Food & Drink Process & Packaging Issue 22 2019 | Page 17

Improving lifetime and performance for tube winding belts with Nitta Zeroseam At Sonoco Consumer Products in Mechelen, Belgium, machines are hardly ever standing still, producing cardboard tubes for the food market. A big part of the machine performance for spiral tube winding machines, which are used to produce paper cores, is the tube winding belt. This belt applies pressure in order to achieve the required level of adhesion between the individual webs of paper. The application poses unique challenges to belts, requiring strong tension, flexibility, high grip and high abrasion resistance. The high stress put on the belt at high production speed means that belts had to be exchanged often, generating significant costs for maintenance. Determining that the reason for the high wear of the Polyamide-type belts is due to the rigidity of the belt material, Nitta recommended Zeroseam ZS-TWL-42H to improve the performance. Nitta Zeroseam was developed specifically with the needs of the tube winding application in mind – offering a strong cord tension layer which allows for high flexibility due to its seamless construction. With this more flexible material, pressure is applied evenly to the paper, so the tension level can be reduced, significantly increasing lifetime and decreasing energy consumption. Nitta's rubber compound combines a high coefficient of friction with strong resistance to abrasive material like paper, leading to high, long-time stable grip. “The actual production numbers we could achieve with the new belts from Nitta go far beyond our expectations. Compared to the previously used belts, a lifetime of up to seven times could be reached, keeping production speed and the quality of the end product at the same high level,” says Luc Van Campenhout of Sonoco in Mechelen. Nitta Zeroseam is currently available in three different configurations, width and length freely customizable. Additional belt types are currently being developed, both for the tube winding application and for other markets. www.nitta.de Interim Managers Are In Demand! Jarvis Johnson, the heritage brand project or specific piece of work to in Food Safety Recruitment, are not complete to a deadline or perhaps enjoying this cold weather. We are they have sickness / absence to cover. thinking longingly of the busy summer However, we’ve had a few slightly more of 2018 which we spent placing Interim unusual requests recently, including… Managers, not just eating popsicles to • Commissioning of new production cool us down! We’ve seen a growing lines for a food manufacturer in Sydney, trend for companies needing part-time Australia support in Technical, Specifications • NPD and Operations support for a and Quality Assurance. We’ve been company launching products into a UK able to support a number of small, retailer via a co-manufacturing partner growing companies who have needed • Acting as Technical interface between assistance with preparing for the new European factories and UK Retailers. BRC Version 8 Audits as well as post audit corrective action implementation In an industry where recruiters come and helping to clear Retailer and go, Jarvis Johnson has 20 years’ Specifications backlogs. experience of placing permanent and interim professionals exclusively for The reasons clients need interim the Food Manufacturing Industry so support tend to follow a common you couldn’t be in safer hands! If your thread; often they need interim support talent pipeline has gone cold then Jarvis whilst they recruit, they may have a Johnson can help lick it into shape! If you’d like to talk to one of our team about how we could help with a potential interim project or permanent vacancy then get in touch today… www.jarvisjohnson.co.uk 01302 366967 [email protected] FDPP - www.fdpp.co.uk 17