Production support and fully automatic waste disposal
GWP was originally founded in 1990 as The Great Western Packaging Company. The company has now grown to become a key player on the British packaging market and combines, under the umbrella of GWP Group Ltd, the five divisions of GWP Packaging, GWP Protective, GWP Correx, GWP Conductive and GWP Coatings. GWP Packaging serves customers from the beverages and foodstuffs, medical, automotive and IT and electronics etc. sectors with packaging made of corrugated cardboard, which in terms of design and characteristics is tailored specifically to the product and its application. James Pedley, Operations Manager of the division, explains: “Our task is to design packaging solutions which perfectly showcase the packaged good at the point of sale and protect it from transport damage. The main priorities in the process are cost-efficiency and environmental compatibility.” Priorities which are reflected in the sophisticated corporate processes at GWP Packaging. Taking production as an example: Die cutting machines play a central role in the automated production process. They die cut cardboard sheets by means of cutting, punching and grooving into finished die cut cartons and fitments. “We design the punching dies so as to save as much material as possible and so that only small amounts of punchings, edge cuts for example, accumulate. We then return these to the recycling loop”, explains James Pedley.
Since October 2013 this has been achieved with the fully automatic support of the VK 4208 channel baling press from HSM. It replaces a long-serving baling press which could no longer live up to the modern production concept or the increased safety requirements.
Operating efficiency from production through to disposal.
The new HSM VK 4208 has been integrated into the production process and operates by means of air feeding. The waste which occurs at several die cutting machines is extracted by suction while production is ongoing and taken directly to the channel baling press to be shredded with blade ventilators into corrugated cardboard remnants. According to James Pedley, the reliability of the press has an effect on the efficiency of the entire process. “If it fails, production comes to a standstill for us. So we cannot afford to compromise on technical quality.” The Operations Manager regards the fully automatic operation of the HSM VK 4208 as another benefit. Where before he had to assign a man full time to operate it, the new channel baling press operates independently so to speak. If it is full, a light beam triggers a horizontal pressing process. The collected material is compacted into bales with a specific pressing power of 75 newtons per square metre and is then strapped automatically with wire. The bales weigh up to 420 kilograms. At GWP Packaging they are on average twice as heavy as they were with the old machine. This bale density and weight also impresses the recycling companies: they pay more than they did before for the recyclable waste die cut pieces – around 450 tons every year.
Professionalism from advice through to maintenance.
GWP Packaging didn’t opt for HSM just like that. James Pedley took time to become acquainted with various suppliers across Europe and to compare technical options. Right from the start he was impressed by the professionalism of the advice from HSM as well as the flexibility with which the company could handle customer requirements. The performance and workmanship of the machines were the factors which finally convinced him. “You look at the HSM presses and literally see their high quality.”
Customer quote: „The integration of the HSM VK 4208 channel baling press enabled us to substantially increase the efficiency of our production process. Downtime caused by faults is a thing of the past“.
James Pedley, Operations Manager at GWP Packaging, Cricklade, Wiltshire / UK
