When Ali Snel, a small confectionery manufacturer based in Nijmegen, Holland, became unhappy with the service from his packaging suppliers, he decided he could do a better job himself. Hence the foundation was laid for a carton and board finishing house, which would grow rapidly by understanding its customers' need for fast turnaround and production flexibility.

That was in 1966. Today, Snel BV based at Huissen, between Nijmegen and Arnhem, close to the border of Germany, serves customers in Holland, France, Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom with a variety of finishing services. Last year alone it converted approximately 50,000 metric tons of material with a sales value of 12 million guilders (US$6 million).

This work includes diecutting, folding and gluing, window patching and special services such as gift packs, handle attachment and partitioning. The range of substrates handled is equally broad, extending from 80gsm paper through to 4mm E- and F-flute corrugated and 1400gsm solidboard.

No print work is carried out, and Snel BV buys in only 5% of the paper and board it handles. Some work is carton or corrugated tray gluing only. Other work involves only window patching. Still other work requires cutting and creasing, which are offered either as part of a full service order or separately. However, most corrugated board for finishing-around 80%-arrives already diecut.

"To continue to succeed in the print finishing market, we have to be able to handle a wide range of materials and give a fast turnaround by being extremely flexible in terms of production," commented commercial director Alet Snel, one of the founder's sons. "We have a complete combination of machinery for every job."

From its early days making small cartons by hand-largely for confectionery and jewelry-Snel BV grew its business steadily, taking in work from local printers, using first a Heidelberg platen for cutting and creasing, then adding a second-hand Jagenberg gluer.

In 1976, working from a 100-m. x 8-m.-wide factory built at the back of the family house, the company bought its first Wupa diecutter. However, as Alet Snel recalled: "We would work for six hours making the packaging and then work for four hours delivering it."

Faced with storage problems, Ali Snel knew he needed larger premises. So a 6,000-sq.-m. plot was acquired, a 2,000-sq.-m. factory built, and the company looked forward to at least 10 years free of space restrictions. However, that was not to be the case. Three years later continued growth in the business caused space problems once again, and another 2,000 sq. m. of factory space was added.

In 1988, with expansion continuing to put pressure on floor space, the company moved into its current purpose-built 7,000-sq.-m. premises. Today, its finishing equipment includes four flatbed diecutters, eight folder-gluer lines (two Escomet units and six Jagenberg machines of which the oldest is six years old and the largest is a 1,650mm-wide Jagenberg 165-4) and three window patching machines (of which one is a particularly versatile pick-and-place unit). There are 60 employees, and for the last 18 months, Snel BV has run a three-shift, 24-hour operation.

Die board preparation is carried out in-house but by a separate independent company, which also supplies other finishers and printers. "This is a very flexible arrangement and means we have the advantage of on-site support around the clock, if there are any problems," pointed out Alet Snel.

The four flatbed diecutters are all from Woschnik & Partner Maschinenbau (WPM)-two new 300 machines capable of running 740mm x 1,060mm sheets and two size 6 machines, one of which is to be replaced this summer with a WPM 400 machine (820mm x 1,130mm sheet size).

As Snel suggested, with the general trend toward more size 3B presses amongst European printers, this size 4 diecutter should be able to cope with about 60% of the sheet sizes currently handled by the size 6 machines, and reportedly at higher speeds.

According to Snel, the choice of WPM machines was made for a number of reasons, most prominent amongst them the fact that WPM's design uses a moving upper platen to provide a sheet transport system undisturbed by vertical movement. Reportedly, this allows extra time for sheet movement while-with the die board stationary-the lower mass involved reduces inertia.

"This smooth passage of the sheet is particularly important on materials at the lower and upper ends of our work, such as 80gsm paperboard and 3mm solidboard, allowing us to achieve high production speeds even on lower quality recycled boards," said Alet Snel. "In fact, over the past two to three years we have faced an increasing challenge to run lower quality, recycled materials at higher output."

While the move toward recycled board in Europe is as much for environmental reasons as it is for cost, cost remains a primary factor in some work converted by Snel BV, such as cigarette packs destined for Russia.

The Need for Speed Although the WPM 300 machines are generally run at 6,000 to 8,000 sheets per hour (sph), depending on the style of the job and the material, the company has found it is possible to go faster. "On one recent job we were able to run off 200,000 sheets at a constant 9,000 sph, nearly 24 hours continuous running," noted Alet Snel. "And on another job we went to 10,000 sph, with 48 cartons on a blank." These are exceptional examples, he admits, but demonstrate what can be done.

A design feature contributing to high speeds on the machines is a register system in which alignment of the gripper bars in all stations takes place before the chain comes to a complete stop, reportedly eliminating shock and divorcing register accuracy from chain wear.

With register at every station, stripping small waste parts and blanking small products reportedly presents no problems. In fact, as a result of the registered stripping, Snel BV reports that it has run cartons with just 2-mm waste in areas.

Both 300 machines are equipped with a new non-stop feeder developed by WPM in conjunction with Snel BV. It is designed to allow shallow piles of sheets to be handled, which Alet Snel said is an asset in terms of alignment. The machines are also equipped with an automatic pallet infeed conveyor, which makes it possible for one person to operate the diecutter at full production speed.

In operation, sheets on a pallet are placed on the infeed conveyor at the side of the machine and then, when required, automatically advanced via a 90-degree turntable into the feeder. Initially, the pile is lifted in the conventional fashion. Once a preset level of sheets remains, however, a series of bars move in from either side to support the pile. This allows the pallet to be lowered and a fresh pallet load is automatically brought to the feeder in its place.

The fresh pile is aligned laterally with the previous pile by pneumatically powered pusher pads on either side. Then, once a minimum number of sheets remains above the support bars, they retract gently. The two piles become one, and the process can be repeated.

Outfeed of stripped blanks, with layer pads between for stability, is again automatic, with pallets delivered onto a short length of conveyor at the side of the machine. Waste is carried automatically by both overhead and underfloor conveyors to a skip loading point outside the factory.

The immediate mechanical handling arrangements around the diecutters are there to allow a single operator to run the machine. However, the system also links neatly with Snel's factory-wide mechanical handling system, which is based on hand-operated pallet lift trolleys. There are no fork truck movements within the production area.

"We considered automatic guided vehicles, but these are complicated, and if they go wrong, work would stop," explained Alet Snel.

Instead, the company has installed two in-floor chain loop systems running between the warehouse and the two production areas for diecutting, folding, gluing and window patching. Basic pallet trolleys circulate at about 1mph to 2mph carrying work to and from the various lines.

Line operators pull the trolleys from the loop to load the machinery, and return completed work to the loop in the same way. This approach means that completed work need not wait on the floor for a fork truck, but is delivered automatically to the warehouse within minutes of completion.

Equally efficient, pallets of sheets stay in the warehouse until needed. A line operator simply hangs a blank on the handle of a passing pallet trolley, indicating to warehouse staff that the next pallet load is required. The result is a factory floor unobstructed by pallets.

Also, the U-shape layout of the folder-gluer and window patching lines-with a roller conveyor returning completed cartons in corrugated cases to the beginning of the line-reportedly provides flexibility in the use of labor.

Endless Possibilities In addition to its efficient conveyor system, the company's wide array of folding and gluing technology allows it to carry out a full range of work including conventional straight line skillets, crash-lock base, four- and six-point gluing, double foldover wall, conical cartons and folders.

The plant owns an an ink-jet printing facility as well, which is used to overprint blanks with a "lucky number" for promotions and lottery style incentives. The system uses a PC with a Windows-based program devised by the company to generate random, but unrepeated, numbers.

On the window patching side, Snel BV has recently invested in a twin reel machine from Heiber & Schroder, which allows a number of jobs, such as fresh flower cartons, to be completed with colored and clear windows in a single run. There is also a pick-and-place window patching machine which, apart from conventional work with film, was recently employed to attach an additional, creased board inside blanks for confectionery cartons.

These cartons are perforated near the top with a tear tab across three faces and open like a cigarette packet to reveal the contents. The inner patched board acts to stiffen the pack and ensures a gap-free closure after opening.

"As a print finisher we have to be extremely flexible," commented Alet Snel. "Sometimes we can plan production four weeks ahead. Other times we have to plan virtually as the work is delivered. So we have to be sure to choose and manage our machinery accordingly."

Woschnik & Partner Maschinenbau, which manufactures the WPM range of diecutting equipment at its factory in Monchengladbach, Germany, near Dusseldorf, took over diecutter manufacturer Wupa in 1996. It then became part of Jagenberg's packaging technology division in December of last year.

"For some time now we have regarded the diecutting business as a desirable addition to the Jagenberg Diana folder-gluer range," said Dr. Wolf-Peter Muller, general executive director at Jagenberg.

"We consider diecutting a strengthening of our carton gluing activities and, over the long term, we expect a significantly higher volume of diecutting business."

Apart from folder-gluers and die-cutters, the company offers stack turners, pre-feeders for the gluers, automatic collating and packing machinery and mechanical handling systems from A & F, a sister company within the Jagenberg group.