A corrugated converter cuts defects to near zero and increases output and customer satisfaction with new gluer, detection, and trim systems.
It’s tough to be perfect when producing millions of custom boxes every year—but customers expect it. If defective boxes turn up in a shipment, customers gladly return them—along with a complaint. It’s the bane of coverters’ existence; just ask factory floor workers at Landaal Packaging, who have responded to alarms from sensor-based glue detection systems and searched for bad boxes that were nearly impossible to find or never existed in the first place (thanks to false alarms). However, recent equipment upgrades from Haeco—two ERO automated gluer/glue-detection systems and new trim removal systems—have cut defects to almost nil, made them easier to find, facilitated a 10% production increase, and ended returns of defective boxes.
“We were one of the first converters in the U.S. to try these gluers and detection systems with our automated flexo-folders,” said Operations Manager Brian Timm. “Originally, we planned to improve our productivity with a simple upgrade to new camera-based glue-detection systems, and we requested some quotes. It was a real eye-opener when we saw the cost of ERO’s complete gluer and detection system was less than the camera system alone from others. The ERO was new in the U.S. at the time, backed with a 90-day trial guarantee, so it was an ‘offer we could not refuse.’ The operators loved it, and the performance and cost made it an easy decision to add the second system.”