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Parkside Flexibles invest in two Universal X6 slitting machines for Malaysia and the UK

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Universal X6 Slitting Machine

Parkside Flexibles are a leading edge flexographic printer with manufacturing in the UK and Malaysia. As a supplier to global brands, Parkside uses advanced processing systems to create value added packaging. This requires the highest quality slit rolls to send to its customers. In many cases, the complex structures are difficult to process and required a long setup to achieve satisfactory results.

Parkside invested in two Universal X6 slitter rewinders to meet these developing needs. The Universal X6 slitting machine has a range of features to ensure product consistency and minimise changeover times. Some of the Parkside laminates, including aluminium foil based structures, were particularly difficult to achieve satisfactory results. Key to the success of the project were the following machine features:

  • Tension control – The Universal X6 has closed loop rewind tension control with load cells providing feedback. This ensures that the winding tension is exactly as required, especially through machine acceleration and deceleration. Once the ideal settings for the material were found on the first machine, they were copied to the recipe system of the second machine which then worked immediately.
  • X-Slit slitting system – This system uses automatic positioning to control the position of knives and anvils to very tight tolerances. It can also automatically position razor blades. A closed loop measuring system is used to set the sideload on the shear knives. A tension zone through the slitting section allows the slitting tension to be optimised. Adjustable height rollers are used to set the amount of wrap around the cutting shaft to suit the material type being processed.
  • Wrinkle free operation – The Universal X6 slitter rewinder has a “Quad” wrap material drive system to isolate tension between the unwind and rewind. Unlike nip roller and vacuum roller based systems you do not have slippage, scratches, noise, energy wastage or crease formation.
  • Constant geometry contact rollers – unlike pivoting lay on rollers, the constant geometry contact rollers move horizontally as the rewind roll increases in size. The rollers are built into a rigid structure so they always stay parallel giving the best quality finished rolls.
  • Print repeat measurement – built into the X6 slitter rewinder is a system to measure the length of each print repeat and then generate a report and graph showing the variability through the roll

Both X6 machines were delivered on time with a Universal engineer commissioning the machines and providing training. Both machines have FREE telephone and internet based support for the life of the machines.

Commenting on the installations, Alan Jones, Managing Director of Universal Converting Equipment said:”Parkside challenged us with some of their requirements. Although the Universal X6 machines supplied to Parkside were our standard model, some of their specifications had tighter tolerances than normal. It was very satisfying when Parkside visited for the machine acceptance trials that the products were all processed without problems. The X-slit slitting system provides a lot of flexibility as well as fast and accurate set up. Rather than dedicating products to machines, Parkside found they could run their range of materials through the X6 without problems. Precise knife setting and closed loop control ensures reproducible results.”

Brian Harper, Global Technical Manager, Parkside Flexibles added “At Parkside, we take on technically difficult projects. Universal rose to the challenge and we have been extremely pleased with the results. From day one, the machines have been producing product of a quality we could not achieve consistently on our other slitting machines. Universal have worked with us to optimise the settings and due to the closed loop control systems we can swap recipes between machines and achieve identical results.”

Pulse Flexible Packaging Install Three More Universal X6 Slitter Rewinders

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Universal X6 Slitter Rewinder

Pulse Flexible Packaging was formed in 2014 following a management buyout of the UK packaging businesses of Printpack. After the buyout, Pulse has invested heavily in new production equipment to update its manufacturing base and expand its capabilities. Pulse already have machines from Universal at both of its factories.

As part of this expansion, Universal Converting Equipment have supplied three Universal X6 slitter rewinders to Pulse. Two were installed at their Bury facility and one at Saffron Walden. All three machines included the following features:

  • Fast loading unwind, including floor pick-up, with remote control
  • Constant geometry lay on rollers for precise control with tail clamps
  • Closed loop rewind tension control ensuring rolls are always wound at the correct tension
  • Differential friction shafts that do not require lubrication
  • Easy operation with 22” operator interface and two additional touchscreens for fast operation
  • Extensive diagnostics
  • FREE internet and phone based support for the life of the machine
  • Automatic positioning of shear (knives and anvils) and razor blades
  • Automatic positioning of rewind cores
  • Additional slit tension zone

The Universal X6 slitting machine is designed as a fast changeover machine. The mix of work processed through the machines at Pulse requires frequent knife set ups. The X6 has automatic positioning of both shear knives and razors. These are positioned faster than a new roll can be loaded into the machine. At the same time, the cores are automatically positioned on the rewinds. The system has to cope with a wide range of products from narrow bottle labels wound on 152mm cores to cold seal product wound on 76mm cores.

Commenting on the installation, Alan Jones, Managing Director of Universal Converting Equipment said,
“We had several discussions with Pulse before the project proceeded. They had undertaken extensive analysis of their existing slitting operation and realised that the running time of their slitters was low due to the downtime when changing from one order to the next. We proposed the Universal X6 slitter rewinder due to its range of features that drastically reduced the time the machine is stopped between jobs. The automation systems also ensure that the required setup is achieved from the first set of rolls as you know the tensions, slit positions and core positions are all correct. Since installation, we have also worked with Pulse to further maximise output from the machines. All three X6 slitting machines have extensive diagnostics and are supplied with our guaranteed FREE lifetime telephone and internet based support.”

Adrian Rowbotham, Engineering Manager at Pulse adds,
“The installation of the Universal X6 slitter rewinders took place at a time of great change in our business. The Universal X6 machines have both expanded our slitting capacity and greatly improved our efficiency with three X6 machine producing the same as seven of our existing machines. We bought our first Universal slitting machine ten years ago and have purchased other machines and systems from them since. We know how well Universal support their installations which made this decision an easy one.”

Find out more about the Universal X6…

The future of Slitting

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Over the last four years, Universal Converting Equipment has invested heavily in the development of a range of systems to improve the productivity of slitting machines. The key target has been to reduce downtime or the time the machine is not running. If you analyse the operation of a slitting machine, it can often spend more time not running than running.

The two main areas of downtime are due to a job change and a roll change – either finished rolls or parent roll. However, even within these causes, there are many items that build up to contribute to the total downtime. It is also necessary to ensure that the machines are producing good and consistent quality when they are running. To understand the approach that Universal has taken, it is easiest to move through the slitting process from unwind to rewind.

Fast Loading Unwind
In common with most slitter manufacturers, Universal offers a shaftless unwind with floor pick up on its X6 range of slitting machines. The Universal unwind moves vertically up/down to pick up the roll from the floor. Unlike pivoting pick up unwinds, the roll will always be in the same position on the floor, regardless of diameter, for the arms to engage with the core. The operator is provided with a remote control to operate the unwind arms so they can easily check that the chucks are entering the core correctly. This may only save 30 seconds per set up, but over a year, that adds up to a lot of time.

Automated Slitter Rewinder - X6
The Universal X6 Slitter

Automatic shear knife and razor knife set up
Correctly positioning knives, especially shear knives, can result in considerable downtime. Universal have developed an automatic knife setting system that can set 20 male and female shear knives in under two minutes. By the time a new parent roll is loaded into the machine, the knives are already in the correct position. The system can also position the guiding sensor so the material will be lined up with the knives. As well as saving time, the accuracy of the setup is improved and as the knife position is known, the cores can be accurately positioned to line up with the knives. Although shear knives take the longest to set, these benefits still apply to razor slitting. The male knife holders used as part of this system can be hold either razor or shear knives making it quick to change cutting system and allowing a mixture of shear and razor if required.

Closed Loop Tension Control
Most slitting machines are supplied with differential friction shafts to control rewind tension. These shafts rely on the control of friction to give you the correct winding tension. This can change with time. Using load cells to measure and control rewind tension is the only way to ensure your finished rolls are wound at the correct tension. Correct winding tension is essential to ensure good quality rolls are produced. The actual winding tension profiles can be recorded as part of the quality assurance record for the rolls produced. Universal also add an extra tension zone through slitting so you can increase the slitting tension without changing the rewind tension.

Fast Finished Roll Unloading
When a set of rolls is complete, the machine comes to halt and the operator then unloads the rolls. To reduce this downtime on a duplex slitting machine, Universal now offers a system that reduces the time from when the machine stops to when it starts winding again to under a minute. This is a huge time saving compared to the time an operator normally takes to remove finished rolls, re-core and re-start. The machine will repeatedly run at this speed – the machine doesn’t get tired or need to go for a break. As well as saving time, the system ensures the cores are always lined up accurately with the slitting knives and manual handling of the finished rolls is reduced.

The fast unloading technology can be incorporated into Universal’s X6T turret slitter for the ultimate high productivity machine. However, for most applications where flexibility is required, the system is supplied with the Universal X6 duplex slitter giving the level of performance which could only previously be achieved with a turret slitter.

The Future of Slitting
We believe that this is the future for slitting. It will not suit all applications, but for a large proportion of slitting requirement it offers the chance to greatly increase the output from a single slitting machine and also reduce the labour required to run the machine. The technology has been cost engineered to make the system affordable.

How much is this technology worth? As an example, if you saved 30 minutes per set up and you have four set ups a day, you now have two additional hours of production per day. If that time is worth £100/hr you have saved £200/day. If you assume that the machine operates for 250 days a year that is a saving of £50,000 per year. Over a ten year period the technology has saved £500,000.

This is why we think this is The Future of Slitting

Universal offer free lifetime support on all slitters

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X6 Slitter photo
The Universal X6 Slitter – with free lifetime support

Universal Converting Equipment manufacture class leading slitting machines and other converting equipment that is sold worldwide. The Universal X6 slitter offers a range of technically advanced features to ensure production of high quality product while minimising the amount of time the machine is stopped.

However, to achieve repeat sales, Universal decided they must also offer excellent reliability and customer support. To achieve this, Universal has focussed on four areas within its business:

Designing reliability into the machine.
Our approach is to focus on future reliability as part of our initial design process. We do not make our own drives or circuit boards – we buy our drives from a global supplier with worldwide support.

Our bearings and standard mechanical components are purchased direct from the manufacturer to avoid the risk of supply of counterfeit components. We provide easy access to lubrication points so it is easy to keep components correctly lubricate to prevent premature failure.

Internal manufacture of mechanical components.
Over the last three years, we have invested heavily in CNC machining centres to allow us to make our mechanical components ourselves. This has both improved product quality and reduced our manufacturing lead-time.

As the component drawings now go directly from our 3D CAD/CAM system to the CNC controller there is no risk of data entry error and it ensures repeatability. As part of this process, we have also standardised our components.

Should there be a need for a mechanical component, we will nearly always have it in stock and if not we can make it quickly. We also have extensive stocks of pneumatic and electrical components allowing us to respond to any need for spares quickly.

Comprehensive on-machine diagnostics.
The X6 slitter rewinder can be supplied with a range of automation systems to position the unwind, position the guider sensor, position shear knives and anvils and position the cores.

As the automation grows, so does the complexity of the control system. To make it easy for local engineers to support, we have developed the diagnostic system to give clear reasons if the machine will not operate.

We use a 22 inch colour touch screen as the main operator interface so all the information required can be clearly displayed. If the operator presses the start button and the machine will not start because, for example, a guard is open, a pop up will explain in simple terms what needs to be corrected.

We also provide dynamic electrical circuit drawings which are viewed on the display. They show the status of components such as inputs, outputs, voltages and current meaning that diagnostics which an electrician would do with a meter can be undertaken without even opening the control panel.

Remote diagnostic systems that work.
If we have completed the first three steps correctly then the need for remote support is greatly reduced. Universal is so confident in the reliability of its X6 slitting machine that it offers free telephone and internet based support for the life of the machine.

Sometimes a local engineer can struggle to resolve an issue. All our Universal X6 slitter rewinders have remote access capability via either VPN or port forwarding. The control system has been integrated to a level where when we connect to the machine remotely it is almost the same as being next to the machine. We can see the status of all the control components on the machine and look at the settings on the three touch screens. we can even watch as the operator changes settings on the touch screen.

Instead of the local engineer having to have a laptop with software and interfaces to connect to the machine, we offer this service free to our customers for the life of the machine.

Alan Jones, Managing Director of Universal Converting Equipment adds
“I am always amazed when talking to customers, the number of times I am told that they have purchased equipment that performs well but the ongoing support is poor. Since the launch of our X6 slitting machine, we have seen sales increase rapidly with orders from around the world. Although we will not stop developing the features of the X6 slitter rewinder, our biggest challenge is ensuring that we maintain our reputation for excellent support. Not only are we seeing repeat orders but some customers are ordering two or three machines at a time so the formula appears to be working. We have recently announced a showroom and support centre in the USA which will help consolidate are growing position the the Americas. We always have several X6 slitting machines in build so customers can visit and test their material on a machine. We will also have an X6 slitter rewinder at our showroom in the USA.”

Universal Expand Hot Melt Coating Equipment Range

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Universal Converting Equipment are well known for their high performance X6 slitting machine. However, hot melt coating is an important sector of Universal’s business and Universal are utilising their high-speed web handling technology from the X6 to expand the capability of its coating equipment.

The latest machines incorporate closed-loop unwind tension control, edge guiding for the two unwinds and the rewind, closed loop rewind tension control, gap winding capability, extensive recipe and diagnostic systems and a remote diagnostic system using an internet-based connection. The systems ensure consistent product quality when running at high speed. The comprehensive recipe system allows the customer to return to the same setting time and time again once the optimum setting have been found. Many years ago Universal introduced a motorised coating station so the die position is set using the touch screen operator interface with no manual adjustments required.

Commenting on the new coating machines, Alan Jones, Managing Director Universal Converting Equipment said: “We have focused on the coating technology to ensure that we can produce the exact product required by the customer. We have a range of non-contact and contact coating systems for continuous coating, stripe coating and patch coating with options for breathable coatings. By incorporating our winding technology into the coating machines, we are able to offer increased quality and output. Precise control of tension is essential for the production of high quality finished rolls. The remote diagnostic system allows us to see the complete operation of the machine in real time so we can provide rapid assistance to customers. We offer free telephone and internet support for the life of the machine to help our customers maintain their equipment.”

Universal have recently supplied equipment to UK, USA, Germany and Australia, incorporating these systems to great success. The hot melt coating systems are available in widths from 250mm to 2500mm and speeds up to 300m/min.

Schmelzklebstoffbeschichtungsstation

Universal Converting Equipment will be exhibiting at ICE Europe 2017 and ICE USA 2017

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ICE 2017 Exhibition

Universal Converting Equipment at ICE USA

Universal Converting Equipment has exhibited at ICE Europe in Munich many times. ICE Europe 2015 was particularly successful, with interest in the company, and in-particular our Universal X6 slitter exceptionally high.

ICE Europe is a great opportunity to spend time with our long-term customers, as well as to meet potential new customers.

We are pleased to announce that in 2017 we will also be exhibiting at ICE USA in Florida. Interest in the Universal X6 in the American markets continues to grow exponentially. Exhibiting at ICE USA is a great opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities of our X6 slitter rewinder. Universal has recently announced the establishment of a service centre and showroom in the USA which will house a Universal X6 slitting machine and a range of other equipment.

We are proud of the technological advancements we continue to make with the Universal X6 Slitter Rewinder. Efficiency options like automatic knife and core positioning, closed loop rewind tension control and compact design make the X6 a popular machine for slitting all flexible materials. Universal offer free online and telephone support to customers to back up the comprehensive machine diagnostic systems. Universal are committed to providing customers excellent ongoing support wherever the machines are located worldwide.

In addition to the Universal X6 we will also be exhibiting a Universal CCA Automatic Core Cutter and a Hot Melt Adhesive Coating Station.

ICE Europe 2017
Munich
Stand number 527
21st – 23rd March 2017

ICE USA 2017
Orlando, Florida
Stand 205
25th – 27th April 2017

Universal X6 Slitter Rewinder
The Universal X6 Slitter Rewinder