Bobst India organized an Open House on 22 and 23 February 2018, at its Pune factory and training and demonstration center to showcase new technologies to Indian as well as overseas customers after a gap of three years. The focus of this year’s event for the Indian folding carton industry was on the Speedwave-2 technology for folder gluers and on in-line blanking on diecutters. The Open House saw close to 200 visitors from about 150 companies from across India and overseas. On both the days, the Expertfold 110 A-2 folder gluer with Speedwave-2, the Novacut 106 ER diecutter and Visionfold 110 folder gluer were run and explained in detail.
“Through the Open House we invite all existing as well as potential customers for an interaction with the Bobst team, see the machines in live action and observe the best practices. Also, and perhaps more importantly, we invite them to see the Bobst facility in India. We also invite our business associates and allied suppliers in the graphic arts industry so that customers can get a one shot platform to interact with them during their visit. This year we showed the second generation of the Bobst Speedwave technology on the Expertfold folder gluer and through the Novacut 106 ER, we tried to stress that blanking is the way forward when it comes increasing efficiency, reducing work in progress (WIP) and making faster turnaround of jobs with almost no manual intervention in the production,” said Venugopal Menon of Bobst India.
Talking in detail about the Speedwave-2, Menon said that the second generation of Speedwave has been launched in the Experfold so that a larger pool of customers can take advantage of this technology. The first generation of Speedwave was introduced in 2009 in the Masterfold.
There are some noteworthy features in Speedwave-2. Firstly, the conveyer settings are all motorized, which minimizes any mechanical settings. Secondly, Speedwave-2 reduces the number of items that need to be set by almost 70%. “This reduces set-up time by 50% for crash-lock bottom cartons, Menon shared.
Thirdly, Speedwave-2 helps enhance productivity for crash-lock bottom and special box types by 50% and even more. In fact, the job demonstrated at the Open House was running at 80,000 boxes per hour, which is double the production speed compared to what it could be run at in the traditional process. Lastly, Speedwave-2 makes finishing of boxes with windows much easier because with the elimination of hooks there is no possibility of hooks getting stuck.
Indian customers realizing the importance of blanking
In the last three years, Bobst India has been very successful with the Novacut 106 ER blanker, with the number of units sold in double digits. Almost 70% of these are for general folding carton production. “Nearly 50% of the diecutting fi nishing is through manual stripping at most of the plants. But going forward, with reduced availability and increases in the cost of labor, space constraints, JIT deliveries, hygiene standards requested by end users and other factors, there will be a push in in-line blanking as the way to do diecutting and fi nishing.” Menon shared.
Fourth expansion at Pune plant
This year Bobst India’s state-of-the-art Pune unit that has been built up in phases on a very large plot of land will be going in for its fourth expansion. Additional space is needed to expand the manufacturing at Pune of modules for the Bobst FFG (fl exo printer, slotter and
Pune plant. Photo PSA
folder gluer) and other allied machines. Currently, Bobst India manufactures a range of folders gluers for the folding carton and litho-laminated market and top counter ejectors and folders for the FFG lines for
corrugated business at Pune. “This FFG module manufacturing business is growing so we wanted more space to manufacture these modules,” said Menon.
