Saving energy pays off with investment using Gallus and Martin
WINE AND spirit label company GEWA seized an opportunity to acquire government funding as a result of demonstrating energy savings.
The target was to reduce energy consumption across GEWA’s machine park of offset and narrow web flexo presses. If the company could demonstrate a reduction in power consumption of more than 20 percent it would qualify for special terms with the KFW Bank as part of an official government scheme.
The presses chosen for the test were a Gallus EM 340 six-colour line and a Gallus RCS 330 all-servo press fitted with eight stations. On both machines GEWA had elected to fit Martin Automatic MBSC unwind/splice and STR rewind units to allow continual operation. The idea was to measure the difference in power consumed over the entire print run, when the rolls were changed manually and automatically.
The test involved a different job on each machine, chosen as being of medium difficulty, and run over half a day. There were eight points on each press where measurements were taken of the power consumed by the press itself and the UV curing and cooling systems, as well as other ancillary equipment like waste extraction. The jobs were based on three rolls of 2,000 linear metres each, so included two roll changes. Set up time was obviously identical for each machine, whether using the Martin equipment or not. The two machines then ran and completed their respective jobs, first with manual roll changes and then using the Martin Automatic equipment.
There is an average of 23 percent power saving per job, beating the target, but they were finished significantly quicker, freeing the presses and operators to begin work on the next order.
MARTIN AUTOMATIC: T: +49 79 46 942 881 W: www.martinautomatic.com