The whole Corrugated Sector is in the fortunate position of being extremely busy. We should be grateful for this. However, it does create issues for many companies who wish to move forward on Environmental improvements.
The average age of a conversion line in Europe is estimated at 20 years. In North America, it’s 24 years. Alongside this, the established RDC and FFG suppliers are typically sold out for the following 2 years. These same OEMs are so busy with their own backlogs and staffing shortages that we are all suffering from, that improving equipment in the field is a low priority. Against this backdrop how are Plants supposed to improve their environmental performance in line with their Corporate goals on ESG and the Circular Economy, and more generally improve efficiencies?
Absolute has been working in the corrugated sector for 21 years. Over this time we have installed over 15,000 of the Woven Carbon Fiber Chambers and CF UniBlade systems that we introduced to the market when the standard supply was aluminium.
Since this time we have introduced InkSave, our ink recovery and washup system, and our new Chamber3, an evolutionary design that allows blade change simply by flicking a switch. The combination of these two products installed by our International Team of Technicians means that companies worldwide have seen a transformation in performance on 5, 10 and 20-year-old machines in terms of Ink recovery, consistently 80% reduction in ink loss on colour change. Wash water consumption, consistently 50% reduction in usage. First box saleable as liquid retention in the ink circuit on completion of wash is virtually eliminated.
Corporate organisations and their Shareholders see real benefit in this Environmental progress. In addition, Operators see real benefits in quicker, safer and easier blade changes, quicker wash-ups and less manual intervention.
Absolute has completed projects across the World but in particular North America, Europe and South America. Installations have been completed on BOBST Lyon ,Gopfert and EMBA lines in addition to LMC, TCY and YSF. A recent installation on a BOBST 1624 in Europe provided typical results. A reduction in ink loss from 2.7 kilos to 0.8 kilos, along with wash water consumption on washup of 18 litres and a wash cycle time of 6.25 minutes. The customer estimates an ROI of 6-8 months.
We completed a similar upgrade in the USA for a key Integrated on their Bobst Lyon 924. This also included chambers with InkSave and again produced significant improvements, particularly with the ease of use for the Operators ultimately resulting in reduced downtime and higher productivity.
In Europe we have recently completed an installation on a YSF at Reedbut UK. Here the MD Trevor Green commented:
“We are very impressed with the Absolute chambers and Ink Save system and in particular the positive impact the system has on our drive to become a more environmentally friendly business. We are now looking at further opportunities to implement the system on other machinery within our group.”
