News Releases, cont.
...continued from previous page
from Package Printing, Feb. 2008 issue:
Don't Let the
Web Guide YOU
...Without these systems, a job can still be completed. But the important question is, "Do you want to finish it before the next guy, and at a lower cost?" Here's how [a converter] learned to love web guiding systems.
Waste Control
In April 2004,
General Converting bought and installed a slitter/sheeter at its Bolingbrook, IL plant. A few months later, the company realized that it needed a solution to help eleviate tedious web-guiding procedures.
"When General Converting first installed the sheeter, it was equipped with a manual single roll guiding system for each (unwind) roll stand," says Michael Johnson, technologies manager. "We had to use the roll stands and the manual single guide rolls to try to center one roll to the slitter. We would then thread the second roll over the top of the first roll, trying to keep it centered exactly before it went through the center sitter."
With makereadies averaging about 45-minutes, and with the added inconveniece of constantly monitoring the two rolls, General Converting faced productivity hurdles. "If we encountered a loose wound
roll, we had to stop production and run the rolls as singles, therefore doubling the production time and increasing waste. " says Johnson. "The average waste of the operation was between 100-150 linear feet per makeready."
So, the converter shopped around for a solution, and later purchased a Web-guide system from the North American Manufacturing Company (NAMFG) that would fit its sheeter configuration. The customized dual web guide - with a complete engineered mounting stand and designed to General Converting's specifications - was installed at the end of 2004. NAMFG handled all of the design, building a walkway above existing equipment, adding a convenient location for operator controls and width positioning, and pre-wiring electrical connections to a junction box for simple power connection hookup.
"Since the installation, it has been a very reliable piece of equipment. Our average makeready time has been reduced to 15 minutes. The system can handle loose wound rolls up to 2" in either direction for center without moving roll stands," says Johnson. "The only waste we incur [comes from] the core wraps and [accounts for] about 20-linear feet at startup. Without web guiding, waste would be very hard to control, and sheet quality would vary during the run and from roll to roll."
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