Sandusky Packaging (CONT’D FROM PAGE 20)
of course, but the sheets weren’t as clean and it wasn’t as fast.” The new capability in the Hawk allowed SPC to inventory more rolls of paperboard and control the quality of sheets. “This allowed us to control our ship dates more accurately to better serve our customers,” said Johnson. The Hawk 1650 was the right machine to feed SPC’s new printing press -- acquired around the same time -- the Koenig & Bauer Rapida 106, a seven-color plus coater workhorse and the centerpiece of the company’s manu- facturing floor. Johnson, Norman and team had specific re- quirements in making the K&B choice: faster set-up times; running speeds of up to 20,000 sheets per hour; in-run sheet inspection capability and fast color measurement and control. The 106, a medium-format press, can accom- modate sheets up to 29.1” to 44.75,” which makes it the optimum configuration for Sandusky Packaging’s particu- lar mix of business.
buy a few printing presses along the way,” he recalled. “We got this six-color for $10,000 in North Carolina and I thought it was great, until we got it her and we’re like, ‘Oh, this is old technology.’” Greg Norman remembers the defining moment clearly: “It was the late 90s or early 2000s – and when I say this, I mean it respectfully – the old guys retired and said, ‘It’s time to let the kids see what they can do.’” Johnson and Norman set their sights on a circa-1965 Bobst 1260 SP plat- en die cutter to speed up their cutting line. The machine had a rated ability to run up to 5,000 sheets per hour, de- pending on the caliper of the substrate. “It was 1995 or ’96 when we got our first Bobst cutter,” Norman recalled. “We thought that was the greatest thing ever.” The high- er running speeds on the cutting line, though, forced the
This new firepower, however, tested the limits of SPC’s older Bobst 1260 SP and two SP 102 CER Bobst die cut- ters, so in 2024, Johnson added a Bobst Mastercut 106 Autoplaten die cutter to handle the added workload. The Mastercut 106 handles sheets up to 29.3” x 41.7” at speeds up to 11,000 sheets per hour, cutting, stripping and blank- ing in one pass. Important for SPC’s graphics-heavy pro- duction runs is the Mastercut’s unique cut-to-print register system for extremely precise die-cutting, and the ability to store up to 5,000 job set-ups. The addition of the Mastercut relieved a chokepoint in SPC’s production flow. “Die cutting was our bottleneck; it was holding us back,” Johnson said. “Once we got the Mastercut, I was like, ‘All right. Now every department has a good flow of product.’” Looking back to the expansion plans on the conference room table, Johnson points out that the initial 5,000 feet to the south will allow the company to move cutting die stor- age there, opening space for an anticipated new Bobst die cutter. “We’re going to have to buy another die cut- ter,” he said. “We need to have more capacity.” The 19,000 feet planned for the eastern side of the building will allow space for its large paperboard roll inventory, thus opening space for a second printing press. Sandusky Packaging chose the BW Papersystems Hawk sheeter for its Marquip knife technology providing high speed sheeting and cleaner stacks.
next equipment decision, this one coming in 2001: a new folder-gluer line to accommodate the increased die-cutter output. Johnson and his team chose the Bobst Media 100 II. It was the company’s first piece of new machinery, and its acquisition changed the company’s capital equipment paradigm. The Bobst Media 100 II Folder/Gluer is designed for high-speed carton and folding box assembly in commer- cial packaging environments, supporting straight-line gluing, crash-lock bottoms and various corner styles. Key specifications include a min/max width of 2.2” and 39.4”; and min/max length of 2.3” and 23.6”. Says Johnson: “The Bobst Media 100 was our first new equipment purchase, and I’m like, ‘Man, this is nice to have a new piece of equipment.’ It got us going, saying, ‘This is the way to go!’” The next phase of equipment purchas- es happened several years later, but in quick succession: “The big jump was in 2017-2018 when we got the sheeter and new printer, because it was either make or break at that point,” said Johnson. The sheeting capability was key, in Johnson’s view, and SPC chose the BW Papersystems Hawk 1650 Dual Rotary Sheeter with features ensuring stacking quality and Marquip cutting knife technology. “The Hawk Sheeter was a game-changer,” Johnson said. “We had a sheeter, SPC’s Bobst Mastercut 106 is capable of running 11,000 sheets per hour.
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22 April 27, 2026
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