hans kolb wellpappe

GRAPHICS
INVESTMENT
A NEW PLANT LAYOUT, NEW EQUIPMENT AND SERVICES — INCLUDING TWO GÖPFERT OVATION
PRINTING MACHINES — PREPARES BUXHEIM PLANT FOR CONTINUING GROWTH.
€30 MILLION INVESTMENT AT
HANS KOLB WELLPAPPE
A REPORT BY DANIEL BRUNTON.
ans KOLB Wellpappe GmbH
& Co. KG (KOLB) was
founded in Memmingen,
Germany in 1933. The company
has evolved considerably over the
decades, including starting up a
H
L to R: Ralf Schiffman (Göpfert), Andreas von Liel and Thomas Wund.
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INTERNATIONAL PAPER BOARD INDUSTRY
paper mill in the 1950s, setting up
a second plant in Buxheim in the
late 1960s, building a new factory
at its headquarters in Memmingen
in 1979 and then acquiring a
competitor in Haiterbach in the
early 1980s. The company
celebrated its 75th anniversary in
2008 and recorded its best annual
performance in the same year.
Earlier this year, the company
expanded its activities into high
quality litho print when it acquired
Gebr. KNAUER GmbH + Co. KG.
The addition of this business into
the KOLB Print+ division clearly
illustrated the company’s
philosophy of high quality
decorative packaging.
This family owned business,
currently being run by the third
generation, employs over 1,100
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INVESTMENT
Hans KOLB’s Buxheim facility.
people and generates annual sales
in the region of €200 million. As a
packaging system supplier the
company makes a wide range of
corrugated packaging applications,
servicing many different industries.
Marketed via different channels, the
company offers its services by way
of several divisions:
KOLB Print+ — with pre-print,
post print, litho and digital
capabilities;
KOLB Packaging — from
corrugated sheets, to boxes,
folding cartons, partitions and edge
protectors;
KOLB Coated Products — antistatic electronic packaging,
storage boxes, hygiene boxes,
presentation packaging, protective
packaging, folding boxes, rustresistant packaging and more;
KOLB Specials — creative
packaging solutions using waveflute and regular single face
corrugated;
KOLB Display — all types of POS
and display style packaging
solutions.
on a 2.5m paper machine.
Each of the box plants runs a
corrugator. At Memmingen and
Buxheim, 2.5m machines have
been installed by BHS Corrugated.
The third site in Haiterbach runs
three corrugators, specifically
adapted for producing single face
reels and sheets, prior to being run
on a series of in-line and sheet to
sheet laminators. An Isowa
corrugator is in daily production for
open ‘wave-flute’ sheets and joins a
2.5m machine from BHS
Corrugated and a 2.5m line from
Agnati.
Memmingen has a core
competence for producing
standard packaging solutions, while
Buxheim is the company’s ‘centre
of excellence’ for pre and post
print; Haiterbach is focused on the
production of high quality litho
laminated work. “We are
experienced in all forms of
printing,” explains Andreas von Liel,
Technical Director. “With in-house
pre-print technology, high quality
post print, digital and litho offset
capabilities, we make it our mission
to offer our customers awardwinning decorative packaging.”
Buxheim investment
In 2010, a project team was put
together to look at ways of
enhancing the Buxheim plant. A
budget of €30 million was
established and an ambitious plan
was put in place to allow the
company to expand capacity and
competence at the site. “We were
Integrated producer
The company’s paper mill produces
over 65,000 tonnes of waste-based
corrugated casemaking raw
materials which it uses 100 per
cent internally. It runs in a
grammage range of 90 to 170 gsm
Corrugating line from
BHS Corrugated.
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INVESTMENT
Materials handling upgrade from Minda.
starting to see a significant growth
in demand from our customers for
high quality printed work around
that time,” explains Thomas Wund,
Head of Communications.
“Following some component
upgrades on the 2.5m corrugator,
we set about re-designing and
expanding the layout of the site.
Working with a group of trusted
suppliers, we drew up plans that
would see a completely new
materials handling system away
from the corrugator, through work
in progress, onto converting and
into warehousing. Machinery was
moved around and we opted to
install two new Göpfert printing
machines too.”
High rack solution
“We realised that with the new
printing machines and die-cutters,
added to the capacity increase
A Bahmüller Turbox gluer
was chosen to bolster
gluing production.
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INTERNATIONAL PAPER BOARD INDUSTRY
following the expansion of the
gluing department, meant we
needed more warehousing for
finished good,” explains Mr Wund.
“We installed a new generation
Bahmüller Turbox speciality gluer
alongside the two existing Bobst
gluers, which gave us a huge
growth in the number of glued
cases we could produce. The
nature of the existing site meant the
most effective way of growing the
warehouse was by going ‘up’
instead of ‘outwards’.”
To improve throughput, Minda
undertook the design and
installation of a new materials
handling system. Plastic chain
conveyors and automatic transfer
cars smoothly transfer stacks of
board between corrugator and
converting, and then move the
finished goods into a dedicated
pallet inserting system, where top
and bottom pallets
can be placed
accurately for
finished goods. The
finished stacks are
then strapped and
wrapped prior to
moving to the new
warehouse.
KOLB had also
commissioned
The high rack storage systems
from SITLog GmbH.
SITLog GmbH to devise an efficient
logistics solution with over 5,000
storing positions for Euro and
industrial pallets (stack size up to
1400 x 1700 x 2100 mm). The new
high-rack warehouse is linked
directly to the existing production
facility and to the central palletising
area and automatically stages
finished pallets at the six loading
gates, in the right route sequence,
ready for loading onto lorries.
The new warehouse uses ViSIT,
SITLog’s own visualisation and fault
diagnostics system based on
WinCC, which has been tried and
tested over many years. The
material flow computer manages
not only the automated high bay
warehouse but also the manual
warehouse in which goods not
suitable for the high rack
warehouse can be made available
for dispatch.
In-plant system
KOLB have been using Kiwiplan for
its complete end-to-end plant
system for over a decade. The
main software modules in use at
the three plants are: Corrugator
Printing/Labeling (LBL BASE &
OPER), Corrugator Dry End
Converting Link (XMT), Corrugator
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INVESTMENT
AS BUXHEIM IS OUR CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE
FOR PRINTED PACKAGING SOLUTIONS, WE
WANTED TO INSTALL TWO DEDICATED
PRINTING MACHINES, ONE OF WHICH WE
WOULD RUN IN-LINE WITH A NEW BOBST
MASTERCUT 2.1 FLAT BED DIE-CUTTER.”
The Kiwiplan
dashboard pulls
machine data into
the production and
scheduling system.
Scheduling Base Package (CSC),
Factory Floor Feedback (FFF),
Quality Management System (QMS),
Machine Data Collection (MDC) and
Production Control System (PCS).
"We are running all three plants on
one data set, which guarantees a
complete planning process
throughout each of the sites,”
explains Mr von Liel. “As we
continue to develop a growing
range of corrugated products, it
allows us to enter various niche
markets. Utilising Kiwiplan, we can
easily accommodate the growth of
the business, as our systems are
able to grow according to the size
of the operation.”
Each of the new printing and
converting machines link
seamlessly into the Kiwiplan plant
systems. Dashboards on each
machine feeds performance data
direct into the Kiwiplan system,
allowing planners to monitor
machine loading on a timely basis.
capabilities further. The first open
architecture, high board line
Ovation — a four colour machine —
was installed in 2012 and runs inline with a Bobst Mastercut 2.1 flat
bed die-cutter. Not even a year
later, the second printing machine
was installed, this time configured
with seven colours, but off-line.
“The speed and performance of this
printing machine means we can
effectively feed three or four of our
Bobst flat bed die-cutters,” explains
Mr von Liel. “To achieve the highest
levels of print and die-cut accuracy,
we choose to print first and then
flat bed die-cut.”
All Göpfert high quality flexo post
print machines achieve printing
accuracy by using the proven Real
Direct Drive and Vacuum Belt
Transport technology. In addition to
the drive system and the transport
technology, the following standard
and optional features ensure
Perfect print
“As Buxheim is our centre of
excellence for printed packaging
solutions, we wanted to install two
dedicated printing machines, one of
which we would run in-line with a
new Bobst Mastercut 2.1 flat bed
die-cutter,” says Mr von Liel. KOLB
opted for two Göpfert printing
machines, as it looked to
considerably enhance its post-print
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INTERNATIONAL PAPER BOARD INDUSTRY
One of the Göpfert Ovation
presses is inline with a
Bobst Mastercut.
maximum accuracy in print register
and performance across all board
grades.
■ Vacuum Lead Edge Feeder uses
belts instead of friction rolls in
order to eliminate marks on the
liner when using coated papers
and producing E-Flute;
■ The sheet cleaner removes dust
particles prior to printing;
■ Doctor chamber blade system
with pneumatic blade clamping
enables the operator to change a
blade within minutes, without
tools;
■ Anti print enlargement (APM) for
increasing or reducing print
length for individual stereos;
■ Anilox roll and impression
cylinder gap setting in 1/100
mm increments, for perfect kiss
touch print;
■ Auto-lock plate mounting with
manual or motorised angular
plate adjustment;
■ ICS Ink Conditioning System,
providing automatic control of ink
pH, viscosity and temperature;
■ Full Sheet Inspection System with
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INVESTMENT
The control desk of
the seven colour
Göpfert Ovation.
automatic ejection of sheets to be
rechecked ensures the best
printing results.
These Göpfert proprietary
technologies are exclusive to their
machines, giving customers such
as KOLB exactly what they need in
order to strengthen their position in
the high quality flexo print market.
The award-winning Ovation is
available at a working width of
2.1m and 2.4m. The maximum
production speed for an offline
installation is up to 14,000 feeds
per hour. To achieve this target,
Göpfert has re-designed their High
Performance Top Vacuum Stacker.
A box run on
the Göpfert 7
colour Ovation.
The Göpfert Ovation printing machines have been fitted with IR dryers from JB Machinery.
KOLB also opted to install IR
dryers on the Göpfert printing
machines — JB Machinery® is
established worldwide as a supplier
of high efficiency infrared drying
systems. Utilising the dryers makes
it possible for KOLB to print and
over-varnish on substrates ranging
from Kraft to the finest high
hold-out clay-coated liners.
Partnership
“This was the first
time we have
worked with
Göpfert and I must
say that we have
been impressed
with the way in
which they
approached our project,” states Mr
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INTERNATIONAL PAPER BOARD INDUSTRY
von Liel. “We did not want a
supplier to simply sell us a machine
that they thought would fit our
needs. With Göpfert, we found that
they listened to what we wanted,
and then offered us a tailor-made
solution that would be fit for
purpose. We have been trying to
close the gap between litho and
flexo for some time. Our objective
is to be able to offer a standard of
printed box where it is almost
impossible to tell the difference
between pre-print, post print or litho
— the Ovation is certainly living up
to its excellent reputation and we
are happy with the results.”
“Working with KOLB has been a
great experience,” states Ralf
Schiffman, Sales Director at
Göpfert. “Their company philosophy
is very much like ours — listen to
the customer and react to those
requirements. Mr von Liel had an
excellent project team working with
us and the results speak for
themselves.”
“Reflecting on the last year since
installation, we are most satisfied
with our decision to invest in the
Göpfert printing machines,”
concludes Mr von Liel. “Hans KOLB
Wellpappe is a leading producer of
decorative packaging and the
investment at our Buxheim facility
underlines our commitment to our
people and our customers.” ■