A local manufacturer unveiled its new five-color rotary machine with dual die cutter on Friday, part of an $8 million machinery expansion helping drive production at L&M Corrugated Container Corp. in the village.
The Göpfert Mehr Maschine, or the Göpfert, as it is simply known, was the focus of a two-hour event, which included tours and a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the plant, 10680 88th Ave., in the LakeView Corporate Park. L&M is the maker of custom-corrugated cardboard containers.
Siblings Steven Lopes, company president and Jen Greene, chief operating officer of L&M, were joined for the event by several dignitaries, employees and invited guests.
The German-made Göpfert, company officials said, is the first of its kind to be deployed in the U.S. The high-tech machine replaced one that was nearly four decades old.
“It’s five-color, rotary die cutter that can process 11,000 sheets – of varying sizes – per hour,” said Greene, who walked through the various stages of container making.
The process starts by sending corrugated material through a pre-feeder on one side of the equipment. The machine then takes the material through rollers to several stages including printing, die cutting, bundling and stacking to a finished product.
The machine’s capabilities include tracking the number of impressions in corrugate fabric, sensing cover thickness and notifying workers when it’s time to replace anvil covers. Its efficiency is designed to reduce the amount of times it has to cut material, Lopes said. It can also mount the next cutting die while still running.
“We can have five different colors (printing) on the machine. The box is printed, then it’s cut and then we can mount another cutting die to get ready for the next job,” Greene said. “It’s really important that we do short runs, smaller quantities. That’s our business mix … it’s important that we be able to turn over.”
Read more at the Kenosha News.