Nampak South Africa Boosts Production Of Flexibles With Two New Titan Slitter Rewinders

In South Africa the company provides high quality solutions in paper, board & glass packaging, rigid plastics, metal containers, bar coding & labelling solutions, as well as extensive recycling operations and research & development in packaging.

The company has recently installed two 1350mm wide Titan ER610 compact slitter rewinders - one at its Flexible division in Pinetown, Durban and the second slitter at its operations in Cape Town, to boost its expanding production of a wide range of flexible packaging materials.

‘We already had seven Titan slitter rewinders at our plants in South Africa including the SR6, SR7 and TS350 models from 1994 through to 2001. So we were familiar with the high performance, quality and service which Titan provides for processing flexible packaging materials,’ explained Mr. Anand Padayachee, General Manager at Nampak Flexible in Pinetown, Durban.

‘Good control of web tension is critical in producing the highest quality rewind reels for our customers and the ER610 slitters provide this, as well as faster acceleration and higher running speeds giving us much improved levels of productivity,’ he confirmed.

In Flexible Pinetown, Nampak has a number of slitters served by a common materials handling system, so the more compact design of the ER610 has actually improved the working space around the machine without any modifications required to the existing handling system.

Available in two widths – 1350 and 1650mm - the ER610 compact slitter has been a great success for Titan with more than 100 machines now installed in many locations across the world. It features a pneumatically controlled braking system and a digital edge-guide system controls lateral movement of the unwind reel to +/- 2in (50 mm). Slitting systems available include shear knives, rotary razor (burst) or razor slitting in air or groove. The two ER610 slitters installed at Nampak Flexible include an edge trim extraction system, laser core positioning and shaftless unwind roll pick-up from floor.

The Titan ER610 slitter can process a wide range of flexible materials including plain, printed, coated or metallized film from 20 to 200 micron, a wide range of laminates and paper from 30 to 200 gsm. It is a more environmentally friendly solution with reduced power consumption, no hydraulics for oil-free, hygienic operation, un-lubricated compressed air for zero oil/air emissions and its ‘one-piece’ design also enables rapid installation and commissioning.

The two Titan ER610 slitters were commissioned during February this year with support from Beswick Machinery (Pty) Ltd., the local agent for Atlas & Titan in South Africa.

‘Both Titan slitters were operating at the expected running speeds from the first day in production, so all our expectations have been met,’ Mr. Anand Padayachee concluded.