[dropcaps style=’2′]Printing and packaging division of Nanjangud-based South India Paper Mills (SIPM) has achieved a world record for corrugated box production during a single shift with a Bobst FFG 8.20 DISCOVERY flexo folder gluer. The machine completed 106,113 corrugated boxes in eight hours on 19 September 2017, a record made even more remarkable because this involved five separate jobs which had to be set up and changed.[/dropcaps]
“The average of 13,264 boxes per hour includes the set-up and cleaning time during the shift,” says Pratik Patel, manager – marketing and product development at SIPM Printing & Packaging Division. “We have been producing around 75,000 to 85,000 cartons for most of the shifts.”
The record-breaking shift involved a fortuitous combination of jobs and customer requirements. Patel says, “There were five job changes performed in this particular shift. One of the jobs was 2-color and the rest were single-color jobs. In particular, one of the jobs was a beer carton box, which is a very lightweight board construction, i.e. 100 gsm and three layers with B-flute. This kind of job adds more value to us as well as our customers if processed at the fastest speeds with maximum accuracy, so that it runs flawlessly in the fast case erecting and filling lines at the customer’s end.”
SIPM-PPD is a strategic supplier to multi-nationals including GSK, RB, Britannia, ITC, UB, USL, RSIL, Adani Wilmer, Nestle, American Power Conversion, Unilever, Coca Cola and others. Patel says, “We have a much diversified portfolio, with our carton boxes are supplied to various industry segments such as food, beverages, alcohol and spirits, edible oils, copier paper, fresh agricultural produce, white goods, automobiles, footwear, textiles and many others.”
The Bobst FFG 8.20 DISCOVERY was installed earlier in 2017 and is the company’s first Bobst machine. It takes sheets up to 2,180 mm wide and has four flexo color units. It is run inline with a Mosca strapper/palletizer. Running at full speed, it can produce up to 300 boxes per minute (18,000 per hour) on coated/uncoated duplex board with white or kraft liners of all types.
“We have a range of single-color, 2-, 3- and a few 4-color jobs,” explains Patel. “The Bobst machine is intended to be effectively used in changing many single or 2-color orders, to cater for a wide range of segments with a just-in-time supply concept.”
In future SIPM-PPD has ambitions to increase productivity on its Bobst FFG 8.20 DISCOVERY still further. Patel says, “Our next target on this machine is 120,000 cartons in an eight hour shift, which is 15,000 cartons an hour.”