Parkside Flexibles invests in two Universal X6 slitting machines

Parkside Flexibles, a flexographic printer with manufacturing facilities in the UK and Malaysia, has installed two X6 slitting machines from Universal Converting Equipment.

Parkside Flexibles has invested in two Universal X6 slitter rewinders

As a supplier to global brands, Parkside Flexibles 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 set-up to achieve satisfactory results, the company explained. As an example, some of the laminates, including aluminum foil-based structures, were particularly difficult to achieve satisfactory results.

To meet such needs, Parkside Flexibles has invested in two Universal X6 slitter rewinders. X6 has a range of features to ensure product consistency and minimize changeover times. Key to the success of the project were: closed loop rewind tension control with load cells providing feedback; X-Slit slitting system, which uses automatic positioning to control the position of knives and anvils to very tight tolerances, and automatically position razor blades; wrinkle free operation, with a ‘Quad’ wrap material drive system isolating tension between the unwind and rewind; constant geometry contact rollers; and print repeat measurement.

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.

Alan Jones, managing director of Universal Converting Equipment, said: ‘Parkside challenged us with some of its 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 its range of materials through the X6 without problems. Precise knife setting and closed loop control ensures reproducible results.’

Brian Harper, global technical manager of 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 optimize the settings and due to the closed loop control systems, we can swap recipes between machines and achieve identical results.’