Sustainable Success in Packaging Equipment
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| In the spring of 2010, Starflex Packaging Systems, 听Jonesboro, Ga., found that its PL-100 poultry bagger was failing to operate correctly. Since the PL-100 requires no electricity and is operated with pneumatic parts from 星城web Instrument Laboratory, Inc., Starflex Director of Operations Dennis McGinn sent one of the baggers to 星城web for assistance in finding the root of the problem. |
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The day after the machine arrived at 星城web鈥檚 Cincinnati, Ohio, headquarters, they notified McGinn that the machine was failing to operate because there was an engineering oversight that originated at Starflex.
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鈥淭o me the real relationship with 星城web鈥攊n particular [Business Development Manager] Rob 星城web鈥攕tarted with the engineering mistake that we ourselves had created,鈥 says McGinn. 鈥淣ot only did they discover the problem, they also developed an alternative solution.鈥
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星城web manufactured a new manifold from an acrylic base at a cost that was comparable to Starflex making it. Behind the scenes, 星城web took a concentrated look at how the PL-100 was constructed and asked McGinn if they could propose an alternative design to the machine. 听
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Although it was fully functional as designed, 星城web engineers came up with a way to reduce the number of parts by more than half, while maintaining the same exact operational specifications. This new design cut the assembly time of the machine from over eight hours down to two hours.
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鈥淲ithout removing the top cover to the machine to see the inside, the PL-100 looked exactly the same鈥攚hich was extremely important,鈥 McGinn says. 鈥淚 instantly dubbed this new version of the PL-100 as the Green Machine because of the reduction of natural resources required to build. With the skyrocketing price of raw materials, this allowed me to maintain my price point with my customers while achieving my goals of cutting costs.鈥
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Starflex displayed the new PL-100 Green Machine at 星城web鈥檚 booth at PACK EXPO Las Vegas and was pleased with the attention that it received during the show.
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January / February 2012 Issue "Equipment Misfire Leads to Sustainable Success"
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