To commemorate the 5th Anniversary Year of the ROBOSLIT slitter rewinder, SP Ultraflex will have a live demonstration of this model at its booth at Indiaplast 2019 where it will run at speeds of 800 meters a minute on all days. 2014 was a landmark year for the Indian flexible packaging and converting industry in which the prototype of the first indigenous Dual Turret Slitter Rewinder was installed. The ROBOSLIT OHP was supplied by SP Ultraflex Systems to a reputed and existing user of SP machines.
Awareness of dual turret technology and its benefits over duplex machines has increased and the ROBOSLIT, the only Indian made machine in this category has found favor with a discerning set of converters in the domestic and overseas market. There are nearly 30 installation in the 5th anniversary year of the machine.
While it was launched in 2014 with a modest speed of 500 meters a minute, the current speed has reached 800 meters a minute for the standard version and 1,000 meters a minute for the enhanced, ‘plus’ version which has several value added features to boost productivity, quality and operator friendliness.
For individual customer preferences, variants offering different layouts were added over the years to both the standard and plus versions. Today, the customer can choose between 3 layouts – the compact rear-loading machine; the hygienic overhead path machine; and finally, the one with the free standing unwind in which the main machine is separated from the unwind by means of an underpass working platform.
Customers – GLS, Sood Packagers, P3P, Rohit Surfactants & SB Packaging
The first ROBOSLIT was installed in North India, an area which has seen quite a few notable installations of this machine over the past five years. The prototype of the ROBOSLIT series, the ROBOSLIT OHP was supplied to GLS Industries in Gurgaon in 2014. The virtually non-stop machine was able to produce nearly double the output compared to conventional duplex slitter rewinders, and when the time came in 2016 to expand capacities, the management had no hesitation in repeating their order for two more ROBOSLIT machines.
In 2015, Sood Packagers, a leading FMCG company based at Rajpura, Punjab, added the ROBOSLIT RL to its fleet of duplex machines sourced in earlier years from SP Ultraflex. This compact, rear loading variant of the ROBOSLIT series is the inspiration behind the sustainability slogan ‘more output per unit man, machine and space,’ which the machine helps realize.
Paharpur 3P is a leading manufacturer of flexible packaging, catering mainly to the food, pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. It was after a lot of due diligence and comparisons with other available options that the management, in 2016, gave the go ahead for investing in the ROBOSLIT OHP dual turret slitter rewinder as part of their slitting capacity expansion. True to its word, Paharpur soon repeated their order and the next machine is scheduled to be installed at the end of this financial year.
Rohit Surfactants Private Limited, who has a diversified business portfolio ranging from FMCG to renewable energy to dairy products, has their in-house world class flexible packaging manufacturing units in Kanpur and Noida. In line with their philosophy of expanding with minimum increase in machine and head count, they opted for the ROBOSLIT OHP in 2017 and were happy to find a productivity differential (as compared to duplex machines) that was in line with the calculations submitted to them during technical discussions.
SB Packaging of Haryana is a leading manufacturer of PE based packaging material for hygiene products. Their operating crew opted for the ROBOSLIT FSU in which the unwind and rewind sections are separated by a working platform, offering ease of cutter setting and web monitoring, which are paramount for the application. It is a challenge to slit extensible substrates like 25 micron PE at high speed and the fact that the machine can carry out this job speaks volumes about the accuracy of tension control on the machine.
Solutions for sustainability
SP’s forte since the company’s inception has been designing solutions for the industry rather than mere machines. At SP, customer specific needs result in extensive research to develop optimal solutions through a wide range of standard models while their feedback translates into continuous design improvements. Pioneering dual turret technology in the sub-continent is one more example of how SP Ultraflex has made available world-class technology at the doorstep of converters, enabling them to realize their sustainability goals.
