After conducting an analysis of mechanically activated vs pneumatic expanding shafts, the plant began to convert to the use of Deublin pneumatic shafts supplied by Simplex-Turbolo Ltd.
The study, says Matthew Seddon, Kellogg’s engineering manager, revealed that the downtime necessary to change reels was cut from 15 minutes to four minutes. The mechanical expanding shafts required the use of a key to contract the shaft. Then the worker had to remove it, replace the reel with a new roll of packaging material, and then replace the shaft and turn the key to expand it in place.
“Not only do the pneumatic shafts save significant time when changing reels,” says Seddon, “but it’s also far quicker to make adjustments to the position of the reel during a production run.” That’s why the airshafts are being retrofitted across the variety of vf/f/s machines operating in Manchester. —AO
