Food & Drink Process & Packaging Issue 29 2020 | Page 28

Laser Machines for Improved Packaging Production Non-contact laser processing offers superior results, increased flexibility, and reduced costs over traditional mechanical cutting, slitting, and perforating methods. Coherent is one of the market and innovation leaders for laser-based materials processing solutions. Our expert group in Gilching (near Munich, Germany) leads the Coherent effort in delivering laseroptimized, flexible packaging equipment, and partners with several major packaging converters. You are invited to contact this group for help in developing your own packaging application. In order to provide the most costeffective manufacturing solutions for each application, Coherent produces a number of specialized products which can readily be configured to meet a customer’s precise requirements. In each case, these integrate laser, highperformance scanner heads, control electronics and software, and are ready for integration into existing production equipment. Products include: Coherent StarPack CW systems for scribing and perforating in the cross-web direction. They can be configured with up to nine individual laser sources for speed and flexibility. StarPack CW Hybrid, an extension of the StarPack CW that provides an economical route to free-form perfing and scribing in both web and crossweb directions. This is accomplished by splitting the output of a single laser into as many as four scanners simultaneously. StarPack WD for cost-effective web direction scribing and perforating in a single operation. This is an ideal choice for micro-perforation and scribes for easy-opening packaging. 28 FDPP - www.fdpp.co.uk Above the Coherent StarPack WD is a modular system than can accommodate multiple sources and scanners.. StarPack AP, an “all purpose” system that delivers the most sophisticated mix of functionality, enabling virtually any cross-web or web direction process all in a single system. www.coherent.com Left, the Coherent StarPack AP is a compact system that integrates easily into existing production lines. Below, the Coherent StarPack AP can produce complex shaped scribes and cuts.