BayPack GmbH, based in Stetten, southern Germany, became the world’s first packaging manufacturer in February 2016 to put the new tesla-line of electromagnetic hot melt application heads from Baumer hhs into operation.
Nearly a year-and-a-half later, the company today has nothing but good things to say about the experience: “The tesla hot melt application heads fulfilled exactly what Baumer hhs had promised from the outset,” says plant manager Manfred Mayr, summarizing his impressions of their use in routine operation.
BayPack had installed 24 tesla high speed application heads in combination with 20 P-500 cold glue application heads from Baumer hhs in a folding carton gluing machine, which is unique worldwide and designed specifically for fabricating produce crates. Active in Germany and neighbouring countries, the packaging manufacturer can use this machine to go all out, particularly when it comes to special gluing configurations with multiple complex folds. This in turn supports intelligent designs which enable BayPack customers to reduce material consumption by up to 40% without making any compromises on the stability of the packaging. The main criteria that led BayPack to choose the innovative hot melt application heads from Baumer hhs included their long service life with minimum amount of maintenance, high precision in glue application and capability of accepting a wide range of usable adhesives.
Running at maximum speed, the special folding carton gluing machine can turn out 4,500 crates per hour. With 1.5 shifts a day on average, that adds up to over a million dots of hot melt applied daily. While conventional electropneumatic hot melt application heads have a service life of about 150 million cycles, the tesla application heads achieve a service life of about a billion cycles. In other words, they offer a significant cost advantage and higher production reliability thanks to the reduced risk of failure. Produce crates for asparagus, garlic, strawberries or tomatoes are a seasonal business that is not compatible with machine downtime. “Since installing the tesla application heads just a year-and-a-half ago, the Baumer hhs service technicians have had no reason to visit our premises,” says BayPack production manager Jürgen Kreher, underlining the reliability and stability of the application heads in day-to-day operations. “The productivity of the application heads and the quality of glue application also are in full compliance with our specifications.”
The tesla range of products further offer an innovative overtemperature switch integrated in both the hoses and application heads. In the event of a malfunction, it automatically interrupts the power supply to keep the temperature from rising above a specific limit. This automatic overtemperature switch has not been activated to date at BayPack. “In combination with the special insulation of the application heads, the integrated overtemperature switch simply means maximum safety for our machine operators. At the same time, it rules out the risk of fire,” says Kreher, explaining why it is nevertheless important to the company.
Markus Leier, head of Sales at Baumer hhs in Krefeld: “BayPack’s experiences reflect the feedback we have been getting from tesla customers all over the world.” With its innovative electromagnetic, high speed, hot melt application heads, Baumer hhs are now setting the standard in hot melt application for others to follow.
More info:
