Automatic Handling: your partner for continuous improvement

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A successful business is often one that takes good care of details. And when it comes to roll handling and wrapping, every detail counts. Automatic Handling takes care of every possible paper roll handling and wrapping detail by offering complete and tailored solutions to the pulp and paper industry.

Automatic Handling offers roll handling systems for all types of paper machines and installs them immediately following the winder. These systems offer the flexibility to accommodate rolls from multiple paper machines and the efficient, robust and higher cycle times.

Roll wrapping with plastic films is one of Automatic Handling many specialties. Its patented technology incorporates axial and radial wrappers and integrated labeling systems to create a complete protective wrapping. These unique systems result in consistently high-quality wrapped rolls, regardless of size.

Roll handling

Automatic Handling systems for pulp and paper mills are installed immediately following the paper machines' winder, where rolls are wound up on paper cores and discharged upon completion. These systems often accommodate rolls from multiple paper machines and need to be robust with higher cycle times.

The process: Roll handling systems usually begin with a full-width ramp, and sortation stops to force the roll set to break up into individual rolls, allowing an operator to tape the tails safely. Next, the system discharges the roll set to the full-width plate stop and conveyor.

The system separates rolls using end-to-end conveyor transfers. Automatic Handling relies on a platform of standard equipment for conveying rolls through the mill, depending on the project's layout and operational requirements. An electronic measuring station measures roll length, diameter and weight, sending data to the mill system. The system automatically labels rolls with either a kick-up turning roller station or robotic labeler. Next, rolls proceed to the strapping station, where the system bands the bilge with two or three metal straps. The rolls are then grouped in sets in conformity with data from the mill and are upended either individually or together for stacking. Finally, the system sends rolls to the accumulation conveyors where they accumulate for pick up and are transported to rail cars or warehouse locations.

Narrow slit handling: Our roll handling technical capabilities have made us a global leader in our field of business. We design the best suitable logistical solutions to boost our customers’ mill efficiency, giving us the expertise to optimize inline processes such as roll breaking or the handling and transfer of narrow slits.

Palletization: Automatic Handling has a breadth of pallet handling designs for integrating pallets with rolls. When rolls transfer to or from pallets, they often rotate between core vertical and core horizontal ; when this happens on the same level we call it an upender or downender. When the transfer is over multiple floor levels, we call it a lowerator. Whether dispensing pallets at an upender, before or after packaging, or while placing various rolls on a single pallet, Automatic Handling helps customers create the best system solution for their material handling needs.

Upending and Lowerating: Automatic Handling has a long history of supplying lift, upenders, and lowerators for roll handling. Multi-floor operations often require the rapid movement of parent rolls over multiple levels. Automatic Handling can help design, build, and install these unique machines at your facility.

Integrated roll measuring stations: Automatic Handling uses roll measuring stations as part of an integrated system for collecting and verifying winder and stored data. Quality assurance in roll handling arrangements can integrate with industry-leading manufacturing execution systems or enterprise resource planning software, or any other data-driven quality assurance program. These types of PLC programs are especially helpful in eliminating downtime during maintenance.

Film wrapping and handling station

Not all film wrapping systems are created equal! Multiple layers of a thin film do not protect against abrasion: only a thick layer of material, such as our Edgegard, will adequately protect roll ends. AHI’s patented Axial Radial package with Edgegard is an extraordinary film wrapping technology. When abrasion resistance is required, thicker is better, and many thin layers with no bonding between layers will lead to abrasion.

Designing packages to protect rolls at a reasonable cost is a highly challenging task for any mill. The package must be able to withstand all types of handling and multiple kinds of shipments. By collaborating with paper mills with different package types we have found that mills experience all variations of problems in meeting these objectives.

The process: The roll is wrapped with stretch film and has headers on both ends. This package is very successful with clamp trucks, keeping the roll clean and moisture protection. However, this package has a severe weakness: when the rolls are loaded into the trucks or rail cars, the clamp truck operator slides the rolls to push them into the corners and the bottom film overlap tears off. Mills have moved to wrap the product with 5 to 6 layers of wrap on the bottom end of each package. Despite this the problem persists, and there is very little that can be done but to add extra layers of film. We have seen mills apply up to six wraps of film on the bottom of a roll, yet significant pulp loss for the end user due to damage still happens.

The solution is using another material in conjunction with the film to protect not only the roll, but the first several layers of film. This protects any rolls subjected to rough handling while being loaded and unloaded from the rail cars and trucks, without damaging or compromising package integrity. The solution is a new material called Edgegard. It was designed to withstand the abuse roll ends are subjected to on a daily basis, as well as maintain package integrity. Edgegard is a 20-ml thick (thickness based on application) Polyethylene (PE) film material, which is applied during the wrapping process. It can be entirely recycled with the wrapping film. Due to the extreme thickness of the material, it quickly provides many benefits. The roll rests on the Edgegard, which resists damage to the package should the roll be pushed in a rail car or truck.

Edgegard was developed to protect the roll ends and maintain package integrity. Stretch film is not new in roll packaging, but has received a fairly bad reputation in some applications. The use of low cost or thin films leads to the inevitable problem of the film being torn off of the bottom of the roll when palletized. Automatic Handling has always encouraged the use of a secondary media, such as foam or bubble, for edge protection.

Kraft wrapping and handling systems

Did you know that Kraft wrapping systems emphasize improved safety and energy efficiency according to today’s highest requirements? Automatic Handling Kraft wrapping systems are also built from module components, so our wrapping systems are suitable for new and existing facilities.

The process: Automatic Handling's Kraft Roll Wrapping & Handling Systems for Pulp & Paper mills have the same mill-duty reliability of its other roll handling systems. Kraft Roll Wrapping and handling systems can accommodate rolls from multiple paper machines and typically begin with a full-width ramp, sortation stops, and full sets of turning rollers to force the roll set to break up into individual rolls, allowing operators to tape the tails safely. The discharged
roll set then moves to the full width set cushion and conveyor, where rolls separate with end-against-end conveyor transfers. Rolls are then sent to the grouping station and mated with other rolls to form a package. The system automatically measures the package width, diameter and weight. Rolls are accumulated before the draft wrapper and enter the indexing beam for the wrapping process. An industrial robot selects the appropriate ‘inner header’ (large cardboard end caps) and inserts them on either side of the roll. The wrapper station applies a predetermined width and amount of kraft from the back stands onto the roll, fully encapsulating the bilge in kraft paper. Crimping arms are then engaged to pinch the sides of the overhanging kraft package to hold in the inner headers.

The system then sends the package to the header press station, where another industrial robot selects the appropriate ‘outer headers,’ and places them onto heated platens that pivot in and compress the package, creating a sealed kraft package. An automatic label applicator, installed before or after this process, applies the stick-back labels to the outside of the kraft package. Once the system entirely labels and packages the rolls, they arrange in conformity with data from the mill and are upended individually or collectively for stacking. The system sends rolls to accumulation conveyors where they are gathered for clamp trucks to pick up and transport to the rail cars or designated warehouse position.

Automatic Handling has the experience to help customers optimize their labeling quality via a simple mechanical device; robotic end of arm tooling, or inline radial wrapping labels.

Our engineers, our force

Automatic Handling counts on a staff of electrical and controls engineers who specialize in fully optimizing automated systems. They have thousands of hours of expertise designing, developing and programming roll handling systems for roll unloading, individual roll handling, narrow-slit handling, manual and fully automatic roll palletizing, and more. The importance of considering a complete manufacturing effort from end to end is vital to accommodate a variety of roll widths and diameters, along with understanding the end goals of a customer before a single piece of equipment is designed.


Paper Roll Handling and Packaging Equipment

This video shows a paper roll wrapping system that was created to increase the capacity of an existing wrap line on a paper machine. This axial and radial wrapping solution also uses Automatic Handling's Edgegard wrap to protect the packaged rolls from damage during any transportation. Multiple layers of a thin film do not protect against abrasion and AHI’s patented Axial Radial package with Edgegard is an ideal film wrapping technology.
In this video, you will also see robotic core plugging using a Fanuc robot, and an automatic core plug bowl feeder. The robotic core plugging helps to increase the speed of the wrap line which is essential when dealing with the heavy-duty non-stop demands of roll packaging systems. Two other pieces of equipment shown in this video are the Stacked Roll Upender for putting cores in a core verticle position, and heavy-duty chain slat conveyors.


About Automatic Handling

Automatic Handling® is a worldwide manufacturer of custom and patented handling, packaging, and fiber recovery systems. Using these technologies, Automatic Handling strives to improve their customers' production efficiencies, limiting waste and boosting production times as well as protecting valuable machinery and increasing overall productivity through automation. Additional information about the company and its systems is available at www.automatichandling.com


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