Universal X6

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…

Coveris increase BOPP capacity with Universal X6 Slitter Rewinder

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Flexible packaging manufacturer Coveris have revealed details of a program of investment that has led to a significant increase in production of BOPP (Biaxially-Oriented Polypropylene) labels.

As reported on the Labels and Labelling website Coveris have announced a large increase in productivity in their BOPP label manufacturing capabilities at their facility in Louth (UK). The company, who supply bottle labels to companies including Coca-Cola and Refresco, supported this growth by purchasing a fully automated Universal X6 Slitter Rewinder.

The quality of labels produced at the Louth facility was recently recognised by the European Flexographic Industry Association (EFIA), who gave Coveris a Gold award in the ‘Flexo Print on Film – Reverse Print Narrow’ category in 2019.

The fully automated Universal X6 Slitter has been installed in the dedicated finishing hall at Coveris Louth. The Universal X6 is a part of a program that has seen the site’s capacity to over 3 billion labels per year.

‘Coveris is uniquely positioned as the leading supplier of plain and printed films to the beverage sector in Europe. Supported by investment in state-of-the-art technology, dedicated BOPP manufacturing capabilities and award winning print, we are able to provide our customers with leading quality, service and products, while targeting ambitious growth in the BOPP beverage industry,’ said Mark Summers, Coveris Films Sales Director.

Universal X6 Slitting machine

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…

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