Slitter Man

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-leadin...

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 o...

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...

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...

The Universal X6 Laser-perforation and Inspection Slitter answers the requirement modern food-packaging companies have to perforate packaging films in-line. By perforating in-line huge savings can be made, both in time to process and in capital investment. Much like the Universal HMCS (Hot Melt Coating Station) this Laser-perforating slitter rewinder adheres to the fact that if you can have one machine to complete at least two tasks then energy requirements are lower, staffing / operator requirements are reduced and product can be processed much faster than if each materials were loaded and unloaded onto two separate bits of machinery. With the X6 Laser-perforation and Inspection Slitter we've taken this theory up a notch by also including a vision system. In food packing accuracy is everything - if perforations are slightly too large or too small the food-preservation qualities change dramatically. Food packagers demand perfection and proof of perfection. The Universal X6 ...

Recently I sold a small used slitter to a company with a very simple product process - they buy in big rolls of material and then use a slitter to cut to length.  Unlike most of the cutting machines we sell this customer didn't need a machine that could slit rolls of material down into narrower rolls; all they needed to do was to load a master / parent roll and cut it to length. The used slitter I sold them was ideal for the job - they loaded a large jumbo / parent roll and the operator entered details of the length of the roll he wanted to wind and pressed the 'go' button.  The machine would smoothly ramp up to speed and then slow down in time to stop at length.  This process shows a converting machine being used at its most basic, and it's certainly an effective way of selling rolls of material that sold has having an exact length. Every machine we design and build at Universal has a very accurate cut to length facility - on our larger machines most customers wind...

Let's get back to basics - what is slitting?  Slitting is essentially cutting, but has come to be assumed to mean cutting in a certain way.  Whereas use of the word 'cutting' might denote a cut being made in a material or object using a saw, a sharp blade or another method 'slitting' has come to mean to cutting using a blade.  I'm saying this based on my own experience of working in the slitting / converting industry, so naturally my perspective isn't exactly objective.  In fact it's difficult for me to answer the question 'what is slitting' without considering that (to me at least) the very word 'slitting' has become onomatopoeia! But what does it mean? If I was pushed to condense the meaning of 'slitting' into a single sentence (which I guess is the very point of this blog post) then I would have to say: "Slitting is the process of making a slit (cut)." As intimated above, to me slitting in the process of loading...