Packaging
SOLECO increases the flexibility of its Autoplaten presses with new tools developed by BOBST
Tuesday 07. July 2009 - In order to increase the number of job changeovers carried out on each of its BOBST Autoplaten presses, French converter SOLECO recently chose to convert them to BOBSTs QUICK LOCK and ANGLE LOCK tooling systems.
While each of the companys machines has gained in flexibility, the job of their operators at changeover time has been made easier and simpler, making it possible for SOLECO to now offer extremely short run lengths.
On arriving at the SOLECO facility in Saint-Junien, not far from Limoges, one feels the kind of calm that only an air of experience and know-how can bring. The pleasant smiles of the staff conquer the visitor, yet the plant works on with obvious efficiency.
For the employees of SOLECO, the summer starts early, with the arrival of one of the specialties of the house, ice cream packaging manufactured from litho-laminated microflute. The plants second specialty is the production of wine boxes made from double wall corrugated.
The company produces its litho-laminated board using two ASITRADE lines, the sheets being offset printed in Limoges at its SOLEPRINT subsidiary. Diecutting is carried out using four BOBST Autoplaten presses geared towards both folding carton and corrugated substrates, while the companys folding and gluing department utilizes three BOBST folder-gluers.
With its sector of the packaging market calling for increasingly short run lengths and work of increasing variety, it is obvious that changeovers are becoming increasingly more numerous. For Autoplaten presses, the specialists at BOBST have developed tools which take account of these constraints, being quickly and easily introduced into the machine, and with the assurance that they will be perfectly aligned and ready to produce when they are.
Savings in time and the total control of orders
Mr. Bruno Ramat, the man in charge of production at SOLECO, led a study devoted to the reduction of changeover times on their Autoplaten presses for folding carton work. This was followed very closely by the introduction of the BOBST QUICK LOCK and ANGLE LOCK tooling systems into the workshop in 2008. An important constraint was that the systems were to be compatible between the four presses of the site. The compatibility of tools between machines of types SP and SPO is carried out in house and is a factor that has been taken into account from the very start by SOLECO. Of some 3’000 tools in stock, nearly 50% have now been converted by the plant.
The concepts of both systems rest on the technology of positioning CENTERLINE tools. The whole of the machine is built around the CENTERLINE in order to guarantee extremely precise centering of the tools and, consequently, reliable repeatability, job after job. QUICK LOCK tools include stripping and blank separating frames integrated in the machine. This system allows for fast and easy fixing of formes, whose precise and easily repeated positioning is ensured by a constant tightening force. Simple solutions make it possible to ensure precision during the resumption of orders. For Bruno Ramat, “the benefit we get is in the saving of time on makeready, and a reduction in difficulty. Previously, we needed two people to carry the frames, while today, one person can set and run the machine on their own. The setting of QUICK LOCK tools is very fast. A complicated forme is set in 25 to 30 minutes now, against 50 to 55 minutes in the past”. And, he adds, “thanks to the saving in makeready time, we can now produce small runs easily – even test series of 300 to 500 sheets! These small runs are no longer sub-contracted out, which gives us total control of an order, which is a plus for both us and for our customers”.
Technicians from BOBST France carried out the work on the machines and were followed attentively by Bruno Ramat. He himself arrived at the company thirty years ago, for a stay of just one month on leaving school with a CAP in general mechanics. Subsequently he held positions in all stages of production at SOLECO before becoming the person in charge of that production. According to Mr. Ramat, “the change from the old system to the CENTERLINE solution and QUICK LOCK was carried out without a hitch and my team is even promoting it to operators from other companies”.