slitter

Automation Breakthroughs in Narrow Web Slitting for Bottle Labels

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Automation in slitting technology is nothing new, it has evolved steadily to meet rising demands for precision, speed, and consistency. However, the challenge has been most obvious in the production of bottle labels. Narrow slit widths and demanding rewind requirements have long presented bottlenecks in efficiency. Today, those limitations are finally being overcome, thanks to advances in automation.

At Universal Converting Equipment, we have dedicated ourselves to building the world’s most productive slitting machines, with the highest end being the Universal X8. Over the past year, our engineering team has perfected the automation required to handle bottle label production seamlessly, from “parent roll-to-packaged pallet”, with no operator intervention. This milestone represents not only a technological leap forward but also a redefinition of what productivity and reliability look like in the converting world.

The Challenges of Bottle Labels

Bottle label production brings unique demands that conventional slitting setups struggle to meet. Labels must be slit to extremely narrow widths with high precision to ensure flawless application on high-speed bottling lines. Compounding this challenge, the industry standard requires rewind rolls on 6-inch cores, difficult to manage when adding automation with delicate, narrow webs. Historically, these two factors have necessitated significant manual oversight, slowing throughput and adding cost.

Automation at Every Step

Our latest generation of slitters is designed to eliminate those inefficiencies by automating every stage of the process. From roll closure and roll start to the automatic positioning and offloading of finished rolls, each step has been engineered to operate without operator input.

  • Roll Closure & Roll Start: Automated mechanisms guarantee secure, repeatable roll builds every time. The days of manually attaching tail ends to cores to start rolls and taping down finished rolls are over.
  • Automatic Roll Positioning: Narrow web rolls are positioned with pinpoint accuracy, ensuring flawless alignment on 6-inch cores without manual adjustment.
  • Automated Roll Offloading: Once the rewind is complete, finished rolls are safely and quickly removed, ready for downstream packaging—again, with no operator required.

The result is a fully integrated system capable of running continuously, with productivity levels unmatched.

From Parent Roll-to-Packaged Pallet

What sets this achievement apart is the ability to truly handle the process from Parent Roll-to-Packaged Pallet. Incoming master rolls are loaded, slit, rewound, and offloaded onto conveyor systems with no human intervention. Once on a conveyor the finished rolls can be weighed, labeled, bagged and palletised automatically. By streamlining the slitting stage, converters can achieve unprecedented uptime and output, maximising the investment in post slitting automation. 

Productivity Without Compromise

Automation often raises concerns about flexibility, but our technology has been built to adapt. Whether a converter is handling short runs or long campaigns, narrow widths or broader applications, the machine’s automated intelligence optimizes setup and throughput. Combined with robust mechanical engineering, this ensures not only higher speeds but also consistency and reliability, key qualities when serving the fast-moving consumer goods sector.

Redefining the Future of Slitting

The automation breakthroughs we’ve achieved represent more than just incremental improvement. They redefine what’s possible in label slitting by removing manual bottlenecks and driving true end-to-end productivity. For converters supplying bottle labels, a segment where precision, speed, and cost control are paramount, the impact is transformative.

As the demand for bottled goods continues to grow worldwide, converters now have the tools to keep pace. With fully automated slitting solutions, they can meet customer expectations with confidence while setting new standards of efficiency for the industry.

At Universal Converting Equipment, we are proud to lead this transformation. By delivering machines that combine automation, precision, and reliability, we’re helping converters move faster, smoother, and more productively than ever before.

Bryce Corporation Invests $8 million in new Automated Slitting Operation

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Bryce Corporation continues to grow with the investment in the latest slitting and roll handling technology at their Searcy, AR, USA location. Bryce is a major US supplier of flexible food packaging with the capability to serve both the long run and short run production orders. Bryce’s previous slitting operation did not meet the needs of their growing markets. They needed machines with automatic set up to allow job changes in a few minutes together with minimal stop time on completion of a set of finished rolls. Most importantly, the slitting machines had to produce high quality rolls consistently with minimal operator lifting and intervention.

The Universal X8 Slitter Rewinder

Bryce has recently contracted Universal Converting Equipment to supply multiple automatic Universal X8 slitting machines with automatic unloading, labelling, roll handling, roll bagging through to robotic palletizing. Universal Converting Equipment is responsible for the supply of the equipment and also the control system for the complete system including data transfer to and from the Bryce ERP system.

Universal Converting Equipment is a UK-based manufacturer of slitting and rewinding machines. It was established over 25 years ago and has been developing automation systems for slitting machines from the start. The Universal X8 slitting machine is the culmination of that development. Commenting on the X8 development, Alan Jones, Director said “Efficiency is achieved through attention to detail. We keep looking for processes that can be automated to ensure high quality, consistent operation. For example, all our machines include automatic knife positioning of rotary shear knives and razor blades. We have added automatic control of depth and sideloading of shear knives with micrometer feedback to show the operator the exact position and allow adjustment of both critical parameters whilst the machine is running. Optimum knife setting equals high quality slits and long blade life. All the functions relating to unloading finished rolls and restarting the machines are automated, so the machine runs without an operator at the rewind. The Universal X8 has been a huge development process. Bryce understood the concepts and the thinking behind the systems on the X8 machine and was prepared to invest in machines that did not conform to the old industry standard. They can now see the results.”


Sean Bowie, President, Bryce Corporation said “The Bryce Corporation is committed to making long term investment decisions to ensure they have the Best-in-Class processing equipment to cope with the increased demands from our customers. One of the greatest benefits of this system is the reduced amount of manual lifting required by our value stream team members. We have also recently announced the start of building a new factory in Searcy that will employ an additional 142 people. The novel ideas from Universal Converting Equipment fitted with our desire to look for next generation solutions rather than buying the status quo.


The installation and commissioning have been overseen by Andy Pratt, Vice President of Manufacturing at Bryce plus his team of Engineers. Andy Pratt commented, “We had some very challenging requirements for our new slitting facility involving major improvements in safety, efficiency, and quality. Universal listened and proposed a solution which was different to other suppliers. All the processes relating to unloading, labelling, bagging and palletizing the finished rolls, along with reloading and positioning the cores and restarting the machine are completely automated with this system. We are excited by the efficiency figures being achieved. The ongoing support from Universal has been excellent during the commissioning phase and since we have been in operation.”

FFP Packaging Solutions win ‘Investment of the Year’ at UK Packaging Awards with the Universal X6

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FFP Packaging Solutions has won the prestigious ‘Investment of the year’ award at this years UK Packaging Awards. FFP is a packaging company that focuses on designing and manufacturing sustainable packaging solutions for food, beverage, pharmaceuticals and other industries.

Established over 50 years ago, FFP have grown to become one of the leading flexible packaging suppliers in Europe with many distribution sites across England, Scotland & Wales.

Their products are designed to help businesses grow by increasing efficiencies while reducing costs through innovative design solutions tailored to their customer’s needs. FFP have significantly invested in new machinery, including a Universal X6 Slitter, which has led them to winning the ‘Investment of the year’ award.

An FFP representative explained,
“In October 2020, we commissioned our latest investment, a new laser system which is a collaboration between Coherent and Universal Converting Equipment.

The new machine consists of a high productivity slitter from Universal Converting Equipment combined with a state-of-the-art laser machine from Coherent. This new machine represents an investment of £700,000 for FFP and has significantly enhanced our laser profiling capability and increased capacity.

Not only has the new equipment had a huge impact on the capacity of the factory allowing us to respond to customer and market demand, but it also brings with it enhanced capabilities and efficiencies.”

The positive profile of the Universal X6 continues to develop at a pace in the Flexible Packaging industry, due to a reputation for speed, reliability and many eco-aware features. When integrated with laser equipment from Coherent the Universal X6 is able to score, inspect and slit at speeds that leave competitive machines behind.

The UK Packaging Awards judges noted that,
“A great combination of investment in machinery, increasing capacity, and sustainability with the Esterseal development. Marvellous work!”

Everyone at Universal Converting Equipment would like to congratulate FFP Packaging Solutions on winning this important award. If you would like to find out more about how the Universal X6 can increase efficiency and reduce costs please contact us.

Universal X6 Slitter Rewinder

Find out more about FFP Packaging Solutions…

Find out more about the award on the Packaging News website…

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.”

Don & Low expand production with a Universal X6 Slitter

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slitter rewind
Universal X6 Slitter (rewind section)

 

Don & Low are an international supplier of innovative polyolefin based woven and non-woven materials for a range of specialist applications. As their business has grown over the past few years, they found their existing slitting capacity could not keep up, so they took the decision to invest in a Universal X6 slitting machine.

The investment followed extensive research by Don & Low into the machines available. The range of non-woven materials produced by Don & Low have very specific handling requirements. Their prefered slitting method is shear slitting, but they needed to reduce set-up times. It was essential that the chosen slitter had the ability to automate as many processes as possible. The machine needed to produce slit rolls up to 1000mm in diameter with precise control of tension.

The Universal X6 slitting machine was able to meet all of the requirements of Don & Low and more. The key aspects for Don & Low were:

  • Automatic setting of shear knives and anvils.
    A 20 knife set-up can be completed in under two minutes with no operator involvement. The precision of the system ensures the knives are in the correct position, with the required knife depth and the specified side load. Micrometer feedback confirms the position of the knives to the operator.
  • Closed loop tension control.
    The load cells are part of the control algorithm for rewind tension control, ensuring that the exact tensions requested are being achieved. Trend graphs are available to show actual vs set tensions through all the rolls produced. In simple terms, you always achieve the tension profile required per product.
  • Comprehensive diagnostic system.
    The 22 inch operator interface provides easy to read diagnostic information on the machine including Dynamic Circuit Diagrams. Using a secure Internet connection, all aspects of the machine performance can be seen remotely by Universal engineers when required. Universal also offer FREE telephone and Internet support for the life of the machine.
  • Fast loading and unloading.
    Although the machine can handle large diameter rolls, the high speed of the machine dictates that frequent unwind and rewind roll changes are required. The vertical raise/lower unwind (with remote control) is extremely quick to load parent rolls. On the rewind, the machine was supplied with a finished roll pusher and laser core alignment to minimise time the machine is standing still.
  • Small Footprint.
    The compact design and short web path of the Universal X6 was ideal for the preferred factory location.

Commenting on the investment, Keith Galloway, General Manager of Don & Low Nonwovens said “Don & Low is undertaking a major investment in new production equipment to expand capacity and increase the range of products we can manufacture. The Universal X6 slitting machine was one part of this investment. We talked to many companies about our requirements and Universal stood out as a company that could meet our technical requirements while still staying within our budget limits. Although the initial discussions focussed on the specification, what became clear was the commitment of Universal Converting Equipment to the ongoing support of their equipment. We are based in Forfar, Scotland and sometimes we can struggle for a fast response from our machine suppliers. Universal have invested heavily in developing their diagnostic systems so we have the comfort that if a problem occurs, we have the information available to solve it ourselves. The free lifetime support is a statement in the confidence Universal have in their equipment.

It is great to have a machine that can almost set itself, leaving the operator to focus on other tasks. The automatic knife setting system is a massive time and cost saver. Most knife set ups take just over a minute. Likewise, the closed loop tension control and gap winding capability ensures that we always produce high quality slit rolls.”

Alan Jones, MD, Universal Converting Equipment added “Don & Low have high expectations and they pushed us hard to achieve their objectives. Very quickly, they identified the benefits of having a fast changeover machine with automated set-up. However, with automation comes additional complexity so the diagnostic and support package ensures the high performance of the machine can be maintained. As a company, we have tried to look beyond just selling machines. The ongoing support offered to customers combined with the quality of machine supplied, is the best way to secure future orders. Does it work? We think so. Since supplying the Universal X6 to Don & Low, they have ordered two further machines for other operations within their factory to gain the same production benefits.”

More about the X6 Slitter Rewinder…

 

Universal X6 Slitter (unwind section)
Universal X6 Slitter (unwind section)

Watershed Packaging Install a High Performance Universal X6 Slitting Machine

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Watershed Packaging are a fast-growing adhesive label and flexible packaging producer with three production sites, including a recently completed custom-built factory in Leeds. Watershed needed a slitting machine with fast set-up times to slit material used within its conversion operation. Watershed chose the Universal X6 for its automatic shear knife set up, ease of operation and closed-loop tension control. The X6 automation systems and fast, easy job set-up enable Watershed to respond quickly to customers’ requirements with minimal downtime and reduced waste.

The Universal X6 slitting machine is designed for processing flexible materials. A typical specification includes digital web guiding, automatic knife setting (ComputaSlit), an additional tension zone through slitting, closed loop rewind tension control, constant geometry contact rollers, automatic core alignment (ComputaCore) and a running speed of 600m/min. The machine is designed to be simple to operate with a 22inch touch screen interface. A typical changeover, including setting 20 shear knives, can take less than two minutes; making the machine ideal for short-run work. The integrated drive and control system offers precision and repeatability with extensive diagnostics, including dynamic circuit diagrams. All this performance in a machine with a small footprint. The X6 is a high-performance slitter with a footprint considerably smaller than competitive machines.

Commenting on the investment, Stephen Walker, Managing Director of Watershed Packaging said “Our business is built on service and quality. Being able to produce high-quality slit rolls with a quick turnaround allows us to respond quickly to the needs of our customers. We had purchased a used machine but the quality and service was poor. The Universal X6 has been excellent since its installation We slit a lot of PET films which require shear slitting to obtain a good edge. The automatic shear knife setting system removes the need for our operators to handle knives and heavy shafts and is both very quick and very accurate. Job changes now take a few minutes. The recipe system ensures the operator always sets the machine correctly and closed loop tension control means all the rolls are wound at the correct tension. This raises the productivity of our converting operation as we always have good rolls.”

Alan Jones, MD, Universal Converting Equipment added “Watershed Packaging are a forward-thinking company and decided to invest in technology which both reduces cost and improves product quality. Many companies accept the downtime during set-up and the waste produced whilst the correct settings are found. Watershed wanted a better solution and we have proved the X6 slitter rewinder is the ideal machine. Load cell tension feedback, automatic knife positioning and core alignment dramatically reduce downtime and increases the time the machine is making money. By integrating the technology, we are able to offer a high performance machine at a very competitive price”

Slitter at Watershed Packaging