By Larry Witt Regional Sales Manager For over 25 years, Standard- Knapp has supplied high speed, continuous motion tab slitter/sealers to the beverage and food industries. In 1998, the Model 189 Slitter/Sealer was developed to address our customers' needs for a machine that handles a broader range of case sizes with a quick and repeatable changeover.

The Standard-Knapp Model 189 also addresses the long-time problem of excessive line pressure with an integrated "smart belt" on the infeed. The smart belt is a 9-foot section of conveyor which meters cases to a servo-driven infeed timer that releases one case at a time to the main flight chain. The main flight chain transports cases through the slitting section, cutting the two tabs and freeing the flaps. Teardrop lugs position leading and trailing (minor) flaps for closure by the servo driven flap tucker. The flap tucker rolls the leading flap down and tucks the trailing flap. Major flaps are positioned and presented to the case gluing section. The gluing section features a passively driven roller compression unit (on top), case squaring side guides, power height adjustment, and horizontal flap gluing.

In-line machine design eliminates the need to turn case when slitting tab-locks on incoming cases.

The smart belt infeed controls line pressure, making the overall Slitter/Sealer operation far less sensitive to downstream conditions, such as carton back-up, conveyor speed changes, and dry or damp cartons. Now the customer can add a Standard-Knapp Model 189 Slitter/Sealer to whatever type of conveyor he prefers, and the smart belt infeed will take control of the line pressure. Through servo drive technology, engineering reduced the amount of mechanical parts by about 60%. The servo timing controls also enable a complete changeover, with one operator, in less than 15 minutes. These features equate to fewer parts, less maintenance, and simplicity of operation. The experience of one of our customers, Anheuser-Busch, illustrates the advantages of the Model 189 Slitter/Sealer. After a recent visit to his company's Baldwinsville, New York, facility, Manager of Operations/ Maintenance, Chuck Goodale, observed, "We need more of these machines on our lines. It's a simple design, and the operators like it."

No tools or change parts are required to change from one size to another. Infeed pitch timing and flap closer timing are completed with the product selection switch. The operator control touch screen is ergonomically mounted on a swing boom. To eliminate guesswork, a "by-the-numbers" changeover system is used. Each changeover point is numbered, and corresponding settings are documented on set-up sheets -- one for each size -- provided with the machine. All width and height adjustments are completed with crank handles to scales and pointers. Handles are attached to each adjustment point. One of the operators at Anheuser-Busch in Baldwinsville said, "The Standard-Knapp Slitter/Sealer is the easiest machine in the plant to change over." Hardbound manuals for Operations, Maintenance, and Parts are supplied with all machines. Each of these manuals is available on CD-ROM. We also furnish Job Training Aid (JTA) quick reference guides. The JTA can be used as a basic guide for new operators or a refresher guide for personnel who may have been away from the machine for a while. The set-up sheets, showing each machine setting, are laminated and stay with the machine. Today, most customers are running several sizes on the same packaging line. Standard-Knapp can meet the demand of today's marketplace with the ability to handle a wide range of case sizes on one machine, without a single change part.

Teardrop and Pac Man Section

By Kristofer Kolstad Vice President of Marketing Since 1894, generations of inventors and engineers at Standard-Knapp have pioneered many of the developments and advances in corrugated case and tray handing. The tray magazine and tray handling system are at the heart of any successful tray packer (tray forming and tray loading). Following is an overview of some of the milestones and advances made by Standard-Knapp in the past half century, as well as a description of today's increasingly demanding challenges in tray handling including: machine reliability, line speed, and product flexibility.

Traymore
The Model 202 Traymore was developed and launched in 1958 as the world's leading continuous motion tray packer. Initially positioned in the beer and soft drink industries as the machine of choice, it became prevalent in many other market segments, including food, chemicals, and household goods. Its magazine is simple: a short vertical tower stands adjacent to the product grouper, utilizing gravity to allow blanks to feed to the reciprocating vacuum pull down. The pulled tray is then indexed in (at a 90-degree angle) to the product merge point. The flight bar anticipates a tray and sweeps the product into the merge point. The principal advantage of this system is simplicity. Drawbacks include its difficulty in handling warped board, a tedious changeover, and the major crash that occurs when the magazine jams. These jams occur due to the anticipated motion of the product flight bar. To achieve speed, the flight bar must begin advancing product (in anticipation of a tray being present at the merge point) even when no tray has been advanced. In the instance of an emergency stop or a jam in the tray magazine, the product is still advanced to the merge point, but without a tray. Product then falls into the machine resulting in damage and often spillage. Given the inaccessibility of the merge point and the tray advance mechanism, the clearing of this crash is awkward and time consuming.

Spectrum
In 1984, Standard-Knapp launched the first true "changeover"-friendly tray packer with the advent of the Spectrum. The Spectrum was designed for the food industry where multiple diameter sizes and pack patterns demanded frequent changeovers. The horizontal tray magazine is located under the product infeed and includes up to five feet of tray storage. A pair of tabletop chains advances trays to the suction cup area. A single, oval shaped suction cup moves along a 75-degree arc during each cycle of the machine. Towards the end of its arc, the cup releases the tray to a roller chain with lug attachments for transportation to the product merge point. The advantages of this concept over the Traymore magazine include an increased tray capacity, greater range capability, and a reduction in catastrophic jams in the merge area through elimination of the "anticipation factor" that is required for Traymore-style magazines. The Spectrum design has several trays "in transport" from the magazine to the merge and automatically "knows", via sensing devices, whether it has "missed a tray". The PLC in the Spectrum counts each missing tray and tells the grouper not to release product for the missing trays. The grouper is a slave to the tray magazine. A drawback to the Spectrum is the horizontal stack configuration, which requires consistent pressure and friction between the horizontally stacked trays and the tabletop indexing chain. When the pressure or friction varies, feeding to the suction cup becomes irregular and leads to inefficiencies in the operation.

Continuum
The Continuum tray packer was first introduced in 1994. This model combines the simplicity of the Traymore vertical tower with the advantages of the Spectrum system of having several trays "in transport" to achieve optimal machine efficiencies. The Continuum has several other user benefits, including "waist-high" ergonomic loading of trays, short stroke of vacuum pull down, precise tolerances for maximum allowable board variation, easy side access to the magazine and board transport, and positive, "Pac Man" tray transport lugs. The problems of the Traymore vertical tower have been eliminated with several key developments. The tray capacity is up to 6-feet of corrugated blanks. Pressure from the tray blank stack is regulated by a series of pneumatic actuators that regulate pressure and ratchet the trays downward as required. This permits ample tray capacity, with minimal pressure at the bottom of the stack where the vacuum pull down occurs. Two independent adjustment points with scales permit quick and reliable adjustment for different tray sizes. Unlike the horizontal magazines of other machines, the Continuum's vertical stack does not rely on friction for advancing the stack and keeping the vacuum pull down primed. Gravity reliably feeds the trays down, while the stack pressure at the bottom is kept in check by the pneumatic side actuators. The pull down mechanism never feels more than the weight of a couple of inches of trays. This feature prevents jams and results in a high operating efficiency.

The vertical tower allows for simple and ergonomic "on-the-fly" loading of trays. While some horizontal magazines claim to enable loading without interruption to the operation, the Continuum truly achieves this. Furthermore, as trays are removed from the pallets, they do not have to be reoriented while loading into the stack; the pallet and vertical magazine have the same tray orientation. This substantially reduces fatigue for the operator and reduces the time to load, thus freeing up the operator for other tasks. In addition to the open design of the tray magazine, the whole tray feed mechanism is open for easy cleaning and maintenance.

Continuum Magazine

The vacuum pull down stroke is extremely short, allowing for a slower actuation velocity at higher cycle rates. This translates into less wear and higher reliabilities. The venturi vacuum generator helps reduce the costly consumption of compressed air and provides a very consistent result. Our unique dual cup design has a small footprint and a flexible material, allowing it to consistently handle variations in tray size, tray thickness, and tray warp. The handoff between the vacuum cup and the tray transport is extremely positive. The Pac Man lug transport is cam-actuated and secures the rear flap of the tray as the suction cups release a tray. Flexibility and changeover were key goals during the Continuum's initial design. The Continuum magazine can handle corrugated trays from C to E flute, with or without display windows. Also, the Continuum can be configured to handle thin, cost saving chipboard trays. Capabilities range from four-ounce spice containers to one-gallon pineapple cans. The Continuum tray magazine has a number of substantial benefits and advantages. Its success stems from the evolutionary designs that preceded it as well as the creative ideas of our current engineering team. This design has been very successful and fulfills the current needs of our customers, including high efficiencies, quick and positive changeover, low maintenance, and broad product flexibility.

By Juan Martinez
of Conveyors and Material Handling

The Positron 396 bottle packer has been well-received in the soft drink market in Mexico and other Latin American countries. The Positron is the most recent addition to our continuous motion bottle packer family; other packers include the Apollo 2000, the Synchron 256, the Centurion 985, and the Orbitron 357.

The Positron has a positive product-grouper that maintains absolute control of the PET and glass bottles. This positive grouper optimally handles bottles at very high speeds, for precise placement into the corrugated or plastic cases. One-way PET bottles are still relatively new in Mexico, and the Positron has proven to be an efficient case packer for such applications.

In the early 1990s, the Coca-Cola Company began launching PET and returnable PET bottles in .5, .6, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 3.0 liter sizes. It became evident that the .6 and 2.0 liter sizes were the most acceptable in the marketplace. In the first quarter of 1998, Coca-Cola launched a second initiative to accelerate the implementation of the .6 and 2.0 liter bottles in three bottle shapes: Coke contour, multi-product, and Sprite contour.

Users of the Orbitron 357, who originally purchased it to run the "firmer" returnable plastic bottles, have modified their equipment with the Positron upgrade to optimize the handling of the new bottle types. Several plants, including Embotelladora de Mexicali, Embotelladora de Culiacan, and Embotelladora Los Mochis, have opted for the Positron upgrade. This 2-day conversion is modular in nature and results in a reliable packer for the new applications. Although the initial packaging for the .6 and 2.0 liter bottles consisted of corrugated trays and shrink film, production costs have been lowered with the introduction of the "wave" and merchandiser plastic trays. Either configuration runs well on the Positron.

Due to the success of the Positron, Grupo Continental has purchased several machines for Embotelladora Las Trojes, Embotelladora La Bufa, and Embotelladora Lagunera. Plant managers have given positive feedback regarding installations and line efficiencies. In particular, the simplicity and "small footprint" of the machinery allow it to stand out when compared with the larger "pick and place" alternative packers. Continental has plans to purchase additional Positrons in year 2000, for the continued roll-out of the one-way PET. As the PET segment continues to grow over traditional glass, other large Coca-Cola bottlers in Mexico have expressed strong interest in Standard-Knapp's continuous motion bottle packers.