Packaging specialist, Pitreavie Group, will take delivery of a new BOBST EXPERTFOLD 165 A2 as part of a major investment in new plant and machinery at its corrugated box manufacturing plant in Cumbernauld, Scotland.
Following strong business performance over the past year, and in anticipation of future growth, Group Managing Director, Stephen Heslop, said the purchase was crucial to maintaining the quality and service ethic that the company was renowned for.
“The growth we are experiencing is largely for multi-point glued work for customers in the food and drink sector looking for shelf ready packaging. The profile of our customers, combined with the fact we are supplying into the retail sector, means that we wanted the very best folder-gluer that we could afford. BOBST has a superb reputation in the industry, so they were a natural choice for us,” added Stephen.
Commenting on the choice of machine, Stephen said: “With the BOBST EXPERTFOLD we are assured of faster output, greater reliability, quicker changeovers; all the things you would want from that level of investment and what we need to ensure we stay ahead of customer demand.”
The BOBST EXPERTFOLD 165 A2 is Pitreavie Group’s first BOBST purchase and is due to be delivered by October. It will be installed at the company’s corrugated sheet plant in North Lanarkshire which started production in February 2020 – Scotland’s first new sheet plant in more than 20 years. The site also includes an innovation centre where customers create bespoke packaging concepts and samples to take away the same day.
“Despite corrugated manufacturing being a relatively new venture for Pitreavie Group, and all the challenges that the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit have put before us, demand has surpassed expectations and we find ourselves 12 months ahead of our three-year growth plan,” Stephen added. “Obviously, it’s a great position to be in. The EXPERTFOLD investment helps increase our capacity, technical capabilities and enhance product quality even further.”
BOBST EXPERTFOLD 165 A2 offers exceptionally smooth and precise folding capabilities and can handle a wide range of corrugated or litho-laminated boxes. It delivers the consistent accuracy and quality today’s dynamic packaging industry demands.
Highly configurable, it provides box makers with total control of the folding and gluing process, optimising productivity and quality. Thanks to new efficiency-boosting features, the EXPERTFOLD 165 offers shorter make-readies, even greater flexibility and accuracy with corrugated packaging. Additional command panels have been incorporated at each stage of operation, enabling excellent control along the full line and reducing changeover times by up to 15%. In addition, the ACCUFEED includes a new pneumatic locking feature for feeding ramps that allows a setting time reduction on this section of up to 50%. Finally, other new features are available on the folder-gluer for the perfect handling of larger or heavier range of material.
The ACCUEJECT device is also available on the BOBST EXPERTFOLD 165. This device automatically ejects boxes that do not meet the quality specifications, operating in conjunction with all commonly used glue application systems. High-quality production is maintained, while waste and costs are simultaneously reduced.
Pitreavie Group operate sites in Aberdeen, Glenrothes and Cumbernauld. The 12-year-old company specialises in corrugated packaging, chilled packaging, timber crates, and transit cases.
Nick Geary, BOBST Area Sales Manager Business Unit Printing & Converting, said: “EXPERTFOLD brings together versatility, speed, control, quality and ease of handling. For a business like Pitreavie Group that is seeing significant growth, it is the ideal folder-gluer to deliver the high performance and reliability they require to respond to customer needs.”
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