Corrugated cardboard is lightweight and stable, making it a preferred choice for shipping and transport boxes. However, precisely folding corrugated cardboard is challenging. ‘High restoring forces are at work, which can lead to fold breakage, inaccurate fold lines and tool wear,’ explains Milan Jiruška, Production and Technical Manager at Solpap. The Czech packaging manufacturer Solpap produces more than 15 million packaging items per year. ‘With this production volume, it is very important for us to minimize rejects and customer complaints due to inaccurate folding,’ says Jiruška.
The precision of the folding is key for producing straight folded edges, which reduces gap variance and fishtailing. As a result, erected cardboard boxes have accurate internal dimensions for precisely fitting inserts. In addition, these cardboards are better for stacking, feeding into the machine, erecting, filling, gluing and closing.
In spring 2023, Solpap received a newsletter from Kaletech, Robatech’s representative in the Czech Republic. «When Kaletech presented the PerfectFold liquid creaser, I knew immediately that this system could be a good fit for us», says Jiří Horák, Head of Sales at Solpap. «We have had a successful collaboration with Kaletech in the field of adhesive application systems from Robatech for many years and have had great experiences. That’s why we asked for a quote in May 2023.»
Solpap is a leading manufacturer of transport and product packaging in the Czech Republic, headquartered in Třebechovice pod Orebem. Every year, the family-owned company ships more than 15 million corrugated and solid cardboard packaging materials around the world.
PerfectFold applies the ‘SpeedUp’ creasing fluid contact-free to the two fold lines of the cardboard using one application head each. The creasing fluid reduces the stiffness of the corrugated cardboard, which is why it can be folded precisely along the fold lines with little effort. This allows the folding box machine to work at a higher production speed. The effort for setting up the folding tools is reduced. No fold breakages occur on the fold lines and gap variance and fishtailing are prevented.
PerfectFold was already in operation at the Czech packaging manufacturer in August 2023. Tomáš Langer, Project Manager at Kaletech, recalls: «We used a scheduled maintenance day at Solpap to install Robatech’s liquid creaser and trained the staff on another day. The system is relatively simple.»
«Since we started using Robatech’s PerfectFold liquid creaser, our customer complaints due to inaccurate folding have fallen by 100%. PerfectFold has fully met our expectations.»
Jiří Horák, Head of Sales Solpap
PerfectFold consists of a supply unit, two Sempre 30 jetting heads, the AS 50 pattern control and an external operating unit with touch panel positioned next to the production line control panel. The pump and buffer tank in the supply unit enable a changeover of the liquid containers on the fly. An I/P converter ensures that the correct amount of liquid is always applied to the fold lines despite changing production speeds.
Milan Jiruška is delighted: «We were surprised at how quickly and easily Kaletech installed PerfectFold. We had to make virtually no adjustments during operation.»
What has been Solpap's experience with PerfectFold in the meantime? Head of Sales Jiří Horák summarizes: «SSince we started using the liquid creaser, our customer complaints due to inaccurate folding have fallen by 100%. In the past, we received the most complaints about boxes made of double-wall cardboard because of the high restoring forces and about large boxes. Imprecise fold lines are immediately evident. When the cardboard boxes are closed, the flaps overlap or there are gaps. Today, the dimensions are consistently accurate. We also no longer receive complaints about cardboard boxes being glued off-position.»
Jiří Horák mentions another additional benefit: «The corrugated cardboard boxes are more stable and our customers are happier. I can truly say that PerfectFold fully met our expectations.»