UK printer Baker Labels has invested £300,000 in new Ashe slitting machinery for its materials department, Baker Materials.

Baker Materials is an independent distributor of self-adhesive and non self-adhesive label materials in the UK. Offering a comprehensive range of around 450 branded and non-branded label products, it is positioned as a ‘one-stop shop’ for roll label printers. As a distributer for major brands such as Avery Dennison, UPM Raflatac, Lintec, DuPont, Arjobex, 3M, Manter, Smith & McLaurin, Kernow Coatings and Intercoat, and with no high minimum order quantities, Baker Materials has the ability to provide customers with bespoke sizes in widths from 25mm and linear from 250m. Customers can order only what they require with zero waste and next day delivery.

As a facility for Baker Labels’ own production, it means they can react immediately and turn jobs around quickly even if a customer needs a job on a specialist material that normally has long lead times or high minimum order quantities.

The Ashe Diamond and Solitaire slitters bring efficiency, extra safety and speed to production its materials department, according to Baker Labels, and replace legacy Parklands machines that had run for 20 years.

The Diamond slitter features a duplex rewind section with rotary slitting and control console, a separate shaftless unwind stand and reel lift, and an offload trolley. It can slit at speeds of up to 500m/min and has maximum web width of 1,650mm.

The Solitaire slitter comprises a free-standing slitting/unwinding machine together with a separate shafted unwind stand and an offload trolley. It also has a maximum speed of 500m/min but with a maximum web width of 600mm.

Baker Materials is also benefitting from:

  • Central gangways, which run through the machines to give operators access to observe the material and rollers at different points and manage any issues quickly;
  • Shaftless unwind that can be lowered to the height of the reel of material then lift it automatically, providing a safer operation with less manual handling;
  • Differential winder that evens out the amount of torque/tension across the bar, so multiple reels of different sizes can be slit correctly at the same time;
  • Laydown rollers that push the material down and the air out between the layers therefor reducing movement;
  • Blade lights for clearer visibility during slitting; and
  • Banana/bowed roller to enable running films without creasing.

Both slitters are run off a digital touchscreen. Initial training for operators on the new slitters has enabled the building of a bank of information to allow pre-loading of pre-set tensions that in turn allows automatic calibration of winder tension dependant on the diameter of the reel and the microns of the material.

Paul Sykes, production manager at Baker Labels, said, ‘The continued challenge for us to be able to satisfy the demand from customers to provide them with a faster, even more efficient quality service was the driver behind us investing in two new slitters. The quality of the new Ashe Diamond and Solitaire slitters is fantastic and our Baker Materials team have been working hard in training to adapt to the new kit.’