated with expensive substrates lost due to manual roll changes, waste from poor winding control, waste from having to employ secondary off-line processes, wasted productivity from having to shut down the line for roll changes or from having to run slower than desired because of limited or old technology.
For the narrow and mid-web markets, the LRD Automatic Transfer Rewinder model has been designed for a wide range of applications such as pressure sensitive labels, pharmaceutical cartons, lottery tickets, flexible packaging, and toothpaste tube laminate webs, to name a few.
“A key feature of this model is its automatic roll doffing function: the LRD winder offloads finished rolls automatically, without any required input from an operator via one of several standard doffing ramp designs – without the need for a cart – or with an articulating arm that delivers through the side of the unit,” explains Martin Automatic’s Hart. “The majority of LRD models are equipped with shear slitting systems for winding multiple ribbons, typical for applications in premium label, shrink sleeve, wraparound label, tube laminate, lidding, pouch and pharma packaging to eliminate additional downstream steps.”
Plus, the LRH model for mid and wide web applications incorporates winding, automatic roll change and automatic unloading of finished rolls. This versatile platform has found favor with lottery ticket, flexible packaging, folding carton, and disposable cup and plate converters around the world.
“Martin Automatic’s extensive research into tension profile curves has enabled us to lend expertise in, for example, the realm of rewinding non-symmetrical or non-homogeneous labels, including labels with heavy screen printing,” adds Hart. “In addition, advances in other technology, such as in-line inspection systems, are allowing more printers and converters to automate the rewinding function and reduce their
off-line processes.”
Prati, a global manufacturer of finishing equipment, offers products to perform a host of functions. These include slitting and rewinding, inspection, converting, diecutting, laminating and embellishment, among other functions. The company has tailored products specifically for the label and narrow web market in 14-30" widths.
“Our main product is the Prati Saturn family of machines with slitting and rewinding as its core process,” says Chiara Prati. “Our products deliver excellent productivity and minimal downtime, and Prati’s solutions are the best cost-effective answer to your big demands. We’ve designed our equipment to ensure maximum productivity and efficiency.”
Prati’s product line features full modularity, versatility and individualization of each function to suit specific customer requirements. According to Prati, the company’s products are easily customizable, which improves finishing quality and ensures better results for converters.
Danish finishing and converting specialist Grafisk Maskinfabrik (GM) has introduced its latest machine – the GM IR350 Multifunctional Inspection Rewinder – designed to complement the new 350 mm product line, which also includes the DC350 Premium Finishing Line and the recent DC350MINIflex Compact Converting Line.
The GM IR350 is an extended version of the established GM IR330 Inspection Rewinder, both built on the most modern electronic platform. Converting webs in widths up to 350 mm on rolls of max 400 mm in diameter, the GM IR350 offers high converting speeds of up to 200 m/m. The new machine can be used for multiple operations depending on the configuration, including inspection, back-numbering, counting, slitting and multi-layer (peel and reveal) labels. It is fully compliant with all requirements for pharmaceutical and safety controls characterized by high standards and the highest quality.
When configured as an inspection machine, the bi-directional system ensures “200% inspection” – this means that the camera stops the machine when a fault has been detected and repositions the faulty label back to the repair table. After repair, the label can be inspected again if required. This important feature allows the client to back-up and re-check a defective label to make sure the job is perfect. The system can be fitted with inspection cameras from AVT, BST, Nikka, Nyquist Systems or other suppliers according to client requirements.
A label dispenser can turn the GM IR350 into a complete multi-layer (peel and reveal) label production line and also allows the insertion of warning labels printed in Braille. An optional printing system can produce a report for each roll of labels, according to end-user requirements. Reverse printing is also possible when configured with a thermal inkjet module.
The GM IR350 is fully modular and retrofittable. Its short inspection table ensures the machine has a small footprint, saving space in the production environment.
With the continued presence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the addition of modular and automated functionalities has enabled converters to accomplish more with less. Printers can better handle increased workloads while also relying on the machine to accommodate growing demand with less manpower. The ability to convert finished rolls with fewer workers enables management to better deploy their staff throughout the facility.
When the concept of automating label printing is broached, slitter rewinders are one of the first functions that should come to mind. And as press technology has evolved, so too have slitter rewinders. The increased speeds of today’s presses necessitate converting equipment that can thrive with faster speeds.
“One of the recent trends in inline winding includes the level of automation available,” states Kelly Hart, communications and advertising director at Martin Automatic. “The refinement of drives and motors, advances in differential winding for slit ribbons, and advances in ergonomics and safety features have also improved. New winders offer the operators more tunable adjustments that can dramatically affect the quality of a wound roll. An educated operator now has the opportunity to wind difficult materials, at larger diameters, than older machines would allow.”
“Lemu Group automation addresses today’s need for highly efficient manufacturing,” says Andre Beaudoin, who leads Lemu Group USA’s sales and marketing team. “A single operator can operate the machine and produce finished, sealed, boxed product as fast as they can splice new rolls. Most of Lemu’s POS roll slitter rewinders operate at speeds in excess of 2,300 fpm. The system is completely intuitive and therefore adjusts itself to the exact line speed output rate. The roll packaging automation replaces the need for an operator and multiple people on the back end who are trying to keep up with the maximum output capability of the units with the need for batching, wrapping rolls, and forming and filling boxes. The fewer human touches on the product only enhances production output. One operator is all the process requires.
“With automation, there is no longer a need for more redundant non-technical help,” he adds. “One operator can run an entire automated line. This allows the converter to bring in much fewer people and greatly reduce the risk of exposure to manufacturing employees while maintaining peak production output levels.”
Today’s slitter rewinders have been designed to handle faster speeds while also operating with improved efficiency. The equipment must check a host of other boxes, as well.
“For KTI, a big improvement has been speed,” explains Angie Ostler, VP of finance and marketing at KTI. “Customers have told us over and over they want a machine that is fast. We have worked hard to create something not only with increased speeds, but is also efficient, operator-friendly and durable. The challenge is always creating something speedy that can handle a variety of materials.”
Slitter rewinders, with all their capabilities, have been designed to simplify the life of the operator. Not only can the machine do more with less, but the operator faces simplified tasks on the equipment.
“All of our machines are equipped with the latest servo and automation technology,” states Chiara Prati, CEO and CSO at Prati. “That allows a high degree of automation and makes the operation of our equipment extremely easy. The ease of operation and productivity has increased dramatically with these new technologies. Our FastCut system sets shear slitting knives by means of robotic fingers and is extremely precise and fast, which saves the operator at least 15-20 minutes with every job change.”
Slitter rewinders have no doubt increased in importance. AB Graphic International and Kocher + Beck recently joined forces to acquire Enprom Solutions. As part of this partnership, customers have access to a product range that includes single shaft, two shaft, one turret and two turret slitter rewinders, as well as a double turret nonstop fully automatic configuration, where widths vary between 800-1650 mm. The triumvirate has emphasized the changing needs of the modern label converter, which highlights the shift to shorter run lengths.
“Our clients’ work orders have changed in recent years, from a few orders of many meters to many orders of a few meters,” explains Marc Planella, flexible packaging specialist at Enprom Solutions. “The mindset of customers in the past has been focused only on the maximum machine speed. Nowadays, due to evolution and market demands, this approach has been expanded to focus also on less machine downtime for job changes and to more automated processes with just the required personnel.”
The industry’s latest slitter rewinders also benefit from modularity, as converters can upgrade equipment to better suit their needs.
“Martin’s equipment is designed for seamless integration with any new or existing process line,” says Hart. “Martin equipment can be configured to fit the tightest of available spaces, making the benefits of roll change automation accessible to nearly all converters. And most Martin rewinders and unwinders are offered with portability packages to enable easy movement to promote re-installation on other lines as production requirements dictate.”
AB Graphic’s line of SRIs (Slitter Rewinder Inspection) have been engineered to work for each customer’s specific production needs. Converters can add fleyeVision, ABG’s camera inspection with 8k resolution and 100% print, UV barcode, ultraviolet and braille inspection, as well as auto slit, auto cut, and an optional leader trailer, all in their choice of web widths. By tailoring the machines to a converter’s specific applications, Al Spendlow, US sales director at AB Graphic International, notes that the equipment has become popular in specific production environments such as pharma, security and luxury goods.
“A multitude of options can be added to adapt the machine to the customer’s requirements,” adds Planella. “These include a splicing table, inline printing/coating, automatic knives positioning, reel extraction, automatic core positioning, unloading handling, pushing plate to reception table, reception table and also any kind of inline process such as mechanical perforation or laser for micro/macro-perforation.”
With fewer employees required to run modern slitter rewinders, the label business has also been able to absorb the surge in orders that was presented in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“With the pandemic, many companies have seen new challenges, including reduction in staff and hours resulting in lower production,” notes KTI’s Ostler. “Being able to do more, faster and with less staff is something every company is looking at improving. Our auto-core loading reduces the amount of time an operator has to spend loading cores onto the machine, which allows for faster turret cycle times permitting shorter rolls to be run at higher line speeds.”
According to Lemu Group USA’s Beaudoin, the pandemic has only amplified the need for optimized internal processes. “The pandemic has provided some very important Lean Manufacturing lessons,” he says. “As our industry has been designated as essential, people were having issues with help not wanting to go back to work with fears of possibly contracting COVID-19. This truly challenged owners with getting product out the door quickly to hospitals, pharma companies, and CPG manufacturers.”
Slitter rewinders also play a significant role in promoting sustainability, too. This equipment can impact a company’s carbon footprint, which has not been lost on the manufacturers.
“We believe that every gesture, be it large or small, short-lived or long-lasting, represents our commitment to sustainable development and underlines our environmental awareness,” says Prati. “Our finishing solutions are built to respect this commitment, the offices are designed to minimize environmental impact, and the staff act in line with the company’s green ethics.”
New products
AB Graphic International has highlighted the inspection element – fleyeVision – on its equipment. The inspection of the label is done at the first camera system, and defect labels will be stopped at the second splice table to be accepted or exchanged by the operator. Re-inspection of exchanged labels then takes place at the second camera system. Finally, defect labels will be stopped at the third splice area, where acceptance or exchange will be signed by a supervisor.
ABG offers converters a variety of machines depending on their needs, ranging from the basic Omega 150 – a servo driven, compact, bi-directional, single lane, tabletop inspection slitter rewinder – to its core SRI, which features slitting, rewinding and inspection.
The company also provides bespoke options for pharmaceutical workflows with enhanced inspection and higher productivity, as well as for rewinding, converting, inspecting and numbering. Handling foil, blister material and booklets are also available options.
“Our SRIs have become faster, more efficient and we have added more bespoke modules, which allow our machines to be used in particular environments such as pharma, security, luxury goods,” notes ABG’s Spendlow. “We can easily add RFID tags, of which the popularity has grown significantly in recent years.”
Enprom, with the support of AB Graphic and Kocher + Beck, features the latest technology to increase operator efficiency. Less operator manipulation, automation of the operator jobs, improved acceleration ratios, an agile HMI interface, fast and automatic unloading cycle, automation of the knives’ positioning and reduction time to start the new rewind cycle are all key areas for this range of slitter rewinders.
“Enprom Solutions’ slitter rewinders have been designed for high speeds and built with strong and robust benches to avoid vibrations during the slitting and rewinding process,” explains Enprom’s Planella. “Slitter rewinders include rollers with different surface finishes, depending on the material to be worked, and dynamically balanced at the maximum speed of the machine. The products also present excellent tension control between the unwinding and infeed unit by means of a highly sensitive pneumatic dancer roller and independent tension control for each rewinding shaft through load cells, thanks to which we have the possibility of working with different decreasing pressure curves. This allows for working with standard materials as well compatibility with the most complicated ones.
“Our machinery is designed and built with the modular concept, giving the possibility of integrating inline processes at that time or leaving them ready for the future, depending on the evolution of the customer and the market,” he adds.
Meanwhile, KTI offers several models of turret rewinders, including its newly-launched MTR Series Turret Rewinder. “The MTR Series offers a brand-new roll closure system with inline print and apply, allowing customers to add various product and production information to the roll closure labels,” states KTI’s Ostler. “This may include product codes, lot numbers, job numbers, date of production and more. These labels are automatically printed and applied to the finished rolls before they are removed from the machine.”
The MR Series Turret Rewinder is available in 3- or 5-spindle configurations. The integrated festoon allows cutting and transferring at zero speed to effectively handle lighter materials, film and perforated products, and there are many options that can be added, including on-board slitting with web guide.
The KR2 Series Turret Rewinder offers a 2-spindle design and is a cost-effective choice for winding a variety of materials, including pressure sensitive labels and film. It provides flexibility for the press by winding parent rolls at full press speed while allowing the slower speed roll finishing to be performed on an off-line system. “A tension control dancer provides better control of the roll structure and tension at the transfer,” Ostler adds. “The 2-spindle design allows for production of larger rolls.”
Lemu Group USA, which has seen multiple installations recently, has developed a complete line of high speed, semi-automatic and fully automatic POS/lottery/linerless/ATM roll slitting and rewinding equipment.
Lemu Group’s RoboPlus has been designed to help converters across the globe with high-speed POS roll manufacturing and roll packaging automation. Based on the varied requirements of this market segment, Lemu Group has tailored its equipment to fit every specific need, Beaudoin says.
“The RoboPlus can be outfitted with flexo print stations in order to provide completely printed and converted product at the end of the run,” says Beaudoin. “Automation is always retrofittable on any Lemu Group piece of equipment, so you always have control over production efficiency and output.”
The company’s line of equipment has been optimized for all linerless, pressure sensitive, and plotter-vinyl rolls, among others. The equipment can also be outfitted with flexographic print capabilities up to six colors.
“We’ve designed our equipment to meet the need for higher production line speeds with wider web capability,” adds Beaudoin. “The need to convert from large master unwinds to finished product rolls in a completely sealed box is what converters are asking for, as it gets the product to their customer quicker and less expensively. With a more efficient production capability, the converter can now have some control over their profit margin.”
Lemu Group has also partnered with Martin Automatic, which has been an active player in this market for years. Martin Automatic has focused on non-stop production in web-fed applications. For rewinding, Martin Automatic has concentrated on non-stop inline winders, which are intended to minimize waste. The waste can be associated with expensive substrates lost due to manual roll changes, waste from poor winding control, waste from having to employ secondary off-line processes, wasted productivity from having to shut down the line for roll changes or from having to run slower than desired because of limited or old technology.
For the narrow and mid-web markets, the LRD Automatic Transfer Rewinder model has been designed for a wide range of applications such as pressure sensitive labels, pharmaceutical cartons, lottery tickets, flexible packaging, and toothpaste tube laminate webs, to name a few.
“A key feature of this model is its automatic roll doffing function: the LRD winder offloads finished rolls automatically, without any required input from an operator via one of several standard doffing ramp designs – without the need for a cart – or with an articulating arm that delivers through the side of the unit,” explains Martin Automatic’s Hart. “The majority of LRD models are equipped with shear slitting systems for winding multiple ribbons, typical for applications in premium label, shrink sleeve, wraparound label, tube laminate, lidding, pouch and pharma packaging to eliminate additional downstream steps.”
Plus, the LRH model for mid and wide web applications incorporates winding, automatic roll change and automatic unloading of finished rolls. This versatile platform has found favor with lottery ticket, flexible packaging, folding carton, and disposable cup and plate converters around the world.
“Martin Automatic’s extensive research into tension profile curves has enabled us to lend expertise in, for example, the realm of rewinding non-symmetrical or non-homogeneous labels, including labels with heavy screen printing,” adds Hart. “In addition, advances in other technology, such as in-line inspection systems, are allowing more printers and converters to automate the rewinding function and reduce their
off-line processes.”
Prati, a global manufacturer of finishing equipment, offers products to perform a host of functions. These include slitting and rewinding, inspection, converting, diecutting, laminating and embellishment, among other functions. The company has tailored products specifically for the label and narrow web market in 14-30" widths.
“Our main product is the Prati Saturn family of machines with slitting and rewinding as its core process,” says Chiara Prati. “Our products deliver excellent productivity and minimal downtime, and Prati’s solutions are the best cost-effective answer to your big demands. We’ve designed our equipment to ensure maximum productivity and efficiency.”
Prati’s product line features full modularity, versatility and individualization of each function to suit specific customer requirements. According to Prati, the company’s products are easily customizable, which improves finishing quality and ensures better results for converters.
Danish finishing and converting specialist Grafisk Maskinfabrik (GM) has introduced its latest machine – the GM IR350 Multifunctional Inspection Rewinder – designed to complement the new 350 mm product line, which also includes the DC350 Premium Finishing Line and the recent DC350MINIflex Compact Converting Line.
The GM IR350 is an extended version of the established GM IR330 Inspection Rewinder, both built on the most modern electronic platform. Converting webs in widths up to 350 mm on rolls of max 400 mm in diameter, the GM IR350 offers high converting speeds of up to 200 m/m. The new machine can be used for multiple operations depending on the configuration, including inspection, back-numbering, counting, slitting and multi-layer (peel and reveal) labels. It is fully compliant with all requirements for pharmaceutical and safety controls characterized by high standards and the highest quality.
When configured as an inspection machine, the bi-directional system ensures “200% inspection” – this means that the camera stops the machine when a fault has been detected and repositions the faulty label back to the repair table. After repair, the label can be inspected again if required. This important feature allows the client to back-up and re-check a defective label to make sure the job is perfect. The system can be fitted with inspection cameras from AVT, BST, Nikka, Nyquist Systems or other suppliers according to client requirements.
A label dispenser can turn the GM IR350 into a complete multi-layer (peel and reveal) label production line and also allows the insertion of warning labels printed in Braille. An optional printing system can produce a report for each roll of labels, according to end-user requirements. Reverse printing is also possible when configured with a thermal inkjet module.
The GM IR350 is fully modular and retrofittable. Its short inspection table ensures the machine has a small footprint, saving space in the production environment.
