The Fosber Group, with manufacturing facilities in China, USA and Italy, is firmly established as the leading corrugator dry-end specialist.

Over a sustained period, Fosber has achieved notable landmarks in the development of dry-ends.
It was one of the first manufacturers to develop a robotic slitter scorer (now common to most new dry-ends). Among its other firsts, Fosber pioneered the use of vector control drives on the cut-off knife, provided electrically driven stacker decks and was the first European manufacturer to offer thin blade “Kleen Cut” slitting.

With the introduction of its Evolution range of dry-end machinery in the late 1990s, Fosber set new standards for the dry-end with features such as the first true mechanical line speed Gapless automatic order change system on a double level dry-end. In the subsequent years, Fosber went on to install over 250 gapless order change systems. Each Evolution dry-end unit was equipped with an independent control system and full diagnostics package with on-board cabinets already pre-wired, plumbed and fully tested - allowing for instant “plug and play” installation. This set new standards for the dry-end that are still the benchmark today.

Fosber’s dry-end pedigree is evident in its latest range of machinery – the Series 400. The company has again raised the dry-end bar with some exciting new functions; such as the ability to easily and continuously order change in true gapless mode, at full line speed, every 15 seconds. This can be done over the whole dry-end to drastically reduce both stacker cycle times and slitter scorer set-up times.

Customers benefit from lubrication-free thin blade slitting with practically zero maintenance requirements thanks to a new slitting design. Multiple varying scoring profiles can be run on maximum multi-box out jobs on a continuous loop. Other new features include a fully automatic cut-to-pattern facility also able to run preprint orders on an uninterrupted loop. The double level automatic waste ejection system at the exit of the cut-off knife means that gapless order change sheets, splices, etc. can be removed from the dry-end without ever severing the web between the rotary shear and the cut-off knife. In this way it is certain that only good, sellable sheets are delivered onto the automatic stackers.

As the lengths of dry-end order runs continue to shorten, so they become more numerous. It is no longer uncommon to see as many as 200 changes per eight-hour shift. For this reason the ability to carry out gapless line speed dry-end order changes at full line speed remains one of the most important factors for producers who want to consistently maintain production quality and quantity.

The concept of Fosber’s patented gapless order change means such a change can happen with no limitations - irrespective of the number of boxes out on each knife level and their corresponding slit positions. Due to its patented design, rival copycat systems are forced to overlap the slits for the new and old orders in the order changeover section of the web. This substantially limits the number of instances in which a gapless order change can actually take place without forming lead edges or loose “streamers” within the web.

An additional feature of Fosber’s Gapless order change system is its Continuous Trim feature, whereby the trim, like the rest of the full web, remains unbroken at order change. The result is that the dry-end effectively runs in the stable “normal run” mode at all times. At each order change there is no slow down; no switching to a pull-roll measuring mode; no web wander and no lead-edge. Jam-ups are therefore completely eradicated.

At the heart of Fosber’s series 400 dry-end is the latest automatic slitter scorer - the Twin 400. Apart from instant order changeover, the Twin 400 provides back-to-back running of multiple-score profiles (with maximum multi box-out jobs). Thin tungsten blade “Kleen Cut” slitting is fitted as standard and customers are free to choose if they want the machine configured with slitting from below or above the board line.
The all-new thin blade slitting system means that the need to lubricate slitter blades has been totally eliminated. Zero blade lubrication is a distinct advantage to those who supply boxes that need to meet strict food hygiene standards. At the same time, the removal of blade lubrication results in a massive cut in maintenance requirements. There are no more messy felt and lubrication systems to clean, replace and maintain. Re-usable specialized anvil blocks are simply loaded into external hoppers and automatically translocated across the machine during normal production.

On the Twin 400 the whole anvil assembly can be retracted at the push of a button, providing operators with immediate and safe access to the machine for routine maintenance and cleaning. The polished tungsten-coated thin blades have great longevity, while the ability to engage and disengage individual blades results in easy blade replacement in as few as two minutes. This also allows for computer-controlled, even wear and use of each of the blades across the web. This feature further reduces maintenance requirements on the machine.

The Twin 400 is fitted with a new, high-speed robotic set up system that uses a brushless AC motor directly keyed into a precision gearbox. Set times have been drastically reduced, permitting the running of the shortest possible orders. This means the whole Fosber dry-end (including stackers) can confirm that the tools for the next job have been correctly positioned prior to order change and that the order list is lined up correctly. As with all Fosber’s dry-end range of machines the Twin 400 has on-board cabinets, IMD (Intelligent Machine Diagnostics) and a stand-alone machine program.

Fosber’s Master AC Brushless cut-off knife has recently been upgraded with new high-speed knife shafts, as well as more powerful drives to provide maximum speed performance – especially on short chop lengths - on 2.8m applications. The knife’s infeed section has an independently controlled drive and can be automatically raised to allow instant and easy access to the main knife unit. The anti-skew belt outfeed section is independently driven for each level and ensures a clean sheet-by-sheet feed on to the stacker belts without risk of skew. The outfeed system can also be fitted with a double-level waste sheet ejector unit to automatically eject the gapless order changeover sheet. This system can also be used to automatically track and remove splices from the wet-end. In this way the dry-end remains truly gapless at all times - even during a splice and order change. Additionally, only good “sellable” sheets are sent on to the stacker, reducing the need for manual intervention on the conveyor’s downstream.

Other enhancements on the Master knife include an advanced self-positioning automatic cut-to-pattern recognition system in which preprint orders can automatically be run back to back with the reading eye programmed to find and synchronize on the preprint pattern mark.

Fosber’s latest Terminal 400 automatic stacker features:

• an automatic brush and vacuum shingling section,
• a moving separation bar with a lower clamp,
• double-sided anti-skew guide belts,
• an electronic stacker platform,
• a touch-screen control for each level, and
• an adjustable angle entry of the shingled sheets into the stacker bay, based on the type of product being run.

The stacker’s elevator deck is fitted with a “Steady Stack” full width belt platform for maximum stack stability. A new system on the stacker elevator decks has reduced the stack discharge cycle time by more than one-third. In so doing, not only has stack quality improved, production speed capabilities have also gone up. This brings the stacker to within the continuous 15- to 20-second order-to-order dry-end cycle time.

Fosber’s Syncro dry-end control supervisor provides:

• detailed production reports,
• intelligent diagnostics,
• pallet label print-outs,
• data links to the wet-end, office and scheduling networks, and
• materials handling control systems.

The modular architecture of the system means that the Syncro dry-end control system can be expanded, very simply, to include further full corrugator control functions such as bridge calibration and control, synchronized splicing, reel-stand monitoring, roll stock management interface and automatic wet-end order change. The full version of Syncro also offers a complete corrugator process control system.