Middleborough, Massachusetts-based Butler Automatic has launched a new register sensor for its SP1 Automatic Film Splicer, a machine used to print packaged goods labels. The enhanced sensor can more precisely control the splice position of the machine, supposedly minimising the waste of film packaging, according to Butler Automatic. By more accurately controlling the splice position, the need to readjust the plastic film is reduced and this where the new sensor can help cut waste.
New and improved
Butler Automatic has also reworked the software that controls its SP1 Automatic Film Splicer to make it more user-friendly. One of the key changes in the software is that machine operators now have flexibility in changing the splice position of the machine so that it can produce packaging film of different sizes. In the new machine, users just need to enter an offset value on an integrated touchscreen that controls the sensor. In older models, operators had to adjust the sensor between manufacturing film of different lengths. In addition to saving waste here, production time is optimised by the simplified controls for using the machine, the business has claimed.
Butler added its new register sensor offers a “wider range” of sensory capabilities and has been proven in tests to be better at distinguishing similar colour hues. This gives manufacturers using Butler’s splicer the ability to print across the full width of plastic film, even when the print design is similar in colour to the black register marks that line the plastic film.
Butler Automatic claims to the largest manufacturer of automatic slicing equipment for the food and pharmaceutical markets.