It specialises in the application of various types of adhesive and coatings to printed sheets, and can cut, fold and assemble them afterwards if needed.
Its investment in a Brandtjen & Kluge Omnifold 3000 folder-gluer early this year was intended to extend its versatility and product range. It was the first Omnifold 3000 to be installed in the UK.
Director Steve Hutton says there are two distinct areas of production within the firm. “The first being the application of glue – re-moist gum, latex or heat seal varnish – to flat sheets of printed paper which is then returned to our clients for them to mechanically finish. The second is die-cutting and automatically making up folders, wallets, cartons and other general folder-gluing practices.”
The company is based in Twyford, between Reading and Maidenhead. It was set up in 1967 and today it has about 900 active clients. “The majority of Packaids’ clients are print or packaging companies where a trade finishing service is needed,” says Hutton. “Packaids has five bespoke machines for applying adhesives to flat sheets. SRA3 to B1 sizes can be accommodated on each of these machines and generally, once made ready, they will run at approximately 2,500 sheets per hour.
As far as folder-gluing is concerned, these processes are carried out with two Heidelberg Cylinders, a Vega carton gluer and of course the newly installed Kluge Omnifold 3000. The company also has an array of other plant such as a Polar 115 guillotine, an MBO folding machine and numerous items of ancillary equipment.
Being a trade finisher means there is no knowing what will come through the door next and the type of job can vary enormously, Hutton explains. “This means that flexibility and the ability to adapt quickly are fundamental to being able to satisfy customer demands. We are always happy to help develop new products with clients and we often undertake trials to make sure that the theory can work on a practical level. One of our company’s specialties is the application of a latex self-seal square to the cover of university examination answer papers. This is a very specific operation to Packaids, as is much of our latex work.
“Folder-gluing has been part of the services offered by Packaids for many years but the equipment we had was ageing and not at all versatile,” says Hutton. “Make-readies could take hours, which led to disappointed customers.”
Tough requirements
In December 2015 Hutton and Matt Burgess, who are joint owners and directors of Packaids, decided to invest in a new Kluge Omnifold 3000. The choice was honed after meeting with Hank Brandtjen, president of Brandtjen & Kluge, at a trade show a couple of months earlier.
“Kluge is an old established company, renowned for its products being long lasting and durable,” says Hutton. “This is a prerequisite for a trade finishing house. Other machines were considered but the Kluge was the most robust, simple in construction and setting up appeared to be a quick and straightforward operation.
The machine duly arrived in late February 2016 and was the first of its kind to be installed in the UK. It arrived at 7am and was up and running by early afternoon, according to Hutton.
This machine replaced an Italian Fidia gluing system, which Hutton said was not versatile enough to handle what the company was looking to do for its clients.
Brandtjen & Kluge is a long-established US-based manufacturer, set up in 1919. Originally the company built letterpress machines with the world’s first vacuum feeds, later adapting these into the basis of the hot foiling, embossing and die-cutting range that it still sells. Today the company is based in St Croix Falls, Wisconsin. It has an international office in Nailsworth, near Stroud in Gloucestershire, which supports EMEA markets.
Its range of folder-gluers came of out the purchase of the US company Haskins in 1999. These machines were thoroughly re-engineered and introduced as the Omnifold range, with two machines for light- and heavy-duty work. A couple of years ago these were redeveloped into a single modular system called Omnifold 3000.
This offers a choice of component stations that plug into a central docking station (it’s the large white unit with the control console on the right in the photograph), where they integrate with its electronics. A choice of friction or vacuum feed units fit inside the docking station, and then processing stations can be added downstream (to the left in the photograph). Adjustments are manual with thumbscrews and locking aids.
Thomas Anderson, managing director of Kluge International in Nailsworth, says the system allows units to be easily interchanged if needed. “Packaids only has the friction feed, but some users have the vacuum feeder as well. They can unplug one, wheel it away and plug in the other, in just two to three minutes,” he says.
Application advantage
Kluge provides a very long list of products that can be made, including small boxes, all sorts of folders and holders, tent cards, book covers, CD covers, envelopes and mailers, and a whole lot more. Those are only the standard products and creative users will doubtless develop custom items as well.
Packaids’ configuration includes the docking station, friction feeder, IL3 three-foot long converting space, combination buckle fold unit, IL6 six-foot converting space and a shingle stacker. The IL3 and IL6 units take accessories including filler plates, bearing bed drives, tab turn ploughs, top belt drives and a tab blaster. Packaids’ Omnifold also has an additional hot-melt system from HHS, running four guns and a Straub T-627 Tape Applicator.
The Omnifold can take sheet sizes from 121x96mm to 762x812mm, and stock from 60-600gsm. Operating speed is up to 450 folds per minute.
Kluge has also teamed up with US laser cutting system maker LasX to build CartonsInMinutes, which combines Omnifold 3000 modules with a LasX Lasersharp die-less cutting station and robo-stacker, to feed, cut, glue, fold and stack items in one pass.
“Having been working with the machine for eight months it is proving to be everything expected and more,” Hutton says. “There is a confidence in the production department that the makeready and run speed will be as predicted in the quotation. Hitherto this has not been the case. The machine will be just as efficient at producing 1,000 digitally produced wallets as it is tackling 1 million runs.
“It has enabled us to produce folders and wallets and cartons much quicker than we were able to do previously and much more effectively. Being a brand new glue system, the gluing is really precise and of a very high quality, so it’s a much better configuration than we’ve had before.”
Any problems? “So far there have been only a couple of minor faults which Kluge was quick to rectify with their UK engineering team. Neither of these problems involved any downtime.”
Hutton says the investment is paying off for the company in work terms: “Whether it is the new machine or the marketing campaigns surrounding the investment, Packaids has certainly seen an increase in folder-gluing work. There is rarely a week goes by where it is not fully booked – so much so that a second machine is being seriously considered.”
SPECIFICATIONS
Max sheet size 760x810mm
Min sheet size 120x95mm
Stock weight range (coated or uncoated) 60–600gsm
Max footprint 8x1.8m
Price From about £85,000 for a basic configuration
Contact Kluge International 01453 836522 www.kluge.biz
COMPANY PROFILE
Packaids was established in 1967 to satisfy a need for finishing services to local companies in Maidenhead. It has evolved and grown over the years to become a national supplier of specialist finishing services involving glue and latex, as well as die-cutting. Today the company turns over £730,000 per annum and employs 12 full-time staff.
Why it was bought...
Packaids was looking to expand its portfolio of services and looking for a folder-gluer that would be flexible enough to meet a wide range of demands and robust enough to survive in a busy trade finishing environment. Packaids is the first UK business to purchase this machine.
How it has performed...
Hutton says the machine has done wonders for the folder-gluing side of the business, adding: “It has elevated the firm from knocking out work for the pound shop to creating beautiful pieces for John Lewis!”
