The BOBST seduction
Canadian Packaging
Automation Corrugated Bobst FFG 8.20 EXPERTLINE folder gluer Timbar Packaging & DisplayBOBST seduces North American market with new FFG 8.20 EXPERTLINE folder gluer.
Last month in Miami, FL, BOBST held an open house event at the plant of customer Timbar Packaging & Display—specialists in the design and production of corrugated board boxes—presenting its new FFG 8.20 EXPERTLINE folder gluer.
Calling it the the only equipment worldwide to offer a fully automated production, from the feeding of the board (pre-feeder) down to the palletized, BOBST says the fast, effective and highly-capable line is truly “awe-inspiring”.
Designed for the making of RSC (regular slotted carton) boxes in a single pass, the machine achieves 24,000 boxes per hour. Due to the super fast set-up of the complete line, the order changeover takes less than two minutes. Furthermore, two operators are enough to control all the operations.
Taking after the success of its FFG 8.20 EXPERT and FFG 8.20 DISCOVERY, the FFG 8.20 EXPERTLINE features an even higher degree of automation.
At the inlet, a non-stop and high speed feeding. It runs without operators and uses the BOBST Sequential Order Change (SOC) device for a super fast automatic order changeover. After the counter, a BOBST palletizer increases the performances of production. These innovations were greatly appreciated by the roughly 50y attendees present at Timbar’s plant. Coming from the U.S. and and Canada, they represented several integrated companies, independent businesses and sheet plants.
Less than two minute changeover
Running at its maximum speed of 24,000 bhp, the FFG 8.20 EXPERTLINE achieves outstanding swiftness and performance.
During each of the five demos, Timbar performed three order changeovers in less than two minutes, demonstrating the efficiency of its fully-automated production line.
Next to the demos, BOBST continued with three workshops displaying the novelties and assets of the EXPERTLINE:
- With its innovative ergonomy, the Smart mounting plate device ensures a super fast fitting of the printing dies.
- The new generation Slotter with four pairs of shafts also provides an independent automatic lap cutting.
- Additionally, the whole production is easily and safely driven through the man-machine interfaces.
The MMPC (Maintenance Management & Productivity Control) remotely controls numerous parameters with the machine running. On the other hand, the touch screens of the MPC4 interface facilitate intuitive set-ups at every stage of the manufacturing process.
Does the work of three machines
Since installing the machine at Timbar in July of 2014, it has continued to smash company records, with company senior vice-president Bill Thom simply stating “EXPERTLINE, the game changer.”
Adds Timbar manufacturing services manager Marc D. Farrar: “Being a super fast and fully-automated production line, the FFG 8.20 EXPERTLINE does the job of three machines and has increased our performances.”
Since the line was implemented, the volume of boxes produced by Timbar is running roughly four-million additional square feet (360,000 sqm), with 500 fewer machine hours than the three machines they replaced on a monthly basis.
As well, Timbar notes that the speed and efficiency of the equipment also enabled it to achieve an exceptional accomplishment: in eight hours only, 14 orders have been run representing a total of 137,315 boxes. That’s a lot of boxes.
During the event, the attendees’ strong interest has confirmed the success of the machine since its launching, along with its high potential in the North American market.
For more information on BOBST, visit www.bobst.com.
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