Opening doors to increase sales

There is nothing like seeing a piece of kit in action to help buyers to decide on what is often a huge investment in coating and laminating equipment. Manufacturers have come to realise that seeing is believing, and many have opened their doors to show potential and existing customers the strengths of their offerings.

Late last year, one such event was staged at the Dolci Extrusion factory at Biassono, Italy, to demonstrate a new three-stage extrusion lamination line that will produce complex web reels destined to be converted into aseptic UHT packaging for milk or fruit juice (bricks). A recent large order by a major company in Belarus is testament to the impression this equipment has made on the market.

The web structure for this form of packaging comprises a 250g/m² paperboard (primary web) sandwich, laminated by co-extrusion to a 7 micron foil and coated on both sides with co-extruded polyolefine layers of a total thickness between 20 and 50 micron. The final complex web is a barrier structure of 350 – 450g/m² in reel form.

Dolci’s Excol -12/35 Tripl-O-Matic modular, three-stage process operates at a speed of 350m/min, with the possibility of up to 500m/min. The fully automatic line - which is almost 40m long – includes three dies fitted with internal deckling and a variable geometry feed block. Each stage has an automatic gauge control system; and the power is automatically synchronised with the line speed.

Unlike most extrusion coating lines, Dolci has opted for a butt-splicer as the automatic primary unwinder, for ‘non-overlapping’ reel change-over at line speed. The joining of the front of new roll and end of the finishing roll is made at zero speed, with the aid of a festoon compensator.

Advanced technology

The choice of the most suitable lamination process is mainly dictated by the end use of the product and a number of different technologies are available for the great variety of applications in the food and non-food packaging industry.

For converting companies it is a pre-requisite that the laminator is equipped with the kind of technological features and functions that contribute substantially to improving profitability through highest machine productivity and highest output quality.

This means that the equipment, under any operating circumstances, must provide for the given applications the kind of functional, operator-oriented, waste saving and eco-friendly, technical solutions to produce flawless, superior quality composite structures at the lowest cost for the converter, and the best price for its customers.

These are the signature features claimed for Rotomec’s technology.

The Rotomec CL 850 and CL 1000 are high performance laminators that offer a wide scope for line customisation, as well as novel solutions relating to adhesive metering/coating and drying that have been specifically developed for top performance at high speed.

Pier Luigi Ratibondi, Rotomec System Engineering Director, explains: “The integrated optimisation of all the machine parts enables optimum performance to be achieved, whatever the technology or technologies run on the line: solvent-based, solventless or water-based. Job makeready and changeovers are very fast, do not require the use of tools, and the optimum accessibility to all the machine sections considerably speeds up running, cleaning and maintenance.

“Precise, reliable and consistent web tension control from the unwinders to the rewinder is of paramount importance for the quality of the final laminated structure as it avoids the formation of defects like creases, wrinkles and curls in the material. The tension control system on our machines is extremely sensitive and can be maintained at very low tolerance throughout the very wide range of flexible substrates of varying thickness and physical properties handled by the machine,” he explains.

Another fundamental aspect is the machine’s ability to control and manage the variables that impact on the efficiency of the adhesive metering and coating.

Romaco, a division of Bobst, also held Open House days from 26 May to 1 June.