Slitting & Rewinding
rewinding market needs Annemarie Rhodes, managing director, Bar Graphic Machinery, says when it comes to the finishing department of any printer, the final stage of production is critical to the quality of the final product
The need to continually adapt to today’s slitting and
W
ith sizable investment in digital workflows, platemaking and flexo or digital presses printing up to 10-12 colours, with units for
innovative coatings, security technology or tactile varnishes, significant investment goes up front in the label and packaging printing workflow. However, get the slitting or rewinding stage wrong and your value-added high-quality label or pack can quickly create expensive waste, which also is now measured in environmental impact. Bar Graphic Machinery is a specialist in the design and manufacture of narrow web slitter rewinders, rotary die cutting rewinders and digital converting finishing systems for the global label and packaging industries. In business for over 30 years, BGM knows that staying close to its customers’ needs ensures it is continuously adapting to the latest market trends. What we see today is printers challenged on a number of fronts. They need high speed production with fast turnaround but their order sizes are shrinking. Having machines in place that offer flexibility and agility to respond to what is now a complex business environment is core to gaining competitive advantage.
On top of this, quality is a given. Brands set out exacting standards for their packs and labels – their reputations rely on it – and they expect their supply chain partners to respond with consistently high- quality print results, job to job and run to run. Printers are the squeezed middle in the label and packaging supply chain. They have pressure on costs from their suppliers across inks, substrates, energy and parts, and their customers are continuously seeking cost down or innovation, which also requires further investment. On top of this, sustainability plays a huge role in the consumer purchasing decision today.
This creates a need for new more sustainable materials, lower carbon footprint supply chains and measurement of operational performance, which again is all focused onto the printer. The slitting rewinding stage of print production therefore
must be able to contribute to the business’s need to drive operational excellence and consider the environment into the bargain.”
Understanding the pressures that today’s printers are under, BGM is committed to a program of continuous research and development. Chairman and lead design engineer, Bill Rhodes, says: “We’re proud to design and develop slitting and rewinding machines that meet the specific needs of narrow web printers, both large and small, around the world. We manufacture a range of standard machines but invariably our customers need some adjustments to directly meet today’s business challenges. Whether adding flexo or inkjet print heads to a machine to free up capacity in the pressroom or simply extending a table to support the way an operator works, it’s all possible. Flexibility is key in our approach and key to our customers.” Reflecting the company’s commitment to customer-led innovation and continuous improvement, BGM has recently released a new machine that directly responds to the needs identified at the slitting and rewinding stage of operations. With a focus on flexibility and waste reduction at the slitting stage, we developed the Elite Digiflex 330. It’s a high performance and highly flexible full servo reregister flexo die cutting and converting system that provides both printing and slitting /
rewinding capabilities. It also incorporates a semi- rotary re-register flexo print station with LED drying, as well as cold foiling and laminating units, helping printers to free up capacity in the press room. In addition, we recognised that conventional print cylinders create waste when machines start and stop due to the impression on/off leaving a bar mark. On this machine we enabled the impression to not be in an impression print stage when the machine is stopped eliminating waste and cost for the business.
Combine this with being highly energy efficient with speeds up to 160m/min and a back slitting unit, waste rewind with lay-on roller and rapid slit rotary shear cutting system, all complemented by master and finishing rewinders, and you have a productivity and efficiency boost to any finishing department. It is clear that sustainability is now core to label and packaging supply chains and the slitting and rewinding department is key to minimising loss and waste, which invariably has a cost to the environment as well as detrimentally affecting quality performance. Today’s printer has to invest in the most robust, efficient and flexible finishing technologies available that are agile enough to respond 24/7 to what are the ever-evolving needs of the global packaging and label print market.
18
September 2023
www.convertermag.com
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