Slitter Man

There’s always something interesting happening here at Universal.  Usually the most interesting activities I get involved with are customer trials or R&D.  Both are great because they are good opportunities to showcase the enthusiasm inherent in the culture at Universal. Sometimes some of the scenes that impress me the most are the quiet ones.  A box full of beautifully machines parts, ready for the assembly line.  Or the fascinating Solidworks schematics being worked on the studiously focussed atmosphere of the drawing office. A couple of days ago I walked through the part of the factory where our CCA Automatic Core Cutters are built.  All the mechanical fitters, electrical and controls engineers were elsewhere.  But on that day, in this quiet section of the factory was the perfect picture of efficiency and productivity - six automatic core cutters, ready for commissioning.  I took a photo on my phone and have decided to share it here, on my personal blog.  Just out of shot is

We have started using the phrase ‘the future of slitting’ in some of our promotional material, and with the recent technical advances we have made with the X6 I think this is a fair boast. I can clearly remember the start of the development process of the Universal X6.  The concept for the X6 wasn’t just revolutionary at a mechanical and controls level.  It was startlingly logical from a practical perspective.  I’m sales and marketing person, not an engineer.  I have never had a job as a machine operator.  Yet I can walk up to a X6 and run a slitting job through it without any problems at all.  The X6 is ‘plug and play’. The Universal X6 was developed from the same starting point as all Universal machines.  The priorities being productivity, ease of use and reliability.  For as long as I have worked with Universal there has been an obsessive attitude to customer support. As the X6 developed from concept to product the ability to further improve support was woven into the very

Since I started working with Universal, back in the mists of time, the number of machines leaving the factory in Ipswich has been increasing.  For the first few years the increase in the number of machines being packed up and shipped off to customers was raising at a healthily steady rate. In the last few years production has really ramped up. It’s a real pleasure to be in the factory when a machine is being shipped to a customer.  All the designers, production staff, machine fitters, electricians, machinists and everyone else also get a kick out of seeing a machine leave us for a new home. The space left by departing machines on the factory floor is never empty for more than what seems like a few minutes.  As soon as one machine is gone another build starts in its place.  I don’t think I’m at liberty to reveal how many slitting machines leave this factory each year, but something I can say for sure is that Universal are asserting their place as a world-leading supplier of conve

Drupa 2016 may seem like a distant memory to some people in this industry, but here at Universal the legacy of last year’s Drupa exhibition is still strongly felt.  We met many new people who are now customers, or who are in the process of becoming customers.  Exhibiting at Drupa also gave us the opportunity to spend some time showing existing customers some of our latest technical developments. Being a part of Drupa was a great opportunity to show off our X6 Slitter Rewinder.  With an estimated attendance of a third of a million people my colleagues who were on the exhibition stand had their work cut out for them.  Over the eleven days of the show we had an overwhelming amount of interest in the machinery we were exhibiting.  In addition to the X6 we also took a RT2 Roll Handling Trolley and a CCA Automatic Core Cutter to Dusseldorf with us. When potential customers ask when they can see the machinery running it’s great to be able to run it right there on the exhibition stand. 

When it comes to exhibitions we believe that it’s important to be able to show potential customers exactly what makes our machines popular.  For ICE Europe 2017 and ICE USA 2017 we exhibited the latest generation of our X6 Slitter Rewinder. For the duration of both shows our stands were exceptionally busy.  What attracted the visitors was our ability to show in a very hands-on way how we have developed the X6 to be fast, efficient and incredibly easy to operate.  We also showcased some of the latest developments that have made non-stop slitting a reality for our customers.  Having a fully operational machine on our stands proved very popular indeed. We received great feedback on our policy of offering free lifetime support on every Slitter Rewinder we sell.  This confirmed that both the profit potential of the machines we build, as well as the attentive support we offer is key to continuing to develop the long-term relationships we enjoy with our customers.  Just before the ICE 2

The Universal X6 Duplex Slitter Rewinder. ICE Europe was great again this year  The Slitter, Automatic Core Cutter, Hot Melt Coating Station and Roll Handling Trolley we took are all back in our factory (only briefly; we sold them).   ICE Europe is something of a highlight in our calendar, and with good reason.  Organising our presence at this exhibition takes a great deal of planning and careful thought, but this year (yet again) the logistical side of the event went very smoothly indeed.  ICE is a great opportunity not only to meet new customers, but also to mix with some of the people we only usually communicate with by phone and email (like journalists). The main focus of our stand was a Universal X6 Slitter . We displayed (and ran) the most popular variant of this machine, which was set up for flexible packaging slitting.  The automation and tension control features of the X6 proved extremely popular with the crowds of delegates who flooded our stand.  There were nine of us