Open business platform
Second article
In our previous article, we presented the idea of an open business platform possibility in the packaging industry, focusing on corrugating, and outlined why – due to our strong professional foundation – we would be the suitable to carry out such a model change. By generalizing the concept, it could be extended to other industries, which could greatly help bring innovation and sustainability to the fore at the expense of bureaucracy and monopoly.
In our article today, we would like to focus on the technological achievements of the corrugating line, – which would lay the foundations of the future and form the basis of the platform we are developing -, and at what cost level we would achieve it. We have already mentioned in our previous writing that based on the technological developments that have taken place over the last 20 years, an extremely conservative industry is emerging before our eyes.
Major developments, such as the transition from finger type to fingerless single-facers, or the move from vacuum technology to pressurized technology, are long gone and nowadays are characterized only by iterative developments from the manufacturers, chasing ever increasing speeds. The technical foundations of the hugely successful Corrugators go back 30 years and have received only the necessary facelifts over the decades. The basis of the well-known module-facers has a similarly long history. As it is extremely costly and risky to develop a new corrugator, it is no wonder that manufacturers do not force innovation. Applying the principle of „If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, in most cases the necessary modernization over time exhausting mainly in terms of drive and control software upgrades on the machines, while the basis of the machines have been built along very old concepts. In recent years, there has been an increasing emphasis on machines with quick-change cartridge layouts for more flexible production. One of the biggest challenges nowadays is to prepare for ever shorter production series, digital printing, and efficient production with ever-decreasing paper gram weights.
One of the easiest ways to cost-effectively produce the end product is to reduce the paper weight base (gsm), as it proportionally reduces paper consumption, which currently dominates the price of the end product. However, this requires the presence of increasingly sophisticated corrugated rolls, controls, and control systems, as high-speed production causes a number of production problems, mainly resonance issues, due to vibrations generated by the corrugated rolls tooth geometry. It is no accident that high-tech machines have shifted from pressure roll to belted machines, which maintenance, in turn, are a much more costly and complex task. Another trend is to automate the lines as much as possible while pursuing the continuous reduction of production costs in order to eliminate the machine operator as a source of error and cost, as much as possible. Manufacturers are trying to push the new technologies that address the above-mentioned problems into a very old system with foundations of 30-year, making them increasingly look like an over-decorated Christmas tree, instead of a well-thought-out design that works together in harmony, while making it completely impossible to implement some new solutions to address the ever increasing issues.
Such solutions could be the cost-effective implementation of solutions already proven in other industries or at the bigger sister Pulp & Paper. Along the already well-developed ecosystem, which does not reach to radical solutions, such as – ultrasonic gluing, exotic corrugation or infrared heating, etc. -, it would be still possible to implement a number of modern solutions. This would include the use of various „splice-less” technologies, variable crown rollers to dramatically improve production with low grammage papers while greatly help in the elimination of operator errors by minimizing scrap production. A fundamentally rethought platform could more easily implement solutions such as active vibration damping, and certain composite or 3D printed geometries could result in novel solutions, significantly contributing to cheaper and more sustainable production. Modern procedures mentioned already, such as augmented reality or virtual reality (AR / VR) can also be implemented in a more economical and better way within a new platform. Native integration of modern technologies such as IoT (Internet of Things) and Industry 4.0 solutions from the outset would provide customers with a more cost-effective, sustainable platform that, combined with lower energy consumption, higher availability and higher quality, would contribute to a rapid ROI (Return on Investment) and significantly reduce operating and maintenance costs over the life of the equipment, improving the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) over the entire life cycle of the machine.
Today, the most common corrugating lines falling into the 300-350 MPM (1000-1200 FPM) speed category, which produce sheets of 2.5-2.8 meters width (98”-112″). Majority of the sales falling into this category, but there are deviations in both directions. Most of the lines available on the Asian market fall into the 250 MPM (800 FPM) category, while large Western manufacturers are increasingly open for speeds up to 400-450MPM (1300-1500 FPM). The product mix is expected to continue to shift towards machines of ever-increasing speed and width, so we expect 400 MPM and 112 ”machines to be the focus of market demand soon. Lines such as a 3.3-meter-wide Jumbo line are expected to continue be a niche market, occupying only a negligible part of the overall one over the foreseeable time horizon.
The cost of a complete 5-ply corrugating line investment in terms of equipment required today ranges from $ 4.5 million to $ 10 million, depending on machine speed, width and equipment – if we look at products from leading manufacturers. Certain Chinese production lines are already available at quite a bold price of $ 2.5 million, in questionable quality and equipment.
Let’s take a look at what kind of machines we are talking about, – marked with different colors the different sections, like wet-end, dry-end and auxiliary equipments:
It is clear that the wet-end section machines make up a significant portion of the line. This is where the formation, gluing and lamination of the corrugated layers takes place – everything which is process related type task, technology. In the dry-end section, „only” the semi-finished product cutting and baling happening, but there are several technical challenges here as well, such as resonance and lifetime problems with knives.
Thanks to our team’s decades of knowledge in wet-end technology and due to the fact that the wet-end and dry-end machines can be technically handled separately, we would first to reform the wet-end section in context of the new platform, minimizing costs, time and risk in a completely newly developed platform. In theory, it would be possible for the design to proceed on a machine-by-machine basis, but this is exactly the mistake we want to avoid, as this would allow the whole line to be built along a coherent concept. Current manufacturers are also forced to continually supplement their existing machines, because they have to conform to conventions and restrictions that have already been set up. Parallel, coherent development could lead to the creation of a well-matched family of machines, the design of which could also take into account aspects, – such as the use of common machine component families. Using the DFX (Design for Excellence) methodology, it would be possible to use drive systems, engine families, controllers, bearings and the smallest machine parts in a unified concept, significantly reducing the number of individual parts, including purchased and manufactured items. With a well-thought-out system, it would be possible to design orientation independent machine parts from the outset, so you no longer have to worry about whether the lines are in the right or left paper direction.
All of this requires an appropriate concept, and thanks to our many decades of experience, we believe, we are able to design such a complex system in a harmonious way, and remarkable industry veterans are at our disposal to support us. Continuing the principle of the cell concept already initiated by some manufacturer, we would design a wet-end section for the corrugating line based on several well-separated cells. In case of 5 Ply lines:
- For the cell consisting the two single-facer, which would contain the control of all the equipment necessary for the production of the corrugated single-face, since the coordinated operation of these machine groups already a basic need for high-quality production:
- Including: Trolley systems, Unwinders (rolls-stands), Preconditioners, Single-facer, Single elevating belt device and the necessary Bridge structures and miscellaneous components.
- The Double-facer cell, which would consist of the Glue machine, the bridge brake and the necessary unwinders and preconditioners.
- The third cell would contain the necessary optional accessories, such as the design of the adhesive kitchen or the control room.
From our experience, we know that the extra material cost in the production of 112″ machines compared to 98″ increases the cost of production by approximately 10%. As the machine width and the length of commercially available raw materials (3 meters / 6 meters) are not always in line for some structural or critical components, this can cause a significant increase in material associated costs. In the case of a newly designed machine line, these aspects can also be taken into account to the maximum, and we estimate that for the 98”-112″ machine width, the production cost gap between the two machines can be reduced to 5% with a proper engineering approach. This difference is so minimal that it is not worth investing energy to develop them as separate lines, as engineering expenditure and maintenance are much more costly compared to possible savings. Currently, in addition to 98”-112″ machines, the engineering departments of the manufacturers have to deal with the administration and documentation of the right-to-left paper travel direction versions as well. Just think about that a simple technical change request needs to be designed, drawn, documented, and maintained in different manuals, production management systems, and stored and recorded four times instead of one due to 98”-112” Left and Right versions. This in itself requires a huge extra investment, in money and time. Thanks to the DFX methodology we propose, and for the reasons detailed above and considering all aspects, we would develop a platform that is only available in a 2,8 meter (112”) size, designed to be orientation-independent with a target speed of 500 MPM (1650 FPM).
The development time for such a line is 3-5 years depending on the available resources. The estimated price of the machine family planned along the cell concept is expected to be (*based on 2020 June prices and exchange rates) :
- For Single-facer Cell: 1 Million Euro
- For Double-facer Cell: 1 Million Euro
- For Miscellaneous components (Control room and Starch kitchen): 0,5 million Euro
This would mean that such a modern 2,8 meter (112”) 500 MPM (1650 FPM) orientation-independent wet-end 5 Ply line would cost € 3.5 million, which is extremely competitive with the equipment’s currently on the market and technically would go far beyond that. New services and maintenance costs would be significantly lower over the life of the machine thanks to the previously detailed open business platform concept. We have previously performed complex calculations on how much software, hardware, and human resources we would need to develop such a platform. A one-time cost of around € 8.7 million, which already includes all relevant expenditure (R&D, G&A).
In our next article, we will take a look at how this cost is structured and what it encompasses – through university collaborations, academic research, engineering resource related expenditures and the manufacture of experimental equipment’s. We will see how low this amount is compared to the costs of large manufacturers or buyers and how low the entry threshold can be for customers. We are also openly pleased if individuals support our initiative to create a more transparent, open engineering service system, where product improvement and data availability takes priority over corporate profit. We believe that our team and geolocation are best suited to perform such a task, if only for historical reasons. In addition, we will provide a more detailed answer to the many questions that have already been received.
Let’s meet at our third open business platform article! See you soon please share your thoughts about this topic!
– BBM –