EBSCO Industries, Inc. :: News :: VIP embraces two new machines to keep pace with the technological revolution


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Automation and Digitalization
VIP embraces two new machines to keep pace with the
technological revolution

A unique machine has taken residence in the Tab Department at Vulcan Information Packaging (VIP). Hundreds of complex moving parts encased in a gigantic Plexiglas box do the work of three men in one-third the time.

This new machine is the Widmann TM 142 – a cutting edge tab making machine that is pushing Vulcan Information Packaging further into to the automated world and creating new business.

Tim Taylor, 18-year veteran of VIP’s tab department, stands at one end of the machine, tidying a stack of card stock. He reaches up to a row of buttons, makes several calibrations, and the machine springs to life sucking in papers at an alarming rate. They spin, turn, are cut, printed, stacked, and arranged. In a matter of seconds, the tidy stack of card stock is now at the other end in a tidier stack of tabs.

“I just finished an order for 50,000 tabs – cut, printed, packed and ready to ship out in just seven hours,” Taylor said. “It would take three people a week to produce that many tabs and have them ready to ship using the old-fashioned way.”

Before purchasing the machine, Taylor traveled to Germany, where the Widmann TM 142 is produced, to get hands-on experience. “He has worked here for a long time, and we believed that if anyone could learn how to use this machine and know if it was a good investment, it was Tim,” said Barry Franklin, general manager of VIP.

What Taylor found in Germany was a state-of-the-art machine that would allow VIP to produce tabs at a far greater speed and efficiency. “The real selling point with the Widmann was its Thermo Transfer Printer,” Franklin said. “Instead of printing directly on the front of paper with a separate printing operation, we are now able to print in line on the reverse side of the Mylar at the same time we are Mylar reinforcing and collating.”

The Widmann opens VIP up to an entire new area of business: the legal market. Franklin explained that until the Widmann TM 142, VIP did not produce the volume of tabs as fast as legal clients demanded. The new equipment brings this lucrative niche market into the realm of reality for VIP.

Printing the Future in High Resolution
Humming along in a room across the plant from the new Widmann TM 142 sits another new, high-tech piece of equipment that VIP recently purchased. For years, VIP has searched for a digital printer that will print on all substrates, from paper to vinyl. Their persistence paid off when they found the Durst flatbed UV inkjet printer.

“The Durst is the first machine we felt fit all our needs,” Franklin said. “It prints high-resolution images on any material used in our operation at VIP.” This feature, coupled with the Durst’s ability to print on top of a black surface by first laying down a layer of white, made it the perfect fit for VIP’s printing needs.

The Durst will help with short-run orders that typically would have been silk screened. Silk screening is a complex, time-consuming process that is only cost effective when used for large orders. The Durst allows VIP to tackle small-run, high-resolution orders in a far more economical way than traditional screen printing methods.

“The Durst has lowered our prices and made us more attractive to small-run jobs,” Franklin said. “Forty percent of our custom orders are for 200 pieces or less. The Durst makes these orders more affordable and makes us a more attractive option for customers.”

Although screen printing is still more cost effective for large orders, digital printing shows promise of one day surpassing it. Franklin explained the quality of a digital print is far superior. “Screen printing can’t provide the graphic quality of a digital print. The Durst puts us ahead of the game now, and helps us stay in time with the shift towards digitalization.”

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