Bobst boosts Italian converter’s capacity

Italian graphics and converting company Igb has substantially increased its plant capacity and product quality by becoming the first company in Italy to install the new version of Bobst’s Expertcut 106 PER die-cutting unit.

 

Igb produces folding cartons and blister cards for the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food and luxury confectionery markets in northern Italy and Switzerland.

 

The Expertcut 106 PER has several new features designed to reduce stops in production and increase productive time. These include a new, fully independent feeder called Smart Feeder II for speeding up a restart of the press after a stop caused during feeding, and a new tie-sheet inserter which optimizes the interval at which tie-sheets are inserted.

 

Smart Feeder II is fitted with a suction head with changed geometry and has new features that ensure quick setting and consistent feeding, regardless of substrate.

 

New feed table equipment reduces the number of sheets lost during a machine stop, is quicker to set and delivers more consistent sheet transportation.

 

Working in conjunction with the Smart Feeder II, new Tool Saver technology instantly takes the pressure from the platen section when no sheet is present. This removal of pressure increases the operational life of tooling, allowing high-quality cutting to be maintained for an increased number of impressions. As soon as the feeding of sheets restarts, the press returns to the pre-set production speed and platen pressure with no need to ramp up, reducing lost production to a minimum.

 

Further, the new Expertcut 106 PER calculates the optimum tie-sheet interruption based on the thickness of the carton, saving as many as seven sheets per tie-sheet insertion cycle.

 

The blanking section of the new Expertcut has a new feature called Quick Set which makes the section very fast and easy to set thanks to all the non-stop fingers locking and unlocking by pushing one button.

 

The new version of the Expertcut 106 PER began production at Igb in December and has given the company the ability to separate cartons, removing the need for breaking the blanks apart by hand.

 

Alessio Bressan, Igb’s managing director, said: ‘All these features add up and make this machine very productive as soon as it starts running, which means we have considerable additional capacity for our customers. It also improves our quality, reduces our process waste and saves on tooling. Overall we gain in flexibility and quality which means we can service our customers better.’    

 

Dino Bressan, founder of Igb, added: ‘We have used Bobst die-cutting equipment for over 30 years and have seen the technology constantly move forward, something that is essential to us if we are to deliver excellent quality at a fair price.

 

‘This latest Bobst investment has given us additional capacity thanks to its high die-cutting performance, high uptime and reduced manual handling. At the same time it is delivering the excellent quality that our customers demand.’

 

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