Indonesian Printer Aneka Rupa Tera Expands by Serving Customers
Posted: May 19, 2014
Indonesian printer PT Aneka Rupa Tera (ART) continues to add capabilities and capacity to its growing label business. The company recently installed another flexo press in their Surabaya facility. As with previous installations, they again equipped the new press with non-stop roll change equipment from Martin Automatic.
Eko Kurniawan, General Manager, says that the company is expanding to meet the needs of the market. "More importantly, we are adopting a lean production system, which is in line with our mission to have more efficient production and less waste consumption. Martin Automatic technology is a great asset that we have in improving efficiency and waste reduction of our production. Its reliability enables our operators to focus more on the printing process and consistency in the printing quality."
Aneka Rupa Tera was founded in 1985. From a small shop with 3 flatbed machines and 10 workers, ART has grown to include rotary letterpress, flexographic, digital, offset and screen printing capabilities. The factory now stands on 9000m2 of land and employs over 260 associates to serve the label and packaging demands of food, pharma, garment, consumer goods and other industries.
When evaluating their 3rd combination flexo press in 2008, the company considered the cost-saving benefit of automatic splicing. Specifically, according to Tomy Suhartojo, Assistant Director, they recognized that automating the roll change on the front and back end could reduce downtime and eliminate the waste that occurs when stopping for manual roll changes. Based on their years of experience in automatic splicing, ART turned to Martin Automatic to equip that first flexo press with an automatic butt splicing unwind and automatic transfer rewind. The results convinced the company to make Martin splicers and rewinders standard on new press lines.
Tomy compared their average production numbers, before and after adding automatic roll changers. "Running rolls with 2,000 meters of material, we changed rolls averagely every 27-30 minutes. The press would stop for at least 5-7 minutes time to change rolls manually at unwind and rewind. Add to that an additional 3-5 minutes to slow down the press and speed it back up while we checked registration at each colour. We were wasting 20% or more of runtime just for roll changes. Wasted time equals lost throughput. The Martin Automatic equipment eliminated that wasted time and boosted our productivity."
In addition to gaining production from their presses, the automatic splicer and rewinder also helped ART reduce their material waste. The procedure for manual roll change-having to slow down, stop and speed up the press-caused ART to lose print quality for at least 2 press lengths, depending on substrate and job characteristic. This deterioration of quality not only caused them to throw away the wasted product. It also resulted in them having to allot more material and time to complete the job on press, plus "significant" additional time in inspection and finishing. With automatic roll change, the press need not stop until the job is complete, and print quality is maintained throughout the run.
Tomy also credited the tension control on the Martin equipment. "Combination printing using various substrates requires good tension control to achieve good result with minimum waste in allocated time. Our supervisors and operators are surely happy with Martin Automatic's equipment because it eases their job and they can focus on print quality in the press."
Martin equipment is easy to use and simple to understand. As with their other Martin splicers and rewinders, Aneka Rupa Tera installed the most recent MBSC butt splicer and STR turret rewinder themselves, with quick installation and smooth start-up. ART prints on thin films such as 20 micron PP. The latest STR is equipped with a new servo drive option and other features to deliver increased capabilities for applications like this that require very low winding tensions and expanded taper tension control.
Providing the best quality label and a fast delivery time is important to Aneka Rupa Tera. Eko comments, "For 30 years we have been in the printing business, and that in itself is proof of our service. Our skills in a wide range of print technologies help us provide our customers with the perfect labels."
But the company believes their outstanding value and path to success is in understanding their customers' needs. "We build personal relationships with our customers by understanding the key values that will help to grow their business. We are not focusing on growing our own company but on growing our customers. Whether it's a home industry or a big corporate client, we respect them equally and provide them with the best service we have. This is our core value, and we believe, with this value, that we will benefit our customers for years to come."
