Packaging machinery manufacturer Bobst has announced the release for worldwide distribution of its new version of the Gyrobox for the corrugated board industry which can turn a blank 90 degrees to fold and glue on all four sides in just one pass, the first time such a move has taken place.

The company earlier announced the launch of Accucheck, described as the world’s first built-in zero-fault quality control device for folding and gluing machines.

Discussing the global launch of the first Gyrobox device for the corrugated board industry, the company said it would drive creativity, productivity and efficiency in the corrugated board industry by reducing the complexity of producing the boxes that are increasingly demanded by brand owners.

Bobst said it was crucial for manufacturers to offer value-added services in order to retain a competitive edge and drive increased margins. As brand owners in industries such as food packaging, e-commerce and parcel logistics demand increasingly complex boxes with multiple compartments, Bobst’s new Gyrobox device for the corrugated board industry enables its customers to meet these creative requirements faster and more efficiently than ever before, it added.

Jean-Pascal Bobst, CEO of Bobst Group, commented: “For many years, the folding carton industry has benefited from our Gyrobox solution on folder-gluers – around 25 million boxes are produced every day on our Gyrobox-enabled machines. With over 10 years’ expertise in this area, we’re delighted to now bring this innovation to the corrugated board industry. We believe Gyrobox will revolutionise corrugated board manufacturing, allowing designers to unlock their imagination and helping our customers to maximise productivity by simplifying the production of these creative solutions. The launch reaffirms our commitment to continued innovation which gives manufacturers the flexibility to do things they simply cannot do with other equipment – keeping our customers one step ahead of the competition.”

Currently available for Bobst’s Masterfold 170 folder-gluer, the Gyrobox device can pivot a blank at any angle from 0° to 90° in the running direction, making it possible to complete boxes in a single pass which would have previously required two. “With the Gyrobox module installed, Bobst’s customers will have the most productive corrugated board folder-gluer on the market. Alongside complex packaging, Gyrobox can also produce standard boxes with no loss of speed, providing the flexibility required in today’s competitive market. Bobst is also able to provide Gyrobox-enabled corrugated board folder-gluers as bespoke solutions to meet customers’ individual requirements,” the company statement said.

Accucheck advantages
As regards Accucheck, the company said the product, building on more than 20 years of innovation in high-speed print quality control cameras and image processing, enables manufacturers to drive quality, performance and productivity in packaging with complete control and 100 per cent quality output.

“With just-in-time production now the prime manufacturing method, time-to-market of new products and promotions has been shortened dramatically. Brand owners therefore need packaging suppliers to deliver products during a very narrow time window, meaning the packaging must be faultless, both mechanically and in terms of print. Featuring in a line of over 350 Bobst units worldwide which include built-in print quality control devices, Accucheck will enable manufacturers to meet demands for rapid and faultless folding and gluing packaging production, checking the print on every single carton, in-line, during the last process before the boxes are packed and dispatched to the filling lines,” the company said in a statement.

Using a high-definition camera based on the Registron quality control system, Accucheck scans each carton as it enters the folder-gluer, comparing the real-time image against the reference image. The product has been designed for the extremely high rate of data flow received from the camera during production, enabling it to interface perfectly with the host folder-gluer to ensure that any non-conforming carton is logged in the management system and ejected.

Accucheck is able to automatically detect a range of print and print-related defects such as hickeys and spots, physical defects of the carton such as scratches or rubs, inaccurate die-cutting and problems with the control of colour variation. Depending on the settings defined for the run, the defective carton can be allowed to continue, or be automatically ejected, without affecting production. Whether ejected or not, defects are recorded for later analysis.

Chief executive Bobst remarked: “Our machines are designed to give manufacturers the flexibility to do things you simply cannot do with other equipment – keeping our customers one step ahead of the competition. The launch of Accucheck demonstrates our commitment to zero fault packaging – we believe the application of this technology will revolutionise the quality control process for packaging manufacturers. We are proud that we were first to bring to market a user-friendly and extremely versatile printing defects detection system with Registron, and with continued innovations such as this, our customers rely on us to maximise quality, performance and productivity of their production.”

Accucheck facilitates rapid and faultless folding and gluing packaging production

Chesapeake’s choice
Meanwhile, Bobst scored a hit when Chesapeake Pharmaceutical and Health care Packaging installed a Bobst Expertcut 106 Per blank separating die cutter for its Nottingham, UK, plant.

Visiting the Bobst Group Competence Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland, Mike Cheetham, Chesapeake CEO, said, “Installing the latest in Bobst die-cutter technology at Nottingham is a further step in the unmatched investment programme that we have undertaken over the past two years. Constantly investing in new-generation production equipment such as this ensures that we can continually strengthen the service levels we deliver to our customers”.

Bobst Group chief executive Bobst, said, “The building of mutual trust and long-term partnerships are important to both of our companies and we see these factors as key to the success of the relationship between Chesapeake and Bobst. Our two companies are working together at every level, which will continue to bring benefits to both.”

The Expertcut 106 Per joins a machine park of exclusively Bobst die-cutters at Chesapeake’s Nottingham plant. The machine die-cuts, strips, and separates printed sheets into piles of carton blanks, ready for folding and gluing. Featuring Power Register II, Bobst’s ‘lay-free’ dynamic register system, the Expertcut die-cutter delivers unmatched die-cut to print register accuracy. The machine also features ‘full sheet delivery’ which means that any jobs not requiring blank separation can be die-cut and stripped as quickly and easily as on a non-blanking die-cutter.

Jaymar to install Ambition 76
In other Bobst developments of recent months, Crewe-based carton manufacturer Jaymar Packaging Limited announced it is expanding the capacity and capabilities of its finishing department with the purchase of a Bobst Ambition 76 folder gluer.

 Company director Craig Street said, “This will be our third Bobst folder-gluer and we see it as playing a key role in the further success of the business. We will be running it alongside our existing highly specified Bobst Fuego and Mistral lines and it will run our more straightforward work, freeing up the Mistral and Fuego to run the complex jobs that they handle so well. It means we will have both extra capacity in the plant and improved productivity on our other lines.”

The Ambition 76 ordered by Jaymar Packaging is an A1 variant of the folder-gluer and is capable of handling both straight-line and crash-lock cartons. The machine will be installed in March 2012.