Feature Packaging equipment Bagging a new lease of life
When Gelpak wanted to increase production flexibility and reduce downtime with its plastic bag making machinery, the company turned to Bosch Rexroth and its partners
It was this wide range of products which was causing increasing prob- lems in the production area of Gelpak’s business. In particular, Gelpak was using a number of older Contiflex bag machines, 30 in all, across two sites. The Contiflex machine is a sealing and perforating unit for production of bags on a roll, such as freezer bags, fruit and vegetable bags and bottom seal bags. It has a production speed of up to 70m per minute and is capable of up to 150 cycles per minute. Crucially, it is capable of variable sealing width with a maximum of 350mm and a bag length from 315–1200mm.
G
elpak is one of the UK’s leading extruders and manufacturers of films, bags and liners for use across a wide range of industry sectors, from automotive, through to food, healthcare, waste and recycling. Based in Hereford, the company provides a range of mono and co- extruded polyethylene packaging products available in a variety of colours, plain or printed and includ- ing bags, sheets, sheeting, tubing, liners and sleeves, supplied flat folded or tear off on-the-roll.
Transicon, a Bosch Rexroth technology partner, has devel- oped the capability to give Contiflex machines a new lease of life
Derek Mumford, works manager at Gelpak, wanted to reduce downtime and increase operational flexibility of his Contiflex machines. “We were looking for better performance from the Contiflex machines, in particular because we were having some prob- lems with the clutch unit which was causing downtime and was expensive to replace.”
Gelpak turned to Transicon, a Bosch Rexroth technology partner company and a leader in the field of electrical control, drive and automation sys- tems. Transicon’s expertise lies in the retrofitting of older machines across a variety of sectors including automo- tive, roll-feed machines in metal form- ing industry and the packaging sector.
Carafettes are smooth choice for innocent i
nnocent drinks have launched their new range of orange juice with both varieties, smooth and with bits, now appearing in a new pack design, 330ml carafettes supplied by Graham Packaging Plastics. Thomas Delabriere, marketing director at innocent says: “ Our new juice carafes were launched in February on the back of the success and growth that innocent has enjoyed over the past year. We believe there is a real opportunity for incremental growth in the NFC juice category, which has been demonstrated by the huge success of our juices so far. We are excited to be able to provide new and existing customers with an ‘on the go’ option for our NFC and delicious tasting juice.” After the incredible success of the carafes in the grocery sector, innocent decided to launch a format specifically for the ‘on the go’ market sector. The iconic design of the new 330ml carafettes means that they will really stand out on shelf and will reinvigorate the one-shot juice category. innocent drinks came up with the idea for the 330ml carafette and worked closely with Graham Packaging to develop a bottle that mirrored the original large carafe for shelf appeal, and it had to be fully recyclable. As Graham Packaging has a secure supply of PCR material they were able to include 35 per cent rPET in the new bottle as requested by innocent. The final result of the stunning design is a bottle that looks like the original carafes only smaller. The launch of the new juices is being supported with a heavy ATL campaign and promotional in-store activity. Graham Packaging Plastics
T: 01865 893000 14
www.grahampackagingeurope.com Enter 312
“We decided to send a single machine to Transicon for a refurbish- ment to improve the accuracy and changeover and reduce the mainte- nance times,” says Mumford. “Then we could assess the improvements before going ahead with any more machines.” “Gelpak asked us to upgrade a Contiflex bag machine from an exist- ing mechanical clutch variator system and a mechanical SRA speed variator which was driven from one motor,” says Richard Cotsford, sales and mar- keting director at Transicon. “Their goal was to improve the accuracy and repeatability of the machine, by replacing the existing mechanical speed variator and lessen the amount of downtime by replacing the mechanical clutch.” Cotsford continues: “We felt we could improve product accuracy, reduce maintenance costs and down- time between product changeovers. After looking very closely at the machine and Gelpak’s requirements we recommended replacing the con- trol panel to incorporate the use of Bosch Rexroth servo drives and con- trol system along with a touchscreen HMI which would make significant savings on changeover times.” Most of the electrical and mechani- cal work was completed within a 10- 12 week timeframe and Gelpak is confident the upgraded machine will improve productivity and manufactur- ing flexibility.
“The big benefit will be in changeover time, in that the machine is now much easier to set up when we have to change the type of bag being produced,” says Mumford. “With the upgrade we are hoping to save three to four hours for each changeover.” Cotsford believes that Transicon’s experience with Gelpak will open up opportunities with other Contiflex users. “This has been a very success- ful conversion and we are now rolling-out the Bosch Rexroth solu- tion to other Gelpak machines and to other customers, offering this as a standard package for the FAS Contiflex range of machines.”
Bosch Rexroth T: 01480 223200
www.boschrexroth.co.uk
Enter 311 SEPTEMBER 2011 Factory Equipment
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