Working Overtime to Eliminate Downtime
Time is money and wide-web flexo suppliers continue to try and save as much of each as they can.
LIKE IT OR not, society has become a place where everybody wants something now (or better yet, yesterday), leading to fax machines, cell phones, PDAs, laptop computers, and microwave ovens. Time is money and any wasted time is the same as playing three card monty in Times Square, i.e. wasted money.
With the cost of operating wide-web flexo presses still relatively high, converters must find ways to increase press uptime and efficiency. How and where to find this improved productivity is the $64,000 question, and while the answers may seem simple, implementation can be a tad bit more difficult in today's economic climate.
New technologies provide speed and uptime improvements
The first thing printers need to recognize is what is happening in the market to improve the overall operation of wide-web flexo. For PCMC Global Business Development Manager Tom Jacques, the solutions lie in new technology. "The most important factors have been the development of gearless printing technology that have been aided by advancements in servo drives, printing sleeves and press design, and new drying technology," Jacques says. His company has paid particular attention to these variables since the 90s, with a sleeve presentation system on PCMC's Infiniti family of presses designed specifically to cut changeover time and reduce sleeve damage.
"PCMC's Sleeve Presentation System has improved changeover time and ease of operation, which in turn gives more uptime available for other jobs," he says. "This increases the press' capacity and lowers its overall production costs."
Comexi America Inc. sales manager Rick Ruenzel also credits the introduction of sleeves as having a tremendous influence on increased productivity. In fact, sleeve presses make up 95 percent of Comexi's press production.
Gearless presses have played a large role in providing increased accuracy and repeatability of print jobs, while a more process-oriented mentality in recent years has helped to improve finished product quality and repeatability. For example, PCMC's Avanti gearless press employs new drying technology to better handle films which are sensitive to heat and tension disturbances.
PCMC's latest development is the Infiniti II Gearless Press, which provides better performance and an improved cost/benefit ratio. "This trend will continue for the foreseeable future—better, faster wide-web presses to continue lowering overall production costs," Jacques says. Another PCMC development is its eXtreme dryer, which allows higher press speeds and lower retained solvents.
"In addition, wide-web flexo will continue to push both press speeds and uptimes to meet these challenges, uptime being the more important of the two." he adds. "In the end, everyone wants to lower cost per unit for a specified quality. Advances in raw materials—substrates, inks, coatings, and adhesives—will help lower cost while boosting performance characteristics."
Comexi has long contended that they were one of the first, if not the original manufacturer to develop a truly gearless flexo press according to Ruenzel. He says they will continue to offer improvements and refinements.
"We have to offer complete solutions into the main functions of the press, including a better integration of peripherals like video, viscosity controls, roll handling, wash-up and environmental controls," he says. "Today, people and companies are not only buying a press, but a package of customer support and technology. This includes among other things, more intuitive press controls, better press ergonomics, and auto wash-up systems."
Other companies have employed computer advancement to make reruns quicker and easier. BHS Printing Machinery Corporation, for example, has created a Promet Print Management System that keeps each of its orders in a memory bank and automatically resets the entire press for rapid changeover. "Print Management System provides job storage and recall to reset presses automatically for thousands of jobs on reruns; records maintenance; reminds operators of scheduled maintenance; gives details of maintenance to be done; and also records performance of the press," says BHS President Dieter Langendorf.
He also highlights servo drive systems, not only for their ease of operation and pinpoint accuracy, but also for the ability to print any repeat length. Servos also make it possible to operate presses inline with a die cutter, or go roll-to-roll at full speed.
Inta-Roto Vice President/Director of Marketing Nik Kuppalli seconds these sentiments, "We believe the biggest improvement in wide-web has been the servo drives, because they allow for infinite repeat."
What's next for wide-web flexo
The on-going cost pressures will force inefficient printers to re-evaluate their pricing strategies in the marketplace, according to Jacques and Langendorf. Some are already turning to "desperation pricing" (i.e. selling at or below cost), which is obviously not sustainable long-term. What they need to do is focus on their uptime to get their costs back in line. "When the press is down for any reason, it is not making money," Jacques says. This is critical since continued consolidation will help balance supply and demand to a much greater extent than in the past.
Kuppalli points out the impact that press clean up has on uptime. "Customers want to limit their downtime, and they lose a lot of time in clean-up," he states. "Improvements must be made so that customers can have a better, quicker clean-up."
In terms of specific products or ideas, Inta-Roto believes its development of doctor bar applicators is very important. "We are improving on enclosed doctor bar applicators by installing automatic cleaning systems and toolless doctor blade changeovers," Kuppalli says. "Our customers like the no-mess scenarios, as well as the ease with which the blades are changed."
At PCMC, new eXell technology has taken makeready and clean up off of the press section(s), substantially boosting uptime for printing. eXell takes internal tasks and makes them into external tasks through Single Minute Exchange of Dies (or SMED) design philosophy.
BHS is proud of their "Flying Job Change," which makes it possible to change over non-printing decks while others are printing. Because the press is not actually shut down, changeover is accomplished on-the-run resulting in additional savings in waste.
