Joe asks:
Our company makes a variety of displays out of corrugate and board grade paper. We have learned some lessons the hard way about the right types of adhesives to use for gluing these pieces to form the final structure.
Can you point me to any resources that can help us learn more about the types of adhesives we should be using, and the application processes we should use?
Tom offered two PDFs for reference before an in-depth phone conversation:
An AICC Member Asks:
We supply litho labels to corrugated manufacturers, and recently we have had an inquiry as to our clients finding success on ink jetting a code on to our supplied labels. It appears when they inkjet it has a tendency to smudge or smear after being applied to our aqueous coating. We have even done testing on knocking out the coating as well as just printing on blank stock with no ink or coating, and they end up with smudging issues. The obvious answer in my mind to to use a different ink on the inkjet machine, however I understand how that additional set up, may not be feasible from a cost or production standpoint.
I am curious if you are familiar with this process, or might know of other instances where this may have been an issue and how that may have been resolved.
Tom’s Answer:
Dyne Testing of the raw stock prior to Printing/Coating may help you find an answer.
This can have a profound impact on the wettability of the base stock…with or without your Inks and/or Coating.
While Dyne level is a more critical issue for the Plastic folks that print and/or label…..it does play a major part in Paper/Paperboard Printing /Coating as well.
This test is of particular interest to me due to the issues you seem to be having with smearing, smudging, etc…..indicates a significantly “tight” sheet or High Surface tension.
Inkjet fluid inks depend on a fairly decent level of porosity for successful transfer and post application curing to be successful. I have experienced first hand in both the Plastic and Paperboard Converting Industries.
I would also ask your client if they have the ability to Corona Treat the InkJet Print surface, which would create a reduced surface tension as well.
As you know, most of our membership is like you folks….their Clients are the ones date coding, postmarking, etc. the printed labels or litho laminated products.
Since the inkjet does NOT seem to work well, even on the raw board, you are off the hook a bit from my standpoint. I would ask the Inkjet supplier to test your raw board, with and without ink/coating, and supply their finding to you for transferring to your Mill Supplier…..I would also suggest a quick test of Corona Treatment (flamer) just prior to their Inkjet to see if the outcome is significantly better. Your ink supplier may have a primer material in Varnish or Coating that could be printed on that patch to aid as well.
An AICC Member Asks:
We supply litho labels to corrugated manufacturers, and recently we have had an inquiry as to our clients finding success on ink jetting a code on to our supplied labels. It appears when they inkjet it has a tendency to smudge or smear after being applied to our aqueous coating. We have even done testing on knocking out the coating as well as just printing on blank stock with no ink or coating, and they end up with smudging issues. The obvious answer in my mind to to use a different ink on the inkjet machine, however I understand how that additional set up, may not be feasible from a cost or production standpoint.
I am curious if you are familiar with this process, or might know of other instances where this may have been an issue and how that may have been resolved.
Tom’s Answer:
Dyne Testing of the raw stock prior to Printing/Coating may help you find an answer.
This can have a profound impact on the wettability of the base stock…with or without your Inks and/or Coating.
While Dyne level is a more critical issue for the Plastic folks that print and/or label…..it does play a major part in Paper/Paperboard Printing /Coating as well.
This test is of particular interest to me due to the issues you seem to be having with smearing, smudging, etc…..indicates a significantly “tight” sheet or High Surface tension.
Inkjet fluid inks depend on a fairly decent level of porosity for successful transfer and post application curing to be successful. I have experienced first hand in both the Plastic and Paperboard Converting Industries.
I would also ask your client if they have the ability to Corona Treat the InkJet Print surface, which would create a reduced surface tension as well.
As you know, most of our membership is like you folks….their Clients are the ones date coding, postmarking, etc. the printed labels or litho laminated products.
Since the inkjet does NOT seem to work well, even on the raw board, you are off the hook a bit from my standpoint. I would ask the Inkjet supplier to test your raw board, with and without ink/coating, and supply their finding to you for transferring to your Mill Supplier…..I would also suggest a quick test of Corona Treatment (flamer) just prior to their Inkjet to see if the outcome is significantly better. Your ink supplier may have a primer material in Varnish or Coating that could be printed on that patch to aid as well.
Al asks (responses are in italic): Are you aware of what mills would produce an .038 CCNB sheet?
Tom’s follow-up questions:
Al’s response:
Tom’s advice:
Mona asks:
We hear concerns from customers in terms of gluing on top of OPV. We have heard about skiving as something converters do to make the gluebond stronger.
Questions for you:
Tom says:
Folding Carton: There is a device called a Skiver, that actually mounts on a Folder/Gluer typically just prior to the Glue application area. Its purpose is, as you suggest, to remove a very thin portion (.001-.003) of the top surface from the substrate to allow a more uniform adhesive bond. The Overprint Varnish may indeed be one of the items that could be removed, if it was not able to be patterned away from the glue flap in the Print process. There are several OEM Folder/Gluer manufacturers that will outfit their equipment from the factory with such a device. It is most common in the manufacture of poly lined inside or outside Folding Cartons, which would then require the Poly Coating or Laminate to be removed to allow proper glue adhesion. A skiver is also available as an after market add on device to facilitate use on many makes and models of equipment. This device can probably be found in about 20-25% of all Folding Carton Plants across North America, since we as a country are very heavily focused on barrier Food Packaging.
Ralph says:
Corrugated plants also have the use of these abrasion wheels to remove coatings and surface materials. With new regulations coming down from OSHA on limiting the amount of “dust” in the work environment this is not likely to be a viable solution in the future.
Flexo printing plates are designed to print coatings, inks, and varnish in exactly the designated areas and not flood coat the substrate.
Nick asks (responses are in italic):
Based on our research, we think the industry average for labour cost is 20% of sales. Is this about accurate for a company of our size?
Best in Class is 12% and Mid-Level is 20%.
If 20% is accurate, then we have a high degree of wasted effort. Specifically around the diecutter (6 people) and gluing operations (15 people).
Can you share any information on diecutter make ready times, typical downtime ranges, typical run speeds?
The level, depth, and quality of the DieRoom and PreMR Dept’s work have such a profound performance impact, it is nearly impossible to give you numbers here without seeing the operations first hand.
Can you share any information on gluers:
( at belt FPM below) Assumes:Operator is Feeding and 1 Catcher/Packer.
St Line – 500 fpm / Auto Bottom -350 fpm / 4 c – 250 fpm / 6c -200 fpm (your equipment)
Any other statistics you think would be helpful, like waste numbers, or maintenance costs, or how you would measure productivity at the key machine centers.
Here are a few Signature Gluer OEM Supplied, manual set up saving documents for your review as well as a weekly/monthly Scorecard Data example for your Ops Team.
Make-ready-settings-signature-elite-110-slb-46-with-extension-turning-module-vers-3
I am honored to be a newly added Technical Advisor, in support of your AICC leadership’s main objective to bring value to the membership. I look forward to meeting many of you soon at various AICC upcoming functions. I am also anxious to begin serving members via this Blog, as Ralph has done so successfully for well over a decade.
Best regards,
Tom Weber
Ask The Expert 