Herma UK commissions new packing machine to facilitate further growth

Herma has commissioned a fully automatic packing machine at its UK headquarters in Newbury, Berkshire to enable further growth in its Self-adhesive Materials division.

The new automated packing machine produces 50 to 60 ready-to-ship pallets with rolls of self-adhesive materials an hour

Previously, pallets for customers were manually wrapped and prepared for shipping by employees. The new automated packing machine, which amounted to an investment of approximately 500,000 GBP (663,000 USD), tackles this task automatically. The investment means Herma UK is now using a similar system to its parent in Germany, where 10 million EUR (11 million USD) was invested in a new packing system five years ago. It also follows the installation of a special slitting machine for plastic films, refined papers and laminates at Herma UK.

The new automated packing machine produces 50 to 60 ready-to-ship pallets with rolls of self-adhesive materials an hour, and is running 24 hours a day in a three-shift operation. Only one operator is required to run the automated machine, which frees manpower to facilitate growth in other areas.

Colin Phillips, divisional director of Self-adhesive Materials at Herma UK, said: ‘We now use less manpower in our despatch department, and we have increased our quantity as well as our quality. The new machine shrink-wraps the pallets, making them stronger, tighter and safer to ship to the customer.

‘We have already received feedback from customers who are very happy with the new improved quality, and we are now ready for increasing our output capacity with these recent investments.’

*currency conversion correct on July 4, 2016 via xe.com/ucc