French corrugated sheet plant Cartonnages du Dauphiné has received the Bobst Expertfold 165, replacing an existing folder-gluer in the plant.
The machine has raised the productivity of the plant by 30% in its first year of production, enabling the site to manufacture and sell a wider range of box styles.
“A big part of the increase in productivity was from the faster setting times of the Expertfold,” says GM of Cartonnages du Dauphiné Pascal Olier.
“On some jobs we have cut them by as much as half compared to the machine it replaced. That is important for a sheet plant like us because our folder-gluers have to make ready many times a day.”
“Also this new machine runs more consistently, with better control of the box during the folding process, which improves quality and further increases productivity.”
The increased productivity is due to machine design elements such as a Matic system for the automatic setting of carriers and job parameters, as well as an Accufeed blank alignment system that ensures precise entry of the blank to the folding section.
The design of the folding section itself minimizes fishtailing and gap, its extra length creating smoother folding.
A high accuracy pre-breaker ensures excellent box performance on machine-erect lines, which many brand owners now demand.
The folder-gluer, which is available in two sizes – EXPERTFOLD 145 and EXPERTFOLD 165 – and in several variants, has been designed with the needs of both sheet plant and integrated manufacturers of fluted boxes in mind.
The Expertfold 165 model can fold and glue substrates from N-flute to A-flute, including double wall and litho-laminates.
It can handle blanks of up to 1700 mm by 1,100 mm in size and up to 25 mm thick when folded, as well as blanks as small as 296 mm by 60 mm.
