Tom Ralph of Graph-Pak was kept busy working between eight of the 18 halls at drupa to meet up with principals including APR Solutions , BoxWay, B.Matic SRL, D&K Europe, Dapeng, Hatten Corporation, HPM Guillotines, HXCP Finishing machinery , Rollem / Insignia, RIMA System, DW Renzmann, Thermotype), SMYTH Italy, Newstar, and Wan Jie. Atlas Machines, suppliers of used print finishing and packaging machinery, represented in ANZ by Graph-Pak and Pressnet, were also on his packed list of contacts to see during the 11-day show in Düsseldorf.
When asked about major trends evidenced at drupa, he was quick to point to automation. “Automation is the key,” he noted. “It’s the cost of labour in Australia, of course, but more than that it’s the diminishing skill set. I can’t count the number of customers who have come to me with the same argument: It’s just so hard to get people, and for repetitive jobs in particular the risk of injury can be high. That leads to prohibitively high insurance premiums but, worse than that, no one wants to have a staff member injured and unable to work.
“Put yourself in that position, against maybe one of your competitors who has already started down this path and eliminated those risks by working smarter, and it’s not hard to see the argument for making change. Your valuable human capital resources can be redeployed into more appropriate tasks. They can be multi-skilled to make the most of their talents to add value right across your plant.”
RIMA is one manufacturer that has embraced this change. The supplier of post-press solutions behind web presses has basically selected the best robot builders in the world and then built their hardware, software and all the programming around it. “Whereas large palletising robots needed to be bolted to the ground and you had to work your factory around them, today’s mobile robots can be unplugged and moved with ease to wherever they are required,” stated Tom Ralph. “There is different tooling for the hand, so the robot could pick up a stack of magazines that requires one tool, and the next job could be a stack of boxes that needs a different tool – it’s a simple, one-minute changeover to take the hand off, and replace it with a different one.
“You don’t have to be a huge web printer to invest in this technology; it will be perfect for a wide range of commercial, label and packaging printers,” he adds. “The use of robots or cobots has become more accessible to smaller and mid-sized companies, making it easier and affordable for small-batch production runs and mixed product assembly. Please talk to me about robotics. I have 20 years of experience in 6 AXIS Robots. We can place them in a static position or supply mobile robots which are ideal for bindery work for extra ROI!
“At Graph-Pak, we have a wide range of solutions for print finishing, but all my suppliers here at drupa have made changes to make it easier for the operator – more servos, more automation, fewer touchpoints, higher safety controls, and overall just smarter operation.”
Captions:
Tom Ralph of Graph-Pak with a RIMA COBOT
APR Solutions’ Saroglia die cutter hot foil stamper received fantastic feedback from ANZ customers with three sales for APR solutions from drupa proving automation is key for commercial printers entering packaging
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