“The safest bet would be a design which by virtue of being a standard and proven one for the manufacturer, has made many customers happy.”
You may, due to any number of reasons, be inclined towards a machine built around a certain technology or having a certain layout, design, feature or specification. This preference could be the result of your past experience, consultant’s advice, customer requirement and so on. While there may be a number of suppliers who could build the machine for you, you would do well to pick a company that has such machine as part of its standard range, so that you can focus on dispatching those finished reels from day one on a proven machine instead of funding someone’s R&D initiative! It may be quite some time between the launch of a prototype and its standardization, which often happens after one or more iterations, based on the feedback from the production floor. The performance and availability of spares during this period could also be a big question mark. As such, in most cases the safest bet would be a standard design which is proven for the manufacturer, and has already made many customers happy.
#10- Manufacturing company’s profile
“It would be unrealistic to expect a total focus from anyone but a manufacturer that specializes exclusively in Slitter Rewinders.”
It is no coincidence that the most reputed manufacturers of slitter rewinders worldwide, especially in matured markets, are single product companies. And it does not take rocket science to figure out why. Slitter rewinders are intricate machines with complexities incomparable with most other equipment in a typical converting unit for flexible packaging. To fully appreciate this statement, you only need to consider the fact that unlike most other machines, slitter rewinders are required to slit and rewind multiple coils, with each coil conforming to the quality norms of the customer.
Their mechanical components are also subjected to more than their fair share of stress, due to higher speeds and faster ramp times and shorter cycle times. As such, these machines require a focused approach in their design, manufacture and support, to do justice to their critical role as the final process before dispatch. It would be unrealistic to expect such focus from anyone but a manufacturer that specializes exclusively on slitter rewinders, to the exclusion of other bigger machines that would otherwise receive the lion’s share of the company’s attention and resources.
