Pulse Flexible Packaging installs three Universal X6 slitter rewinders

Pulse Flexible Packaging was formed in 2014 following a management buyout of the UK packaging businesses of Printpack. It already has machines from Universal at its factories in Bury and Saffron Walden.

With the latest investment, two X6 slitter rewinders have been installed at the Bury facility and one at Saffron Walden. All three machines include: 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 to ensure rolls are always wound at the correct tension; differential friction shafts that do not require lubrication; easy operation with 22in operator interface and two additional touchscreens; diagnostics tools; automatic positioning of shear knives and anvils, and razor blades; automatic positioning of rewind cores; and additional slit tension zone. They also come with free internet and phone based support for the lifetime of the machine

The mix of work processed through the machines at Pulse Flexible Packaging requires frequent knife set-ups, with automatic positioning of both shear knives and razors on the X6 meaning these are positioned faster than a new roll can be loaded into the machine, stated Universal Converting Equipment. 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.

Alan Jones, managing director of Universal Converting Equipment, said: ‘We had several discussions with Pulse before the project proceeded. The company had undertaken extensive analysis of its existing slitting operation and realized that the running time of 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 set-up 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 Flexible Packaging to further maximize 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 Flexible Packaging, added: ‘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 machines producing the same as seven of our existing machines. We bought our first Universal slitting machine 10 years ago and have purchased other machines and systems from it since. We know how well Universal supports its installations, which made this decision an easy one.’