Six Titans at FLEXcon

PSA leader looks to Valmet Converting

Six Titan SR7 twin-shafted, slitter rewinders have recently been installed at two of FLEXcon’s USA production sites at Spencer, Massachusetts, and Columbus, Nebraska. The converter is a global leader in customer driven, pressure sensitive adhesive film solutions. All the Valmet Converting machines were designed to meet FLEXcon’s specific requirements for product quality and high volume production. Replacing several older machines, the new slitters have dramatically streamlined the converting operations, claims Valmet.

The 1,800mm (71in) wide Titan SR7 machines have a maximum rewind diameter of 800mm (32in) on 76mm and 152mm (3in and 6in) cores, running at production speeds of up to 600m/min (2000ft/min).

An essential part of the machine specification was the capability to handle a wide variation of PSA materials at high production speeds. Explains Valmet: “The SR7 comes supplied standard with a three-motor AC digital drive configuration, ensuring a highly responsive tension control system for the high volume requirements of the PSA industry.”

FLEXcon has been established for over 45 years, creating value added solutions with pressure sensitive films and adhesives. It offers advantages in product performance, cost and availability and has witnessed five decades of uninterrupted expansion.

With more than 10,000 standard and custom products produced each year – claimed to be more than anyone else in the business – the ISO 9001 certified company is recognized as being one of the most innovative in the industry. Its products are used in a wide range of applications from product identification labels, POP (point of purchase) and promotional graphics, novelty stickers and decals, to bonding and mounting.

One current trend is towards ‘just-in-time’ deliveries of shorter production runs. This requirement was one of the primary concerns during the selection and specification of the machines for the project. The Titan SR7 has a wide range of additional standard automation options, which enables the converter and label stock/PSA manufacturer to choose a specification to meet their particular requirements.

An automatic knife positioning system allows the positioning of male and female knives to an accuracy of within 0.15mm within 90s, claims the company. This feature enables the makeready time for changing slit widths to be dramatically reduced and provides an immediate effect on machine downtime and production throughput, it adds. Laser core positioning is linked to the knife positioning system and provides a very quick, accurate guide for the operator in positioning the new rewind cores for re-starting the slitting process. All of these parameters are saved within the Titan control system for quick, and accurate job repeatability, it explains.

Reel stripping

Handling and unloading of the finished reels is also an important consideration. The machines can be fitted with a Titan AC driven automatic reel stripping system, which allows the operator to safely strip the finished reel packages off the rewind shafts and onto the unloading trolleys. The trolley then turns through 90 degrees away from the machine, leaving the empty shafts ready for positioning the new cores. The slitter can then be re-started in the shortest time possible.

After completion of the trolley rotation, the arms re-position the reels to a horizontal position using an electrical drive. A scissor lift table mounted on linear rails is driven to a position under the arms holding the finished reels. The scissor lift raises the table and takes the full weight of the reels and the table then drives away from the trolley, stripping the reels from the arms.

Titan engineers worked in close collaboration with the FLEXcon team to optimize the specification, performance and integration of the six machine delivery to the customer’s facilities and production management system. All machine settings and running parameters are linked into the customer’s automated production systems.

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