Leading supplier of healthcare packaging solutions, Platinum Press recently installed a Saturn BIDI slitter/rewinder for its label manufacturing plant in Grand Prairie, Texas. VP of quality Chris Hicks, after discovering the solution showcased at LABELEXPO 2016 in Chicago, travelled to Italy with Frank Hasselberg, Western US Sales Manager for Gallus Inc., to secure the deal. Chris recently announced that the PRATI machine with optical inspection capability had replaced existing equipment, enabling excellent gains in efficiency and quality. Today Platinum Press has confirmed a second Saturn BIDI and the plan is to replace all other current rewinders with the PRATI technology long term.

The Saturn BIDI is a bi-directional slitter/rewinder equipped with a 100% electronic vision system. Potential defects are detected by the inspection system and the rewinder stops, reverses web and takes the defective label to the correction table. Using the monitor to view the label, the operator checks the defect and either dismisses it as a false positive or confirms that it is a recognized defect and replaces the label. Running again in forward motion, the Saturn BIDI re-inspects the label to ensure that it was properly corrected. This is a high security feature that today Platinum Press offers and grants to his first-class customers.

Said Hicks of the new Saturn Bidi, installed in spring 2017, “With the existing rewinders, when potential defects are observed we are 100% reliant on operator interaction. Using the PRATI solution, we have the additional assurance that all observed defects have been re-inspected using the 100% electronic vision system. This is a design feature unique to the PRATI machine that is performed automatically”.

“What the Saturn BIDI also does for us,” continued Hicks, “after the labels pass through topside inspection, the web then travels to a backside numbering unit where each label is consecutively numbered and then to a backside numbering inspection system to verify 100% accurate label counts on finished rolls. Using the other rewinders this was a two-step process. Now, we’re numbering from 2 lanes across or up to 8 lanes across. Consequently, when finished rolls are removed from the rewind mandrel, they’re ready to go in a box and ship. This significantly improves throughput, efficiency, customer lead times and overall finished product quality.”