Coreless winding for more efficient packaging production

IMS is internationally known for its innovative slitting and winding solutions. For more than 165 years, the expert in special machinery manufacturing has been supplying the film and paper producing and processing industries. With the forward-looking upgrade of the successful MPW series to coreless winding, GOEBEL IMS proves once more its innovative strength, expertise and the profound understanding of industries’ needs.
Coreless production allows the paper producing and processing industries to meet two challenges at the same time. On the one hand, cost pressure is increasing, requiring optimum cost efficiency throughout all production stages. Standard winding on cardboard or plastic cores constitutes a substantial cost component in the value chain – especially for large quantities. These costs can be reduced significantly thanks to coreless winding. On the other hand, paper producing and processing companies, manufacturing coreless short rolls, take account of their customer’s demand for sustainability.
Together with industry partners, the development team of GOEBEL IMS modified the MPW series into a highly productive slitter rewinder for the cost-effective and resource-saving production of coreless short rolls. “Our customers are seeking more and more solutions to their specific challenges while requiring reduced production costs”, states Dr. Hans-Peter Bauer, Head of Mechanical Construction at GOEBEL IMS. “Coreless winding is technically realized through a modified winding process with specially designed rewind shafts”, explains Dr. Bauer further.
The new fully automatic slitter rewinder for short running lengths with coreless winding is already in operation at two renowned suppliers to the packaging industry – among their customers is one of the largest internet retailers of the world. One of the companies applying the newest coreless winding technology is CELLPAK, a well-known supplier for converting and finishing process for paper (please find further information in the infobox).
Large online retailers use the material, usually wound up on cardboard or plastic cores, to stuff or cover their goods. Dr. Bauer, Head of Mechanical Construction, explains: “Coreless winding is employed where further processing permits or even explicitly requires its use. For the application case at hand, the finished product is filler material for packaging substituting plastic materials. The advantage of coreless winding for the end consumer lies, besides the cost effect, in avoiding disturbance caused by cardboard cores when extracting the material.

Since packaging papers make up a considerable part of all packaging materials worldwide, the saving potential of coreless production is enormous. A fully automatic machine, such as the MPW, producing rolls with a running length of 50 m in a cycle time of 21 seconds thus can save cores for 171 roll sets within one hour. With 10 cores per roll set, this equals savings of 1,710 cores per hour while production output remains unchanged.
The successful machine series MPW is perfectly suited for the fully automatic slitting and winding of rolls with short running lengths and diameters of up to 270 mm or 300 mm. Thanks to the modular machine concept, converters can equip their MPW machines with a core hopper and an additional core charger belt. They can thus flexibly switch to winding with cores if required by the processed material or special orders.
The standard version of the fully automatic machine is designed for stock reels with unwind diameters of up to 1,500 mm and a maximum working width of up to 2,550 mm. In addition, it allows narrow cuts starting from 150 mm while guaranteeing a maximum speed of up to 600 m/min. Thanks to the digital AC drive technology with highly efficient energy recovery, operating costs are reduced.
Furthermore, the MPW series has been enhanced to include a wide range of technical functions and customized features. The machine can be equipped with a complete packaging line with plugger, shrink tunnel, carton packaging, labeling and palletizing station. It thus offers maximum flexibility for a wide range of applications and combines cutting-edge technology with the advantages of the proven GOEBEL IMS machines.
Apart from the first application in the packaging industry, the innovation of the MPW series has subsequently been adapted to the processing of photographic paper for instant photo printing. Such a machine has already been realized in the course of another customer project.