An aging web guide no longer in production was causing losses for Labelteq Unlimited
Paul Black, President of Labelteq Unlimited, Inc. had a big problem in one of their converting lines...
His company needed a fast and permanent solution. Our proposed application with a web guide upgrade kit system helped him and his company reach that solution.
Labelteq Unlimited, Inc., was running into trouble with an old General Web Dynamics web guide installed on their Mark Andy 2200 7" press. This particular model uses a hydraulic actuator.
The existing web guide started to throw the web to the side causing breaks in the web.
This created unnecessary downtime to fix the broken web, reset the web guide, and thread the web through the press. Additionally, they were facing with scrap from the damaged web. The operators of the line were becoming frustrated by the recurring issue with the web guide. As the problem progressed it was found that the hydraulic pump that powered the cylinder used as the actuator was failing. At the end, they decided to run without the web guide, risking problems in their final product. It was not a condition that they were willing to maintain too long as the web was not guaranteed to be aligned in the press.
Most of the solutions available involved replacing the complete web guide with a brand new one.
None of the web guide manufacturers contacted offered a retrofit or upgrade kit of the web guide because it was no longer manufactured and the original manufacturer no longer existed. Cost and ease of installation was still an issue in selecting a system. They looked for different solutions and felt that it would be better to change the hydraulic actuator to an electromechanical system.
They were looking for a cost effective and easy to install solution. The web guide manufacturers offered complete replacement of the web guide, which had a high cost and implications of having to adapt the new web guide to the press.
In their search for options, they found our website online...
and saw that we had an upgrade solution that could allow him to retrofit the existing web guide with a electromechanical actuator, controller, and sensor that would provide them with the latest in web guiding technology in the industry.
We received the request for quote from Labelteq with the basic information of the application. Our technical sales team got in touch with them and started the process of determining the best application solution for their web guide upgrade. Our proposed solution included a drop-in electromechanical actuator and our services to upgrade the web guide in our facility, along with the controller, motor driver and sensor.
After evaluating the options, Labelteq Unlimited decided to use our proposed upgrade kit solution.
Paul Black, President of Labelteq Unlimited, indicated that they wanted a solution that could be adapted to the existing web guide system. Our upgrade kit solution not only provided that, but was half the cost of the solutions proposed by other web guide manufacturers.
We had offered the service of installing the upgrade kit at our facility. That would entail shipping the web guide to us. This has been a service we have performed before, specially for operations that had limited technical resources. Labelteq felt that, with proper guidance on our part, they could install the upgrade kit at their facility. Initially, there were some issues with the unit, but with our guidance and follow up all the issues were handled to the satisfaction of the customer. They appreciated the time given them to provide good service and the quick replacement of parts when necessary.
At the end, the customer was happy to solve their issue with the failing web guide...
and the operators were very happy to have a sound web guiding solution. After this experience, Paul Black is sure that they are qualified to do a future upgrade in much less time than this first experience and are very satisfied with the performance of the upgrade.
