With annual sales in excess of $65 million, Perez Trading is one of the leading U. S. exporters of paper, paperboard, equipment and supplies to Central and South America and the Caribbean basin. Serving the graphic arts industry, Perez currently exports all types of paper and paperboard, in rolls and sheets, to printers, cartons mfrs., converters and paper merchants. The company also sells new and used equipment, accessories and supplies to printers, packagers and converts located “south of the border.”
Founded in 1947 in New York, Perez Trading made a strategic move in 1974. “Because Perez exported such a large volume of paper and paperboard, we found the need to stock and do some of our own converting,’ says John Perez, president of Perez Trading. And so Perez bought a small converting outfit in Miami-the American gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean-and there established Coral Paper. Both Coral Paper and Perez Trading are now headquartered in that Florida city. Coral Paper functions as the converting, warehousing and distributing arm of its exporter Perez, and also acts as a full-line domestic paper merchant and converter. Coral’s products range from fine printing papers to heavy-weight paperboards. “By owning our own sheeting, slitting and trimming equipment, we can give prompt service as well as better control over quality and costs,” adds Perez.
Domestic expansion
The next step in Coral Paper’s development lay in domestic expansion beyond the scope of its export markets and local merchant sales. Through market research, they found a need for sheeted tag, cover and board stock (both carton-packed and press-ready skids) for commercial printers and small- to medium-sized box makers in Florida and southeastern states such as Georgia, Alabama and the Carolinas.
Existing equipment included two sheeters, one a 72-in. Hamblet (co. now defunct) and the other a 76-in. Clark-Aiken. With both working at full capacity, the additional amount of orders coming from the new domestic market not only affected export lead times but also affected domestic deliveries. Additionally, Coral Paper discovered that they could not produce press-ready skids without guillotine trimming, which added extra costs and production time to the already tight converting schedule.
“With the increased sales and converting activity, it was becoming difficult to produce a high quality product and keep up with both export and domestic deliveries unless we significantly upgraded our converting operation,’ says John David Perez, VP of sales. “Our decision in 1987 to purchase a paperboard sheeter and guillotine trimmer and upgrade other machinery was based upon our commitment to providing our customers with products of the highest quality possible.”
Upgrades and additions
Because Perez Trading has a complete machinery and supplies department available as part of its export business, both Messrs. Perez, Sr. and Jr., were already very familiar with the newest sheeting equipment on the market. Even so, before the actual purchasing decision was made, they spent some time talking with mill representatives other converting plants to get direct feedback from users of this type of equipment. In June of 1987, Coral Paper finally installed a 65-in. MSH precision sheeter from Maxson Automatic Machinery Co.
The new sheeter is able to produce press-ready skids at approximately 1,200 fpm, nearly doubling the productivity of Coral Paper’s existing equipment, which runs at 600 fpm ( the Hamblet) and 800 fpm (the Clark-Aiken). They then equipped the sheeter with a slitter rig and two self-loading shaftless back stands (also from Maxson) to reduce set-up time.
According to John David, the sheeter’s extending grid system provides increased production by allowing the operator to sheet continually while off-loading finished skids from the stacker.
When outfitted with the stacker and an automatic feed-down table, the sheeter also provides an even-sided, well-jogged pile and reduces the need for continuous operator attention. Coral can now eliminate guillotine trimming for many orders requiring press-ready skids while maintaining high levels of cutting accuracy.
“The unit easily adjusts to all types of materials, first quality as well as job lots, ranging from .008 cover stock .034 folding carton grades,” says John David. “With a state-of-the-art sheeter such as the Maxson, we’re able to enter markets requiring precision cutting as well as explore possibilities with various paper mills regarding contract sheeting.”
Another important accessory is the dancer roll that feeds the board consistently into the cutting head, adjusting automatically to imperfectly wound rolls. As approximately fifty percent of the tonnage converted at Coral is job lot, the dancer roll goes a long way to help maintain accurate sheet lengths.
With two shaftless self-loading back stands, two rolls of material can be simultaneously sheeted, either by superimposing or running side by side. If only one roll is being sheeted, the back stands allow an operator to splice a new roll onto the existing roll in a matter of minutes, reducing downtime due to roll changes. Total output in one eight-hour shift can be as high as 100,000 lb.
The work continues
After the installation of the Maxson sheeter, Coral’s engineers began to rebuild their existing sheeters to improve speed and cutting accuracy. This included new motor drives, new speed belts, new delivery and stacking systems-in short, says John David, “we consider them almost brand new.”
An upgrade in trimming operation followed. Coral next purchased an 88-in. Como #220 guillotine trimmer to augment its existing 87-in. Seybold. Both trimmers are equipped with a Southworth flying carpet delivery system which takes the paper off the skid and delivers it to the trimmer on a bed of air. Ease of handling is the major benefit of such a system.
The Como trimmer also features a microcomputer that allows the programming of an unlimited number of repeatable combinations. The MC monitor registers all settings in memory and sets them in correct order for the cutting operation. It then surveys the program continually and immediately warns the operator of deviations over .1 mm. The trimmer is reportedly as accurate in cutting paper as board. Coral also maintains a 60-in. Cameron slitter/rewinder with plans for a second unit in the near future.
As the final step in the converter/exporter’s growth spurt, Coral Paper expanded its inventory area by purchasing an additional 45,000 sq ft adjacent to the current warehouse, increasing the overall area, including the warehouse, offices and converting facility, to 185,00 sq ft.
“Our emphasis is on service to our domestic and overseas customers,” states John David. “Our customers demand quality end products and we’ve set our standards high. Few firms in the Southeast can match our diverse inventory and quick reaction time. We feel we’re going in the right direction.”
Reprinted from Converting, September 1988
