Dairi-Pak upgrade design facilities - 14/11/2007

Following the installation of the latest Series 6 sample table, independent sheet plant Dairi-Pak have been reaping the benefits of upgrading to a faster and more efficient sample service. In any sheet plant there is always a pressing urgency for samples, be they design modifications at the eleventh hour, the need for 20 off for a transit trial, or the old chestnut ‘we need it yesterday’ just because packaging is the last thing the customer has thought of.

In the rural setting of Ruyton XI Towns, Shropshire, Dairi-Pak are no different, supplying quality packaging enclosures to a wide range of customers both small and large. Specialising in packaging for food and dairy, the company is often under pressure to keep up with the demand of sample making and design solution control as Operations Director – Ian Ford explains. “It is not unusual for us to design for complex packaging solutions. Often rationalisation projects and bulk pack shippers, composite packaging for industrial transit units, display units and sometimes just plain weird.”

Rising to the task, Design Manager Graham Welsby has always been pragmatic about the range of design work being fed through the system and sees every job as a challenge. “Whatever there is to do, we just get on with it and do it. We have the resources and the skills to resolve any packaging brief with our flexible manufacturing infrastructure.”

The brand new, top of the range KM626H table was commissioned by AG/CAD in June 2007. Since then, the table has rarely been out of work producing an enormous quantity of samples to exceptional quality standards. “We have been astounded at the difference the new table makes to our workflow. The bottleneck that was once the creation of quality samples has simply gone which has had a massive impact on our service capability.” Graham has also found a more productive channel for creative development. “Being able to turn around high quality samples quickly allows us to experiment with design solutions in ways that were simply not practical when waiting an age on samples, hand cutting or outsourcing – all these issues have been cleared away with one sweep.”

Tough, tungsten carbide blades are combined with digital servomotors and precision motion control. The result is an incredibly smooth, high-speed cut that’s accurate and able to zip though double wall as quickly as paper, plastic and card. With a cutting size of 1.6 x 2.5m, the table is big enough to cope with large format RSC’s and precise enough for intricate micro-flute die-cuts.

Managing Director, Tim Gray, is delighted with the installation. “Having increased our design capacity, we are able to provide an improved service facility to our customers and relieve some of the pressure on design services. Our customers recognise the importance of quality design, never more so seen in our response to the demand for shelf ready packaging. Our new facility has been a solid investment for the future of the business.”