Independent II (CONT’D FROM PAGE 34)
Isowa: A ‘Mirrored’ Operation Independent II brought its durable and reliable Ward die cutters and flexos from its old facility but it wanted to fill its new and expansive production floor with newer, faster machines, ones that had a fixed architecture and could be set-up quickly. Independent chose to partner with Japa- nese manufacturer Isowa and made very a significant in- vestment by purchasing not one but two Isowa flexo folder gluers: a “traditional” Isowa Ibis and an Isowa Falcon built to “mirror” it. The Isowa machine center was designed and built for speed and productivity from the outside in to create a horseshoe that encircles the “island” on which the ma-
Plant Manager Anthony Jennings and FinnMacDonald at Inde- pendent II Isowa machine center, MacDonald’s ‘happy place.’
chines are tied together. Prefeeding and load forming machinery by Alliance was added to the front and back ends of both Isowas. Inverters by Geo. Martin and bun- dlers by EAM Mosca completed the ma- chine center in which all the equipment communicates with each other. In addition to its Isowa flexo folder glu- ers, Independent II runs two Ward rotary die cutters, a Baysek flatbed die cutter, a Post specialty gluer rebuilt by Torosian, and two Solarco box making machines, one a 90- inch unit with two print cylinders, the other a 98-inch machine with three print cylinders. “When I come out here [to the produc- tion floor] every morning and see our very efficient and well-designed plan being ex- ecuted at a high level, I feel like I’m in my ‘happy place,’” says a visibly enthusiastic MacDonald. “If the stars align and we assign just the right mixture of work, each Isowa has proven that it can get a million square- feet through them in a single shift, which I think is incredible for a company like ours.” MacDonald credits machine connectivi- ty with unleashing the power of the Isowas, which can rate a job, determine its speed – say, 250 kicks per minute – start off at that speed and continue at that speed until the job is done, all while watching for skew and monitoring print. “Between connectivity and a changing labor market, it’s like hav- ing another one or two people out here on the floor doing the thinking for us. The ma- chines are doing what we want them to do without us having to do it, which is a huge opportunity for both us and for the industry.” MacDonald says he’s extremely pleased that the operators in the machine center are motivated by the Isowa’s remarkable throughput and they see that jobs are get-
THANKS FOR STOPPING BY OUR BOOTH AT
Two brand leaders, C&M
Conveyor + Ohio Blowpipe, have come together to deliver the most dependable, comprehensive customer- engineered solutions in material and scrap handling.
4598 State Road 37 Mitchell, IN 47446 446 E 131st St. Cleveland, OH 44108
Tel 812-558-7956 Fax 812-954-0648 www. INNOVEYANCE .com
CONTINUED ON PAGE 38
36
www.boardconvertingnews.com
September 18, 2023
0586-001-Innoveyance-BCN-20230905-HalfIsland.indd 1
9/7/23 9:06 AM
Made with FlippingBook - PDF hosting