Les Boites General, a folding carton manufacturer located in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, recently installed a new MDK Sheeter from Maxson Automatic Machinery Company of Westerly RI.
Paul Avard founded the company, which serves a regional market of customers concentrated in Quebec Canada, in 1954. Today, with Pau’s son Daniel as President, Les Boites General produces complete lines of packaging products and folding cartons in an 80,000 square foot facility.
Sixty percent of the company’s work is for pastry companies. The remaining business comprises folding cartons for food products. The company has had to invest in technology and equipment to compete with inroads made by plastics and the demand for more complex and colorful packaging. Until recently, Les Boites Generals folding carton converting process included printing, die cutting and gluing. A total of four MAN Roland printing presses are in place, including a 6 color, a 4 color and two 2 color units. The company has two die cutters, as well as five folder-gluers.
In the demanding Montreal marketplace, Les Boites General differentiates itself from the competition by concentrating on quick delivery of quality work in some cases turning orders around within 24 hours. The pastry business is driven by holiday seasons, notes Avard. Business peaks from September through December for Christmas and then again for Easter.
Relying on mills to provide sheeted board was affecting Les Boites Generals competitiveness. Avard recalls, We could wait as long as three weeks for deliveries of sheets from our suppliers and there was an up charge for the service. With an eye toward providing better deliveries, eliminating the sheeting surcharge, and improving quality, Les Boites General investigated in house sheeting.
Rather than begin with a used sheeter, the decision was made at the outset to purchase new equipment. Said Avard, With new machinery I knew we would be getting the latest technology which would provide the highest productivity. Also we could be sure this first piece of equipment was installed correctly and the operators properly trained using the manufacturers servicemen.
Les Boites General staff reviewed several manufacturers models in their selection process; ultimately deciding on Maxsons dual knife rotary MDK Sheeter. I was impressed by Maxsons responsiveness, we heard good things from other companies that had Maxson equipment, and the proposal was fairly priced, said Avard.
The 65 wide Maxson MDK Sheeter was outfitted with a shaftless roll stand, a web guidance system, a slitting section to permit two pile service, a dual knife rotary cutter geared to 1300 fpm, a reject gate to divert out of specification material, a dust collector to clean the sheets, a pile offset design to eliminate the need to aerate and restack the skid prior to feeding into the press and a rapid pallet discharge system that allows continuous operation while making skid changes.
The MDK Sheeters web conditioning unit includes a motorized decurler and a web steering unit.
Six months after its installation and Avard continues to be impressed with the precision of the sheeter, the simplicity of the operation and the automatic features that translate into higher production.
The sheeter is very accurate, the cut off is better than what we were getting from our suppliers actually. And it remains precise regardless of speed. Waste associated with the sheeter is less than 2% and we are striving to have no more than 1.5% spoilage.
Continues Avard, We team two operators on the sheeter, one to run the machine and the other to support it by preparing rolls, having pallets ready, and removing the full skids. In fact, because the sheeter is fairly easy to run, the original crew has trained employees on the second shift to run the Maxson.
The president of Les Boites General concludes, I like how the automatic off load system keeps the sheeter and the operators moving. If we had to stop the sheeter to replace the skids, we would lose 1 2 minutes per skid change. With this continuous running operation the sheeter is so much more productive. We convert up to 4 tons an hour on the Maxson and have set a goal to produce 5 tons an hour.
The rapid pallet discharge design automatically changes skids without stopping the sheeter or rejecting any sheets.
Has the investment in sheeting made sense According to Avard, rolls of board are being delivered within a week instead of the three weeks scheduled for sheet orders. Material waste is less and the quality of the sheet is better. The cost of board is now 5% – 10% less than what the company was paying when there was no in house sheeting. The investment payback is conservatively estimated to be within 3 years.
By introducing a high speed, dual knife rotary sheeter into its operation, Les Boites General continues its tradition of providing excellent value and timely response to an ever demanding and growing customer base.
Has the investment in sheeting made sense? According to Avard, rolls of board are being delivered within a week instead of the three weeks scheduled for sheet orders. Material waste is less and the quality of the sheet is better. The cost of board is now 5% – 10% less than what the company was paying when there was no in house sheeting. The investment payback is conservatively estimated to be within 3 years.
By introducing a high speed, dual knife rotary sheeter into its operation, Les Boites General continues its tradition of providing excellent value and timely response to an ever demanding – and growing – customer base.
Reprinted from The Sheeting Monitor, June 2005
