Valmet Converting unveils innovations at Drupa 2000

Published Mar 23, 2000 00.00.00 +2 GMT

Valmet Converting provides one of the largest and most comprehensive ranges of equipment and solutions for the converting industry world-wide. This includes the world-leading brands of Valmet, Rotomec, Atlas, Titan, General and Midi.

The Group will unveil many important innovations and developments to their product range at Drupa 2000 (Dusseldorf, Germany, 18-31 May) on stand no. 10-E 57 in Hall 10. These will include:

ROTOMEC - New Printing Press Technology

Rotopak 4000-1: Rotogravure Press This is a completely new concept in gravure printing with the Rotomec electronic shaft (ES) system eliminating the need for compensator rollers, thereby reducing waste. Rapid register setting during both the acceleration and deceleration phases also increases machine reliability. Rotomec is the only rotogravure press manufacturer in the world to have successfully developed and installed the ES system. The Rotopak 4000-1 press is mainly devoted to medium production runs with extremely rapid job changeovers. It is a high-speed machine running at up to 650mpm with a dedicated inking system and high efficiency ventilation hoods, handling web widths up to 1600mm.

The ES concept permits a fully automatic cartridge changeover sequence with the new cartridge ready on the transmission side, without the need for any manual intervention by the operator.

At Drupa 2000 a complete unit will be displayed with an 1100mm web width, and a full demonstration of the complete job changeover sequence.

Rotopak 4000-2: Gravure Printing Press This versatile new gravure press has the flexibility of either a conventional mechanical shaft or the ES system. It has a fully automated cartridge loading and locking system for complete cartridge replacement, or alternatively, for replacement of the inking system or printing cylinder only.

The Rotopak 4000-2 press has a target speed of 450mpm, handling web widths of up to 1600mm.

The machine on display at Drupa 2000 will be delivered to a very important international converter for their new production facility in Spain. The unit shown will have an 1100mm web width, shaftless winder and parts for in-line lamination.

Rotomec CI 401 ES: New Flexographic Printing Press From the flexographic product line of Rotomec will be shown an example of a new printing press, the Flexo CI 401 ES. Innovative concepts have been incorporated into the design and the new model reflects how the company expects future trends in flexographic printing press design to develop.

Rotomec’s proven and patented ES technology, already very successful on Rotomec gravure presses, is incorporated into this new model. The CI 401 ES reaches speeds of 350mpm, uses independent drives and is expected to supersede existing flexo printing technology in terms of reliability, performance and most importantly, print quality.

Many operations are fully automatic. These include automatic colour changeover, inks exchange and washing, adjustment of the viscosity at pre-set values and adjustment of slides according to the installed physical circumference. In particular, the machine has been designed with the operator in mind.

TITAN: New fully automated Slitter Rewinders

Titan will unveil 2 new flexible packaging slitter rewinders, with the most advanced technology available for the converting industry world-wide.

TITAN SMA-800 Slitter Rewinder With the acquisition of Sitec technology last year, Titan now provides a comprehensive range of fully automated slitting & rewinding solutions for the converting industry world-wide.

The Titan SMA-600/800 is a fully automatic slitter rewinder for a wide range of materials for flexible packaging including paper, film, foil and laminates from 10 to 500 micron and up to 800mm rewind diameter. A fully operational Titan SMA-800 slitter rewinder will be running on the Valmet Converting stand at drupa 2000, with fully automated reel handling system. This machine delivers high output from machine discharge of slit reels to a robotic pick-and-place system, unloading table and complete conveyor transfer.

Additional fully automated line operations can also be provided to meet customers’ specific requirements like slit roll weighing, automatic interior and exterior roll labelling or bar-coding, individual roll wrapping, robotic palletisation and pallet stretch-wrapping systems.

Other features of the Titan SMA 600/800 range include: - one man machine operation with 12in touch-screen display & inter-active PC operator control system - patented friction-shaft system guarantees reproducible high quality reels via machine web tension control circuit - Siemens PLC and Windows technology for storing all machine recipes on PC - maximum 40-60 seconds machine ‘down-time’ for changing finished reels, (40 secs for 600mm rewind diam. and 60 secs for 800mm rewind diam.)

At the end of the rewind cycle, the machine stops and cuts automatically between 2 applied hot-melt strips of adhesive - one to seal the finished reel, the other to secure the tail of the web to the new cores. These are also positioned automatically. The machine re-starts after 40-60 seconds whilst the slit reels are automatically transferred to the conveyor.

TITAN SR7 Slitter Rewinder The Titan SR7 slitter rewinder will be an even greater performer than its very successful world-renowned predecessor, the Titan SR6. The SR7 will have AC drives fitted as standard and will run at speeds of up to 600mpm. A completely upgraded electrical system will feature 15in TFT touch-screen computer control, using a Siemens S7 PLC and a Windows NT based software operating system.

Automatic knife positioning is available which will normally require an operator platform between the shafted (or shaftless) unwind stand and the cutting station. This permits easier access to both the knives and to a separate splicing table. Models without automatic knife positioning would normally have an integral unwind.

The Titan SR7 offers a wide range of slit widths and up to 800mm rewind diameter, from web widths of 1300 or 1600mm. The new machine will also include the Titan ‘Quickshaft’ differential rewind system giving accurate tension control and quicker, more reliable set-up procedures.

All features are designed to dramatically reduce machine downtime and deliver substantially higher productivity.

VALMET CTS Sheeter The new Valmet CTS sheeter (converters type sheeter) has been designed to meet 3 crucial requirements for converters - rapid delivery, flexibility and affordability. It has also been designed for ease of installation, with the base machine pre-assembled. A range of optional equipment can then be bolted into place to suit each customers’ requirements. This is a cost effective manufacturing procedure, making the equipment very competitively priced and meeting demands for short delivery times.

This standardised engineering concept makes the provision of service and spare parts very simple - a prerequisite for installations in remote regions of the world - 95% of CTS sheeters will be sold to export markets from England.

Machine controls incorporate diagnostics and most repairs can be executed by the customers own staff - the emphasis being placed on modular replacements rather than on site repair by service technicians.

The CTS range of sheeters will handle parent reels up to 1450mm wide with up to two 720mm wide sheets to be produced side-by-side. The cut range can be up to 1600mm wide. Sales of this new machine are already above expectations.

Valmet will also have specialised sales personnel available for consultation on paper slitter rewinders in narrower web widths for paper mills and converters.

News on the latest developments from Valmet Atlas - Winders, manufacturer of unwinds, rewinds and automatic web splicing systems, and Valmet General, manufacturer of vacuum web coating and metallizing machinery, will also be on available on the Valmet Converting stand (no. 10 E 57) at drupa.