Amcor Flexibles Gent Increases Productivity with QuadTech’s Integrated Quality Control Solutions
Amcor Flexibles Gent, Belgium, placed an order for its third QuadTech (Booth 3345) Waste Management System, reinforcing the companies’ long-standing relationship and adding to its seven QuadTech Inspection Systems and multiple Data Central interfaces. These installations deliver a closed-loop, end-to-end quality solution that provides increased productivity and guarantees 100% defect-free packaging for print customers.
Amcor is the world’s largest supplier of flexible packaging, with 68 manufacturing sites in 21 countries. As part of the European division, the Amcor Flexibles Gent site manufactures flexible packaging predominately for the healthcare sector, with products for hospital supplies, pharmaceuticals, personal & home care, high value-added resin and aluminium based medical applications and fresh and processed foods.
Amcor Gent’s aim was to create a complete quality control solution with 100% inspection, accountable data available from multiple locations and precise removal of defective material. This was made possible with the introduction of three QuadTech Waste Management Systems.
“Waste and quality are now managed throughout every printing phase,” explains Johan Demesure, Amcor Gent’s Slitting Department Manager. “While QuadTech’s Inspection System and Data Central enabled us to automatically correct defects quicker and minimize defective copy, the waste that was identified was still manually tagged and removed. This meant that there was still a risk of supplying our customers with defective copy, as rolls could have been labelled at a delay, incorrectly or missed entirely.”
“With an automated tagging machine at the end of the press linked to the QuadTech tools, we now don’t have any of these worries. This accurately tags the rolls with a sticker barcode every 300m, so any defect areas can be easily found. It also keeps the parameters tight and automatically stops the equipment to an accuracy of 50-60cm near the defect, at speeds of 500m per minute.”
The QuadTech Waste Management System takes quality control information from the Inspection System and Data Central statistics and has automatic control of the slitter/rewinder to ensure that defective material is removed efficiently. The loss of quality product is eradicated by pinpointing exact sections of substrate with defects to cut. All zero-defective copy ends up in customers’ hands.
“As a result of this new system, we lose minimal saleable substrate and manual unpredictability is eliminated. This has significantly increased our department’s productivity over the last two years. We also enjoy complete transparency and traceability, which leads to a much more efficient and harmonious working environment between the slitting and printing departments. It is because of these benefits that our fourth QuadTech system has been ordered,” continues Demesure.
From design to validation, Amcor Gent now offers its customers a total solution, using its expertise to reduce a product’s time to market.
Demesure concludes, “Without the QuadTech equipment it would have been impossible to accomplish our current level of business success, and win new business from the demanding healthcare markets. The medical sector is also very particular about its print suppliers. They visit multiple times as well as test our production process with example products. But as our output is 100% defect-free and we can certify, trace and prove any removals, the QuadTech systems continue to impress them - with some demanding to use the Gent site only for all their needs.
“With QuadTech technology in our business, we now win work outside of Europe and the Americas, with countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Brazil placing jobs. We look forward to continuing our relationship with QuadTech and developing our business with a solid technology partner.”
