Made in India: High speed fingerless single facer paper corrugation machine

The company launched the first model of the machine in 2012, which ran at the line speed of 40-mtr/min. Five years later, in 2017, it launched an upgraded version which can run at line speed of 150-mtr/min. The corrugation machine comes in three variants — SF270, SF320 and SF380.

The technology “To be able to hold different quality and decal of paper firmly onto corrugated roll is very important.

Therefore, we came out with positive suction unit, eliminating the conventional brass fingers (adaptor) the entire set of whichneeded to be replaced every 30 days.

This also helped cut down on downtime,” Manish Suresh Shah, managing director, Acme Machinery, says. Shah said, considering the Indian market demand, the second big change made to the machine was setting up of motorised glue gauge control that saves the setting time for every changeover of paper decal from 20-min to 20-seconds. “We also replaced all manual setting wheels to automatic pneumatic set- ting,” he adds.

In the machine, the fluting paper, which forms the corrugated shape, is fed between male and female roll set, and with the help of suction unit, it holds onto the corrugated cylinder and on the way picks up glue and laminates to the bottom feed inner kraft paper.

Shah said the machine has been designed to go around with Indian market requirements with more jobs changeovers, variables in gsm and decal of paper. And the company is targeting the entire corrugation industry for its high-speed fingerless single facer paper corrugation machine.

The USP
“The compression strength of carton when produced on our machine goes up by 18 to 20%. Glue consumption goes down by 8%, but over and above, it gives excellent surface finish. The changeover setting time is just few seconds, which helps convert more number of jobs per day,” Shah explains.

According to Shah, the USP of the machine includes robustness, quality output at low production cost, and prompt after-sales services.

The machine boasts chrome or tungsten-coated corrugated roll from graded steel material, heavy duty bearing blocks, specially engraved glue applicator roll, heavy side-cast iron frames, strong base and suction unit.

“The high-speed fingerless single facer paper corrugation machine can produce 125 to 300-tonnes of corrugation per month per shift,” says Shah.

An ideal high-speed fingerless corrugation single facer with options of steam heating and electrical heating system with speed ranges from 60-mtr/min to 200-mtr/min. The machine comes in 52-, 62-, 72-, 82- and 102-inches sizes.

Shah adds that the machine is user-friendly. Also, the company provides training to its clients on the shopfloor as well as at the company production facility. “We have a strong after-sales service team,” he adds.

On a typical application of the machine by a customer, Shah gives the example of the 1.8-mtr corrugated E flute ice-cream carton with inline water-proof coating at
80-mtr/min speed produced in the machine.

The market
Along with domestic customers, Acme Machinery has customers in Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Africa, Israel, Middle East, Malaysia, Thailand and Russia, among others.“We have installed more than 550 corrugation machines in the last 40 years,” Shah says.

He adds that there are multiple corrugation machine manufacturers in the market and they have their own kits. “Right now, honeycomb boards and polypropylene corru-
gated boards are also available in the market, but they should not be con- sidered as exact alternatives to corrugation,” he explains.

According to Shah, most corruga- tors, whether in the domestic or global market, look for machines that can produce corrugation sheets faster with quality output. “The machine must be easy to operate with low production cost and job changeover time must be negligible,” he says.

He says the corrugation industry is changing at a faster pace and automation is catching up at each and every stage of production.

Corrugators are opting for automation in machine operating, handling the material and final products, test- ing the raw material and final products, and sampling as well.

Keeping this in mind, for 2020, the company is targeting fully computerised corrugated board production line with 20 fast changeovers in one day.

Corrugation at Acme
The corrugationmachine manufacturing unit of the company is headed by dynamic team-directors and executives eager to develop innovative new lines in allied machinery for better performance.

“We make machines that make corrugated boxes that make you pack everything safely everywhere,” Shah says.

Acme, which specialises in manufacturing paper-cutting, platen punching, automatic carton folder- gluer in its 50,000-sqft production unit, has been growing over the years. In the case of the corrugated carton production line, it has man- aged to increase the line speed from 30-mtr/min to 150-mtr/min with option of E, F, G flute profiles for inner carton and A, B, C and K flute profile for outer shipper carton.