FlexoTech - Key Article TPMM, Michal Lodej.
Downtimes are the bugbear of every flexo printer across the globe and change over times play a huge part in determining how long the press will stand idle. This is why efficient plate mounting is crucial to a slick flexo operation.
Plate mounting systems today are filled with features to help limit errors in the mounting process and to protect the operators from work place ailments such as repetitive strain injury.
BiesSse has designed the TPMM (Tape and Plate Mounting Machine), a compact machine capable of mounting 75 sleeves, each of them with tape and five plates in an eight-hour working shift.
With the TPMM mounting operations are fully automatic: sleeves measurement, liner removal, tape cutting, tape and plate mounting, final inspection.
The automatic tape mounting guarantees a perfect tension, position and alignment of the tape and an even and calibrated pressure, as not to create bubbles or streaks. The mounter can use any type of plate, even with bent edges, because of a composite guiding system and a special device which picks up the plate, takes it to the working area and keeps it perfectly flat during de-codification and plate check operations (using RFID, QR code, barcode). The information is recognised by the mounter and compared with those present in production management software. If the operator loads the plate, moves it and puts it the other way round, the system spots the wrong orientation and repositions it correctly. The plates can be loaded in any order as the unit always positions itself on the first free drawer and the system is able to select the ones required.
Once the plate is identified, the machine picks it up, moves it and puts it in the perfect position for installation. The TPMM uses PRT (Pressure Roller Trolley to exert a uniform pressure on the entire sleeve (incrementally from 0 to 9 bar), to eliminate bubbles even in highly detailed graphics.