For more than 55 years, Brenner Paper has been a family owned and operated envelope manufacturer. Located Glendale, NY, the company serves as a trade converter with a customer base concentrated on the eastern seaboard.
Quality product and prompt, personal service are two reasons why Brenner Paper can compete with other envelope manufacturers. The company’s product line includes all commercial and specialty grades. Special orders account for 50 percent of Brenner’s sales and have helped to secure a market niche for the company.
Over the years, as Brenner Paper’s sales increased, so did production demands. This compelled the company to look for ways to improve productivity include updating older equipment, an employee-cross training plan, as well as a new computer system to expedite order processing. It was this need to improve productivity that led the company to explore the new technology available in sheeting equipment. As Rhoda Levenson the company’s president explains, “We had an old Hamblet sheeter which had served us well for many years. However, we needed to sheet faster and more precisely.”
After carefully considering several sheeter designs, Brenner Paper selected the MSH Sheeter from Maxson Automatic Machinery Company (Westerly, RI). “Price was consideration, but more importantly, we were not in need of a very sophisticated machine. Our needs were simply speed and accuracy, and the MAXSON met those needs.”
The new sheeter has an option package decurl unit, a close tolerance drive, a clutch box arrangement, and an airfoil overlap system. Each of these options were selected to assure improved productivity.
Productivity Gains
To minimize downtime during roll changes, the company selected two shaft-type unwinds. Each unwind stand can manually controlled air brakes. As the material on the first unwind feeds into the machine, the operator chucks up the rolls on the second unwind. When a roll change is necessary, the operator simply moves the second unwind into place and webs the material into the cutter.
The MSH Sheeter features a clutch box design, which simplifies size changes. The clutch box reduces setup time by allowing the operator to set the desired sheet length range automatically. As a result of this feature, setups are accomplished in half the time.
Both the decurl unit and close tolerance drive have helped waste due to roll curl, while the close tolerance drive assures a sheet length accuracy of +/- 0.023 inches (+/- 0.584 mm), even during speed changes. “With the MAXSON, we now can sheet precisely. As a result, waste has been reduced significantly, ” remarks Levenson.
The new sheeter runs at twice the speed of the older unit it replaced. These higher speeds are achieved with Maxson’s patented airfoil overlap system, which prevents jam-ups at the point of overlap and permits faster sheet feeding.
The speed gains on the new sheeter have helped Brenner Paper to improve lead-times. For example, the new sheeter’s output during an 8-hour shift exceeds 500 reams of paper. In contrast, a similar run on the older sheeter produces just 300 reams of paper. As Levenson states, “The nature of our business dictates fast turn-arounds, and the MAXSON help us meet our delivery dates.
At Brenner Paper, the MSH Sheeter runs two shifts per day and handles cutting loads from 20lb. stock up to 40lb. stock. The MAXSON Sheeter is used for the bulk of Brenner’s converting, however, the company’s old sheeter still serves as a backup and is used to sheet odd rolls.
The purchase of state-of-the-art sheeting equipment has fit in well with Brenner Paper’s plan to improve operational efficiency. As Rhoda Levenson concludes, “Productivity is up. With the MAXSON, we have been able to improve deliveries, reduce waste, and maintain a high quality product.”
Reprinted from The Sheeting Monitor, June 1990
