[dropcaps style=’2′]Pune-based Pratham Technologies Pvt Ltd., a leading manufacturer of pharmaceutical leaflet folding machines, recently dispatched its 12-fold paper folding machine with accessories to MGK Ltd, St Petersburg, Russia. The accessories consist of 6-fold cross fold machine, parallel knife machine, taping machine and vertical stacker. This is the first time Pratham has exported an integrated folding system.[/dropcaps]
12-Fold folding machine is a pile feeder machine for 450 mm wide and 750 mm long papers. It is specially designed for thin bible papers from 28 gsm to 40 gsm. However, the folding machine is suitable for all types of papers like maplitho, coated and 40 gsm to 150 gsm bible papers. Pile feeder is a high speed feeder where the vacuum drum takes one paper at a time and is aligned through a side lay before it is fed to the folding machine. The machine is equipped with a double sheet detector and the sheets are ejected before they are fed to the folding machine. A double sheet sensor is a non contact ultrasonic sensor.
Rollers of the machine are made of PU and metal combination. This improves the roller’s life and avoids generation of static electricity in the paper. The gap between two rollers is set by a calliper. Folding trays are made of Stainless Steel.
“World class from India is our mission and we are careful at each stage of manufacturing. We do not allow the wrong material to go to the next process,” said Deshpande, the chairman of the company. “That is why our machines are reliable and durable. Our machines are user friendly, easy to maintain and suitable for domestic as well as overseas use. Pratham has sold 11 taping machines which are working at a speed of 12000 papers per hour.”
Pratham started making folding machines in 1992. The first version was a table top folding machine. In 25 years they kept innovating and have manufactured 18-fold machines. They also manufactured accessories like cross folding machine, parallel knifes, pressing machine, stackers, taping machines, vision inspection systems, diverters, mailing systems, folder attachment to cartoning machines, etc and supply to over 15 countries. They export their machines to Africa, Europe, Middle East and Asia. They are planning to explore markets in USA, South America and Canada soon.
They have a range of folding machines from small friction feeder 4-fold machines to large round pile feeder 18-fold machines. Their accessories like parallel knife, taping etc are compatible with other outserts machines. They have also developed electronic tracking system which avoids interruption in the flow of papers. This avoids paper jam and saves papers and machine from damage. The demand for higher version machines is steadily increasing.
Financial Year 2016-17 has been good for the company. Looking at the orders and enquiries in hand they hope to improve the results in this year as well. The company is looking for steady and step by step growth with niche products which give exceptional value to customers.