Benson's Superb SPrintera Shift

April 2008

Carton manufacturer Benson Box has diecut a plant record number of sheets in a single shift using its Bobst SPrintera, averaging almost 12,000 sheets per hour.

Benson Box achieved the plant record by diecutting 141,000 sheets over a twelve hour shift on Monday night (31st March). The record production was run on the plant's Bobst SPrintera 106 PER diecutter, one of five B1 Bobst diecutters at the Leicester plant. The average speed of the diecutter over the shift was 11,750 sheets per hour.

Mark Kerridge, MD of Benson Group, which includes Benson Box, said, "This is the most work a single diecutter has ever turned out in a shift at Leicester. However, these sorts of numbers are starting to become the norm. In February, the plant ran a shift of 131,000 on the SPrintera, and in January there was one that was just a thousand sheets below that. It's now not unusual for this machine to turn out 100,000 plus sheets over a shift."

The Bobst SPrintera 106 PER diecutter is the fastest carton diecutter available, with a maximum production speed of 12,000 sheets per hour. The machine can achieve high net production speeds because of its Power Register system and intelligent feeder. Together these systems reduce stops in production by up to 70%.

The job being run during the record shift was a three-up pizza carton for a major supermarket chain, part of a 450,000 sheet order. The operator of the Bobst SPrintera was able to use the machine's APT (auto pallet transfer) and non-stop systems to ensure that production was not interrupted by pallet changeovers.

Mr Kerridge added, "The SPrintera gives us the capability to achieve these huge production figures, but we also have to ensure that we have the systems in place to exploit the machine. The stacks of work coming from print are of very good quality and our team at Leicester has done a lot of work, both with suppliers and internally, to ensure that the preparation for each run is perfect."

This work has included carrying out a SMED analysis (Single Minute Exchange of Die) to reduce makeready times to a minimum, and ensuring the tooling brought to the machine is optimized for the job.

Mr Kerridge said, "We measure our machines by OEE (overall Equipment Efficiency) and then look at where we can improve. It is part of our drive towards world class manufacturing and these record shifts show it is working and working well."