Industry
Paper
Application
Endlessing belts in a paper plant
Product
Novitool® Aero® Portable Splice Press
Objectives
Reduce downtime
Increase splice quality
Conveyor Detail
Eight different types of belts are used in the plant
Problem:
A paper plant in the U.S. had long been vulcanizing their belts using a water-cooled press. The belts were brought in skived and ready, but still took three hours to cook. The maintenance crew at the plant set aside the first Tuesday of every month to splice since it was a day-long process, which cut into their production time and their bottom line. The splices were also not lasting very long and the splicing process was very labor intensive.
Solution:
A new plant manager was hired and was eager to try new methods to save time and produce quality splices. He offered Flexco the opportunity to create recipes for the eight types of belts in the plant using the Novitool® Aero® Portable Splice Press. During the demonstration, the manager watched the simple splicing steps. They hit the start button and went for a cup of coffee. Before he even returned from his coffee break, the belt was done. When he took the belt out of the press, he could not believe the quality splice that was generated in such a short period of time. In total, the splice took 13 minutes from set-up to completion.
Result:
The results were enough for the plant manager to decide to switch to the Aero Press. Knowing that the Aero Press would mean less downtime, require less manpower to carry and set up the equipment, and produce consistent, quality splices was enough to justify the purchase. The facility now orders belts pre-punched with fingers and completes splices in a fraction of the time, not requiring a full day of downtime.