News
October 2012
Sicma recently delivered a roll handling and Kraft wrapping system to a paper mill owned by a large North American group. The purpose of the project was to substitute a part of the existing system with a completely new and fully automatic Kraft wrapping line, including all necessary utilities. The system is designed to handle white paper rolls having diameters ranging from 30 to 60 inches, and widths from 15 to 110 inches. The basis weight varies from 20 to 70 lbs, and the maximum weight of the roll or package of rolls is 8000 lbs.
The narrowest rolls can be automatically grouped in sets composed of two or three narrow rolls. The line is designed to handle and to wrap the paper rolls at a capacity up to 42 cycles per hour.
The system receives the unwrapped paper rolls from the existing line of belt conveyors. They are introduced to the new system through a kicker that pushes the rolls, single or grouped, toward an inclined steel ramp. The ramp is supplied with two intermediate receiving/ejecting cradles. The second one is mounted on load cells, where the rolls are measured and weighed. The data of the barcode labels are kept in order to check against the actual sizes of the roll. If the data corresponds, the roll is moved towards the last station on the ramp, while the confirmed data are sent to the Roll Data System. The roll, or set of rolls, is centered in the centering station. This device can center both single rolls and sets of narrow rolls to be sent to the wrapper. The rolls are received on the new slat conveyor line by a damper, and transported towards the wrapping line.
The first wrapping station dispenses the stripes of Kraft paper on the body of the white paper rolls. The inner corrugated board discs are manually fixed by the operator before entering the new handling system. The Kraft paper stripes are applied spirally on the roll. The overhanging paper is folded by folding wheels installed on the same equipment. The spiral wrapper accepts Kraft paper rolls of defined sizes and has an automatic loading system. When the roll covering operations are finished, the paper roll is transferred into the tilting hot header press station where the pre-glued outer discs are pressed and fixed on both sides of the roll, in order to complete the roll packing and to guarantee the best protection. The outer polyethylene-lined discs are automatically sorted and applied by a robotic arm. At the end of the cycle and before being transferred to the final part of the existing system, the roll is automatically labeled with the customer label. Safety is of utmost importance and access to operational areas is controlled and protected by enclosures. Devices such as pressure mats and electric eyes ensure that the equipment is shut down when personnel enters the area.