Esleeck Manufacturing Company, Inc., is situated alongside the fast-moving Connecticut River in picturesque Turners Falls, Massachusetts, where it has been for more than 100 years. The company is currently led by William C. Blanker, Chairman of the Board and Charles H. Blanker, President.
Esleeck has always been a good neighbor and they take their obligation to the environment very seriously each year cleaning millions of gallons of water used in production. Esleeck recycles and re-uses all their manufacturing trimmings. More than half of their papers are 100% cotton and they have even developed a paper called Blue Jean Bond® that was developed by recycling – you guessed it – blue jean cuttings from blue jean manufacturers.
Esleeck Manufacturing Company produces for two markets. Communication papers which include watermark, bond and writing papers, as well as technical papers for engineering drawings and prints, and for the Graphic Arts industry.
In keeping with their dedication to producing a variety of exceptional quality paper and their desire to continue servicing and expand their worldwide customer base, it was decided to upgrade some of the production machinery in use. Mr. Blanker reported, “We needed to increase efficiency and production in a more economical way. We also are committed to our employees who contribute to our success. Because we have maintained profitability, we are able to reinvest in the company by upgrading equipment.”
Together with investment in state-of-the-art paper manufacturing machinery, as well as slitting and rewinding equipment, sheeting equipment came under scrutiny also. “We had four outdated sheeters which required regular maintenance and we had to guillotine trim everything,” said Blanker. “We looked at other sheeter suppliers before selecting Maxson, and found the Maxson MSP, designed to cut to watermark, was a good one to fill our needs economically that included the features we needed,” Blanker stated. Esleeck also wanted American manufactured equipment..
“One such feature is the roll stands,” Ray Gerrish, Finishing Supervisor pointed out. “Because of the four new shaftless Citation roll stands, a single operator can more safely load the roll stock in 50% less time than before.” The self loading, shaftless design eliminates the need for an overhead hoist when loading rolls. Once the operator moves the roll into position, the roll stand chucks grip the roll and lift it into position. The Citation roll stands have a 6,000 lb. load capacity and are capable of continuous service at speeds of up to 1,000 fpm.
The Maxson MSP also features a dual motor drive system that provides a sheet length accuracy of ±0.015″. “This means the cut off is so accurate that the need for guillotine trimming has been altogether eliminated generating another 2% savings on waste,” according to Gerrish.
Precision cutting of the MSP Sheeter has increased savings on waste by an additional 2% at Esleeck Manufacturing Co.
“Now we are sheeting a wider variety of paper and grades and dealing with the occasional ‘odd ball’ paper is much easier than before,” continued Gerrish.
Because of the ease of setup, and the precision of the operation, it is possible to quickly complete a relatively short production run of 10,000 lbs. and reweb for a production run of 40,000 lbs. “Before we installed the MSP Sheeter, we were reluctant to change cutoff size often because of the setup time. Because of the Airfoil Overlap System, seeing a jam is a rarity and static free speeds up to 1000 fpm can be achieved.” The air assist of the overlap system swiftly and smoothly moves sheeted material through the tape section and into the stacker particularly in single web or lightweight stock. Gerrish stated, “We can run 4 rolls of 24 lb. stock, slit it, and stack it with total accuracy.”
“We’re better equipped to handle short runs and have reduced our turnaround times by 50 percent,” Gerrish continued. “We went from a mechanical system to an electronically controlled system.” Mr. Blanker commented, “We used to do a lot more trucking and moving stock around. Now, we’re getting product out the door a lot faster.”
These time and material savings translate into profits and, Mr. Blanker added, “Business volume and increased profitability has been maintained in the last two years. The goal was to increase the sheeter business and, now with the Maxson MSP Sheeter, we can service our customers more efficiently.”
Reprinted from The Sheeting Monitor, December 1999
