CODING, MARKING, LABELLING AND CONTROL
FOR THE PACKAGING INDUSTRY
FOR THE PACKAGING INDUSTRY |
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Travtec Case Studies
PAPER REEL MARKING FOR ST REGIS
Nesting in the West Pennine Moors is the industrial town of Darwen, famous for its abundance of water and paper mills. The Hollins paper mill, a member of the St Regis Paper Company Limited, had a requirement to upgrade their method of coding paper reels. The following case study demonstrates how the partnership between Travtec and Willett UK successfully resolved their problem. The Customer Requirements: Hollins Mill produce vast quantities of recycled, high quality paper products including OPTIMA and MOTTLED Presentation Liners etc. for use by various household named companies throughout the country and also for export to the continent. To meet legislative requirements recommended by the fibreboard industry, a legible code detailing reel number, reel length, width, grade and grammage needed to be positioned along the end face of the reel as close to the core as possible within operating constraints. The positioning of the code was important as the information needed to be readable even when outer labels were missing, or where paper reels had been partly used. It was also recommended that the minimum height of the lettering should be 30mm for ease of reading when in storage. The traditional method for coding had been to use a stencil. This was a lengthy manual process relying on an operator to fill in the information within a stencil across the reel face. This was often a laborious job and the quality of the code relied solely on operator accuracy. Because the code had to be read when the reel was part used a label positioned on the outside was not deemed appropriate. Hollins was increasingly under pressure from its customers to match the standards achieved by some of its sister mills and those of its competitors who already have fully automated marking systems. The Travtec/Willett Solution: To print on the end face of variable sized reels (ranging from 2.5 to 5 tonnes and 1270 - 1400mm diameter) during the manufacturing process of up to 180 reels per day, Travtec designed a pedestal mounted X-Y Axis Traversing Unit to suit the Willett large character inkjet printers. Operation is by manual positioning of the reel by forklift truck to within 300mm of a datum point. The printhead arm is fixed to print at an optimum height between the floor and reel core. The operator scans a pre-labelled barcode, downloading the information into the print controller and presses a switch which automatically actuates the Y-Axis ram, extending the printheads to within 3mm of the reel end face and automatically compensating for misalignment. The heads are then traversed across in the X-Axis, printing the message in one pass. After printing the arm is automatically retracted to the home position and the reel is withdrawn. The sequence takes approximately 10 seconds and although ultimately is still operator dependent leaves no room for error. The unit is housed in a 1" heavy duty steel cabinet to avert contact by the forklift trucks and thus preventing potential damage to the system. The installed Willett large character inkjet printer is one of a range of control systems available to suit a variety of coding requirements from simple single line slow speed carton coding, through high quality graphics and barcodes, to high speed multi-line addressing. To code onto the porous surface of the Hollins products and incorporating the most advanced valve technology, Willett installed three slimline printheads from the 700 range specifically designed to be stacked to print multi-line simultaneously. The 16 dot capability of the 716 printhead was chosen to create the characters 3-mm high, meeting the required standard. space was allowed in the system for a fourth printhead if in due course, this was also required. The ink supplied by Willett is purpose developed for use with the 700 printheads ensuring optimum performance in terms of print quality and machine reliability. The solution provided by the specialists Travtec Limited is one of a number of coding/marking/labelling product handling systems. The Result: This complete system, installed in 1998 has proved uncomplicated and easy to use and has demonstrated high reliability. Mike Claydon, Managing Director commented that "this solution has enhanced our product by giving it a professional finish, whilst fulfilling the legislative requirements at a modest cost. In the context of a capital investment, it was a non-event in terms of installation - it was installed, it worked and has continued to work!" Peter Ross, Engineering Director, also praised the system; he was delighted with its installation and quality of code - his job is now much easier because he simply doesn't have to think (let alone worry) about it! It has also freed up the operators time, enabling him to concentrate on other areas within the mill. (Reproduced from Willett News, Winter 1999)
Travtec Limited, Commonwealth Close, Leigh Business Park. Leigh. Lancashire. WN7 3BD. UK Phone:+44 (0) 1942 677664. Fax: +44 (0) 1942 261101 Members of the Processing & Packaging Machinery Association
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