BOBST Seduces the American Market with the New FFG 8.20 EXPERTLINE


From 17th through 19th March, BOBST held an Open House in Miami, Florida. In the plant of the American customer Timbar Packaging Display, BOBST presented its new FFG 8.20 EXPERTLINE.



It is the only equipment worldwide to offer a fully automated production, from the feeding of the board (pre-feeder) down to the palletizer. Fast, effective and highly capable, the line is truly awe-inspiring.



Designed for the making of RSC boxes in a single pass, the machine achieves 24,000 boxes/hour. Due to the super fast set-up of the complete line, the order changeover takes less than two minutes. Furthermore, two operators are enough to control all the operations.



Taking after the success of the FFG 8.20 EXPERT and the FFG 8.20 DISCOVERY, the FFG 8.20 EXPERTLINE features an even higher degree of automation. At the inlet, a non-stop and high speed feeding. It runs without operators and uses the BOBST Sequential Order Change device (SOC) for a super fast automatic order changeover. After the counter, a BOBST palletizer increases the performances of production.



These innovations were greatly appreciated by the roughly fifty attendees present at Timbar’s plant. Coming from North America and Canada, they represented several integrated companies, independent businesses and sheet plants.



Order changeover in less than 2 minutes for the complete line



Running at its maximum speed of 24,000 boxes/hour, the FFG 8.20 EXPERTLINE achieves outstanding swiftness and performance. During each of the five demos, Timbar performed three order changeovers in less than two minutes, BOBST has demonstrated the efficiency of its fully automated production line.



Next to the demos, three workshops displayed the novelties and assets of the EXPERTLINE:



With its innovative ergonomy, the Smart mounting plate device ensures a super fast fitting of the printing dies.

The new generation Slotter with 4 pairs of shafts also provides an independent automatic lap cutting.

Additionally, the whole production is easily and safely driven through the man-machine interfaces.

The MMPC (Maintenance Management Productivity Control) remotely controls numerous parameters with the machine running. On the other hand, the touch screens of the MPC4 interface facilitate intuitive set-ups at every stage of the manufacturing process.



At Timbar, the EXPERTLINE has replaced 3 machines



Records follow one another since the installation of the machine late July at Timbar Packaging & Display, an American company specialized in the design and production of corrugated board boxes.



"EXPERTLINE, the game changer" Bill Thom, SR Vice president



"Being a super fast and fully automated production line, the FFG 8.20 EXPERTLINE does the job of three machines and has increased our performances" Marc D. Farrar, Manufacturing Services Manager, stated during his presentation.



Since the line was implemented, the volume of boxes produced by Timbar is running roughly 4 million additional square feet (360'000 sqm), with 500 fewer machine hours than the three machines they replaced on a monthly basis. Lastly, the fastness and efficiency of the equipment also account for an exceptional accomplishment: in eight hours only, 14 orders have been run representing a total of 137'315 boxes.



During the event, the attendees’ strong interest has confirmed the success of the machine since its launching, along with its high potential in the North American market.





Bobst Lyon, France


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