Better Treatment

When new technology can be acquired to improve product quality, increase productivity, and offer additional cost reductions with an attractive return on investment (ROI) it doesn't take long for a company to incorporate it into its operation. Such is the case for De Pere, Wis.-based Green Bay Packaging Inc.'s Folding Carton Division (www.gbp.com) and its recent investment in atmospheric plasma surface treating technology.

Some background

Green Bay Packaging Inc., founded in 1933, is a privately owned, integrated manufacturer of paperboard packaging, including pulp and paper mills, corrugated box plants, pressure-sensitive label stock, and folding cartons. The company has been producing folding cartons since 1942, and just two years ago, moved into a new facility built with the future in mind.

"We have a very experienced workforce, utilizing the newest technologies in a facility designed for future growth," says Bill Kelley, plant operations manager. "Our operating philosophy is to provide our customers with high-quality, consistently performing, and competitively priced product on time, all the time."

The Folding Carton Division supplies products to the paper, food and beverage, automotive, hardware, and cosmetics markets. It uses offset printing to produce the high-quality graphics required by these markets and incorporates Lean Manufacturing methods to focus on improving its processes on a daily basis, notes Kelley.

Innovation

According to Kelley, Green Bay Packaging prides itself on using innovation as one pillar of its success. "You can't sit still. We're always on the lookout for new technology, new ideas, and new methods to maximize uptime and reduce waste," he says.

This philosophy led the company to identify atmospheric plasma surface treating technology as a means to improve adhesion for its polycoated folding cartons. It worked with Enercon Industries (Menomonee Falls, Wis., www.enerconind.com) to set up a trial system to test the technology in operation. The system made an immediate positive impact on the business, so Green Bay Packaging quickly placed an order for a new system and used the trial unit until the new system arrived.

Based on purchasing criteria that focused on performance, value, and cost, Green Bay Packaging selected Enercon's Dyne-A-Mite IT™ Elite blown-ion air plasma surface treater. The in-line system includes four treating heads that can be mounted above the company's various folder/gluers.

Enercon's atmospheric plasma treater pretreats the carton flaps prior to gluing by cleaning the surface of contaminants, micro-roughening the surface to create more bonding sites, and functionalizing it for adhesion. The key to success is a blown-ion discharge that bombards the surface with a high-speed discharge of ions. Positive ion bombardment provides micro-etching or scrubbing (ablation) to remove (desorb) organic and inorganic contaminants from the surface.

Benefits all around

According to Plant Engineering Manager Tom Vogel, the results have been impressive. "Previously, folder/gluer press speeds were limited by glue application speed and dwell time. With atmospheric plasma surface treatment, press speeds can be significantly increased while maintaining and even improving quality," he states.

Kelley concurs. "The most noteworthy benefit provided with the Enercon air plasma system is a quality glue bond on the polycoated folding cartons at increased run speed on our folder/gluers." In addition to increased production speeds and stronger glue flaps, the company has eliminated mechanical preparations of the flaps (such as skiving) and can use coldset adhesives rather than hot-melt. Coldset is generally less expensive and allows for quicker makereadies.

Addressing variations

Folding carton designs continually evolve, and materials including polycoated, polybacked, virgin kraft board, specially coated materials, UV lacquered surfaces, and recyclable materials can exhibit varied receptivity to glue bonding. For Green Bay Packaging, the use of an atmospheric plasma treater has significantly reduced bonding issues due to material variations.

The Dyne-A-Mite IT Elite also allows the company to respond to varying production needs. The portable system's locking wheels allow the system to be moved between various folders/gluers as the need arises. With four treatment heads available, the system can provide treatment to multiple glue flaps on a single folding carton configuration.

According to Kelley, Green Bay Packaging experienced very few problems with the implementation of the new surface-treating equipment. "The system works well on all paperboard substrates we use," he adds.

Vogel also says that the Dyne-A-Mite IT Elite is very easy to use with a PLC-based touch screen for controlling each treatment head, along with a Plasma Integrity Monitoring system that provides enhanced ability to troubleshoot should any problems arise.

"By adding atmospheric plasma treatment we have been able to reduce our lead times," Kelley says. "More importantly, we have confidence that we will always have a good glue bond at increased gluer speeds."

Green Bay Packaging Inc.'s investment in state-of-the-art surface treating technology has provided benefits to its own productivity, along with that of its customers pP