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Flexo and Mosca Bundler Partner for Production Record

In the Fall of 2015, a major Quebec corrugated box manufacturer decided to purchase a new converting line to meet increasing demand. Their focus was obviously on the Flexo Folder Gluer (FFG), the major investment in the production line. However, experience dictated that choosing the bundler was also a key decision since the boxes made on the FFG would flow through the bundler for squaring and strapping, on their way to an automatic load former.

Since most, if not all the bundling equipment in the plant was from Mosca GmbH, plant management discussed options with EAM-Mosca Canada Regional Sales Manager, Pierre Bourre. After Bourre laid out options, the plant chose model UATRI-2XT for several insightful reasons.

The UATRI-2XT is an in-line bundler that straps in the direction of bundle travel. This is common in Europe but less so in the Americas where strapping across the flutes is the norm. Conventional squaring bundlers share common operating concepts and even spare parts with basic bundlers, and are long lived, well-understood by operation and maintenance personnel and have solid bundle squaring and throughput credentials. However, the UATRI-2XT offered some features that directly addressed specific concerns of the boxmaker in this project.

UATRI-2XT squares all six sides of the bundle and because it straps in-line with, rather than across the glue flap, it creates a very flat bundle; important to efficient automatic load former operation. The two-strapping head model can strap up to 30 bundles per minute, enabling it to comfortably keep pace with the FFG. Since most bundles would receive a single strap, the second sealing head could be mounted in the machine, operation-ready, and swapped into production should the active sealer fault during a production run.

A critical FFG feature to the boxmaker was its very fast changeovers, typically one to two minutes. As it happened, Mosca had made the decision to provide the UATRI-2XT with pre-designed integration packages for many different FFG units sold in world markets. UATRI-2XT had been integrated previously with the FFG of choice in this project, so the integration issue was already resolved. When the flexo operator does the FFG setup, the box data and any special strapper conditions are sent by internet interface to the UATRI-2XT which completes the setup automatically, within the flexo time window.

In addition to these points, the UATRI-2XT can place one strap on bundles as small as 7” x 7”. And it transports bundles using a roller conveyor, rather than with pushers like some other in-line bundlers, a preference for the customer.

So, all things considered, the UATRI-2XT was the bundler of choice for the project. The installation and start-up took place in February 2016 and within a few months the line was establishing world-wide production records for the FFG model purchased. Unsung in the hoopla about the throughput records, was the bundler that had to perform for the record to be accomplished. By all accounts the boxmaker is very happy with the UATRI-2XT. It has kept pace with the flexo and provided excellent quality bundles to the load former. Monthly service is performed by a certified Mosca service provider and daily care is provided by plant personnel. According to Bourre,”This was a nice example where a well-defined project specification led us to find a solution that fit very well and has proven successful for both the customer and supplier.”

EAM-Mosca Corporation provides high-performance strapping system solutions to a variety of industries, including food, graphic arts, mailing, fulfillment, logistics, corrugated, wood, and other industrial or consumer goods. We combine innovative equipment with strapping materials manufactured to maximize machine performance and customer support programs that help our customers meet their performance and productivity goals.

To learn more about any of EAM-Mosca’s other productivity enhancing strapping systems, please call us at 800-456-3420, or email us at info@eammosca.com. You can also connect with EAM-Mosca on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/EAMMoscaCorp), Twitter (www.twitter.com/EAMMoscaCorp), and Facebook and LinkedIn via the links above.

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