Bobst has reached the 80-year anniversary of the company serving the market with folder-gluers, and is targeting further success in this space with today’s technology.
In 1942, Bobst delivered the first folder-gluer, the PCR 382, to clients in Switzerland and France. This machine made it possible to achieve consistently high box quality on an industrial scale, according to Bobst, which went on to note that when coupled with the company’s AP900 die-cutter, ‘it created a complete converting line for folding carton boxes.’
Today, many of the customers who invested in the first folder-gluers on the market are still working with Bobst equipment. An example is Barcelona-based Envase Gràfico Industrial, which was one of the first in Spain to invest in a Bobst folder-gluer in the 1960s. Its PCR 800 has since been replaced with newer technology, and the printer still partners with Bobst to this day.
Carlos Labori, CEO of Envase Gràfico Industrial, said, ‘Of their many great qualities, we particularly appreciate their reliability, durability and modularity. Folding-gluing is at the end of the long process of designing and creating a box, and the moment when potential faults of previous production stages come to light.’
In 1963, Bobst expanded its folder-gluer portfolio, introducing the first machine for processing corrugated board boxes, the Dynamic 130. This was the beginning of the development of a portfolio dedicated to corrugated and litho-laminated converting. Italian packaging converter, Fag Artigrafiche Spa, bought a Domino 145 in 1999 to improve the company’s gluing capacities. The very same Domino 145 is still used today, but Fag has since completed the machine park with several other folder-gluers.
Mario Gambera, production manager in the Dogliani Plant, said, ‘We could always rely on the precision of our Bobst folder-gluers, but the level of automation on the newer generation of machines has made the job for the operators much easier.’
The company owns two Masterfold 230, one of which is equipped with the brand-new Speedpack automatic packer, allowing the machine to run at maximum speed of up to 250 m/min and use the full potential of the folding-gluing line.
Head of product line folder-gluers at Bobst, Pierre Binggeli, who has been at the company for more than 20 years, said, ‘We are very proud of what we achieved in those last 80 years.
‘The human element will always be an important factor in the folding-gluing process, but today’s machines are much more productive, precise and flexible, while offering an ever-increasing level of automation, ease of use and operator security.’
