FEATURE Slitting & Rewinding The local slitting specialists
Celebrating 40 years of providing services to the UK’s paper mills, converters, and graphics industry, 2015 looks set to be an exciting year for Swemko UK
setting and how best to overcome specific problems being encountered. Knives can be supplied in a variety of materials, cutting geometries and degrees of surface finishes, including highly polished, and all are designed to further improve the overall cutting process and knife life.
Since its humble beginnings back in 1975 when Ray and Doreen Medd began the business,
Swemko has expanded and evolved as a company, always staying loyal to the inherent knowledge built over its history. Managing director David Medd explains more. Today, Swemko is one of the country’s
largest suppliers of industrial machine knives, with four strategically-located sharpening stations supporting the products it supplies. Its facilities are established in Bristol, London, Rotherham and Livingston in Scotland, which allows the company to provide a local and efficient blade- sharpening service across the country. Aside from the provision of quality
products, Swemko offers a complete service to its customers, giving sound, technical advice on all aspects of cutting applications and across many industries.
Its industry position has led to it securing long-term enviable agency agreements with leading global manufacturers, such as Dienes
Werke GmbH and TMK (The Knife Manufacturers) GmbH. These agencies further strengthen Swemko’s relationships with its customers, and its increasing product knowledge and experience allows Swemko to gather knowledge of specific cutting problems and the necessary solutions.
The Dienes slitter range used by Swemko 16
May 2015
The build-up of dust A typical and universal problem in the paper and pulp industries has always been the generation of dust during the slitting process. Modern print and process machinery demands cleaner slit edges and higher tolerances. This, coupled with the utilisation of more abrasive paper and boards throughout the industry, results in a constant search for an affordable solution. The majority of today’s dust and cutting problems are influenced by blade geometry, knife materials, blade setting, surface finish and grinding. Swemko offers advice to improve on all these elements. As a company offering knife regrinding, Swemko is able to conduct trials and modify blade angles and dimensions to improve results. Knife materials range from basic tool steel, to high-speed steel, up to Tungsten Carbide, and the relationship between top and bottom knife materials can greatly influence performance. Swemko can offer advice and provide suitable knives to work towards better performance. Regarding knife setting, advice is always available and on-site training programmes can educate staff on the principles of knife
New materials - new problems Numerous new materials are constantly coming into the market; complex laminates, films, foils, self-adhesives and non-wovens, all of which can provide their own challenges. Shear slitting, razor and crush cutting are available to ensure optimum slitting performance and Swemko, with the assistance of its principle agency partners, has experience in all methods and is well placed to offer sensible advice.
Newer machine knife holders To establish exact performance, Swemko has a KMP (Knife Management Programme) that gives its customers comprehensive usage figures and stock management. This service is a benefit to the customer for what is a technical, but relatively low value product. Pneumatic knife holders are now becoming commonplace on many machines, regardless of their size. The benefits of using individual holders and being able to accurately set each blade gives obvious benefits in slit quality over the traditional shaft-mounted knife holders often used on smaller equipment, although these still have their place in less demanding applications and where narrow slits are required. Working with Dienes allows Swemko to
provide pneumatic holders to suit all applications and machine speeds. Crush cut holders from just four millimetres slit width, shear holders from 16mm wide and with some models running speeds of up to 3,500m/minute enables the company to provide the best unit for each application. Twin guidance systems on many of the holders result in long-term stability coupled with vibration-free operation. Swemko aims to be the one stop shop service for its customers’ slitting demands.
Swemko T: +44 (0)8450 760 960
www.swemkoknife.com
www.convertermag.co.uk
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