Upgrades will substantially reduce lead times and improve plant safety.
AGE Industries, Ltd, a leading supplier of custom paper tubes, innovative packaging and shipping solutions, announces the addition of two flexo /folder/gluers, two unitizers, one automated stitcher, and one new scrap handling system to its Texas plants that will increase efficiency, improve throughput at each shift, and reduce forklift handling operations to create a safer work environment. Positioning itself for the future, AGE Industries is investing in equipment that will help manufacturers meet the challenges posed by increasing freight, raw material, and labour costs.
The addition of the 37” Flexo folder gluers will significantly increase open capacity, enable faster production, and reduce lead times. These two-colour flexo’s features a full rotary die cut section and are rated to run 18,000 boxes an hour with a 3-person crew, reducing headcount while increasing efficiency by nine times compared to its old printer slotters. Each new Flexo can comfortably convert an additional two tractor trailer loads of product per shift. With its die cutting capability, the Flexo facilitates running specialty boxes in one pass, unlike competitors that must use two different machines.
Also added are 4-head Signode unitizers, which can compress and strap units at a rate of 40+ units per hour – more than a tractor trailer per hour – all while moving product safely through plants. What took the prior 2-person manual strapping process 10 to 15 minutes can now be done in under 30 seconds with one person. The new equipment also provides a more consistent and tightly strapped product with a better presentation, so customers can easily double stack them in warehouses.
AGE has fully conveyorized two of its plants, so products can be taken from the end of the machines it is being manufactured on all the way to the unitizer, reducing the need for forklifts to handle material on the plant floor and creating a safer environment. AGE has also added a new automated stitching machine that measures the spacing for each staple on a box, automatically adjusting staple length for the type of material being stitched. This machine can produce roughly double the number of boxes as other manual equipment. Finally, AGE has added a new scrap handling system for corrugated and paper scrap generated. All scrap is now moved by conveyor over to a horizontal baler, reducing the time needed to produce scrap bales and eliminating the need to shut down machines to remove scrap bales.
Next to be added will be an Eberle tube cutting machine, which can cut 88 cycles per minute. The new machine will allow the tube division to use a blade cut, which eliminates particulates while meeting tolerances of three-thousandths of an inch.