Mumbai-based SP Ultraflex’s participation at the 2018 edition of Plastindia was the third time the company was exhibiting at India’s flagship show for plastics and packaging. At Plastindia 2018, the company gave a live demonstration of its most basic slitter rewinder PRIMASLIT FL and the latest version of ROBOSLIT—the ROBOSLIT plus. With the introduction of ROBOSLIT plus, the series now has four variants: ROBOSLIT plus, ROBOSLIT RL (Rear Loading), ROBOSLIT OHP (Overhead Path) and ROBOSLIT FSU (Free Standing Unwind).
During the show, the focus for SP Ultraflex was also to show visitors the evolution of ROBOSLIT Dual Turret Slitter Rewinder since it was first launched in 2012. The showstopper at the SP Ultraflex stand was the ROBOSLIT plus, which ran at its maximum speed of 1000 meters per minute.
“Ours was one of the few stands at Plastindia where the machine ran at its maximum speed. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, never has a slitter rewinder been run at 1000 meters per minute at any expo at the international level as well,” says Biku Kohli, managing director, SP Ultraflex.
Kohli stresses that to make the ROBOSLIT plus run at its full speed of 1000 meters per minute for more time and get maximum mileage out of the high speed, the automation division of the company has successfully managed to shorten both the ramp up and ramp down times to 45 seconds. Needless to say, such fast acceleration and de-acceleration requires an extremely precise and responsive tension control system at both unwind and rewind ends, apart from a very sturdy and mechanically sound machine, in order to retain the stability and alignment of the substrate and avoid vibrations usually associated with such high speeds.
Talking about the response received at Plastindia, Kohli says that the company was able to book four orders for its PRIMASLIT FL at the expo. The company also got some serious inquiries for the ROBOSLIT plus, and is bullish about some of them converting soon.
“Quite a few inquiries were received for the ROBOSLIT plus and we expect this machine to join the mainstream sooner than foreseen. We are targeting our current customers as well as new customers for the ROBOSLIT plus. Given the premium nature of this model, we can see a lot of discerning customers opting for this machine instead of a European brand,” he says.
Kohli shares that six ROBOSLIT slitter rewinders are under manufacture and will be supplied to customers by the middle of this year.
Not only did SP Ultraflex have a healthy footfall at its PLASTINDIA stand, the company was also awarded exhibitor’s award for the best stand.
Exhibiting the ROBOSLIT Plus overseas
With the launch of the fully loaded ROBOSLIT plus, SP Ultraflex now rubs shoulders with leading European brands, prompting them to turn their vision to international events as
well.“We are very keen to show this machine at a premium international event soon. We have not taken a final decision, but it will be either interpack or K or even drupa,” he informs.
