A precut module with one or more profiling heads and/or circular saws may be provided upstream of a saw module. The precut module may be used to implement a portion of a cut that would otherwise be made by the saw module, thereby reducing the depth of cut required at the saw module. In some embodiments, profiling heads may be used to profile a block that is wider than a desired side board. The block may be cut from the workpiece and sent to the edger. This may provide the same or better wood volume recovery and/or throughput speed than profiling the side board or cutting the side board from a flitch. In some embodiments, cut patterns for the precut module and other machine centers may be calculated and/or selected based on a desired depth of cut at the saw module, desired throughput speed, wood volume recovery, and/or other parameters.

Systems for providing efficient manufacturing of paper, sheet, and/or box products of varying size and structure, often with pre-applied print (“pre-print”), are provided herein. Efficient customer ordering/tracking, job aggregation, print imposition, corrugator planning, and tracking and adjustments throughout the manufacturing process are contemplated. A reel editor is configured to edit the roll based on waste and/or errors that occurred during various manufacturing processes (e.g., during printing). A control plan defining what is on each roll of printed web product may be updated after editing. Depending on the configuration, the reel editor may be integrated with various manufacturing components. The reel editor may be configured to determine if there is enough waste on the roll to even making editing worthwhile, such as based on desired quality of the images, customer requirements, different price points, among other possible factors.

The status of a cutting unit (165a, 165b) in an apparatus for producing packages of liquid food is monitored based on a time sequence of measurement values from a sensor (30), e.g., a pressure transducer, which is arranged to measure cutting resistance for a cutting blade (166a, 166b) in the cutting unit when actuated to perform a cut to sever food-containing packages (106) from each other. The monitoring comprises generating a resistance time profile for the measurement values, detecting at least one predefined feature in the resistance time profile, determining a respective phase value for the predefined feature(s), and determining the status of the cutting unit (165a, 165b) as a function of a set of input values comprising the respective phase value. The status may represent the degree of wear of the cutting blade (166a, 166b).

A sheet material processing unit (10) is described. It comprises an upper tool (18) and a lower tool (14), wherein the upper tool (18) and the lower tool (14) are configured to interact with each other in order to process sheet material (26). Furthermore, a camera unit (40) is provided which is arranged such that it is able to simultaneously capture a portion of the upper tool (18) comprising a first opening (28) and a portion of the lower tool (14) lying behind the first opening (28) for aligning the tools (14, 18). The sheet material processing unit (10) additionally comprises a first and a second set of light sources which are distinct from one another and are configured for subsequently illuminating the portions to be captured. Moreover, methods for assessing an alignment of the upper tool (18) with respect to the lower tool (14) and with respect to the sheet material (26) are presented.

A cutting system for cutting sheets of material can automatically transfer original registration marks or other indicia from one side of the material to an opposite side, in direct alignment with the original registration marks or other indicia. The cutting system includes a cutting station, a feed station, and a registration transfer system between the feed and cutting stations. The registration transfer system includes a camera or other detector that moves in unison with a pen or other marker-type device to respectively detect the original registration marks or other indicia and apply a registration marks or other indicia on the sheets.

A device for processing drinks closure caps having at least one cutting unit with at least one cutting blade and a detection unit which, in turn, has a camera as well as at least one conveying device forming a transport path to and from the cutting unit is disclosed. In order to solve the problems of known devices, the detection unit has an optical system and is arranged operatively downstream of the cutting unit such that it fully captures the inner wall of a drinks closure cap located in its field of vision.

Systems and methods of the present disclosure relate generally to facilitate performing a task on a surface such as woodworking or printing. More specifically, in some embodiments, the present disclosure relates to mapping the surface of the material and determining the precise location of a tool in reference to the surface of a material. Some embodiments relate to obtaining and relating a design with the map of the material or displaying the current position of the tool on a display device. In some embodiments, the present disclosure facilitates adjusting, moving or auto-correcting the tool along a predetermined path such as, e.g., a cutting or drawing path. In some embodiments, the reference location may correspond to a design or plan obtained from obtained via an online design store

The present invention relates to a calibration system (30) and a calibration method for a converting machine (20) provided with a die-cutting tool (18′) and at least one transfer unit (25) for transporting a sheet (1) along a travel path in a direction of conveyance (D) through the converting machine. The calibration system comprising a first image sensor (33), a memory (36) and a control unit (34). The calibration system is configured to detect an actual position of an indicia (42) on the sheet (1) and compare with a reference position of the indicia (42) stored in the memory (36). A correction program stored in the memory is executed when at least one of the longitudinal displacement (Δxi) and the lateral displacement (Δyi) of the indicia exceeds a predetermined tolerance threshold (Txi, Tyi).

A food product slicing apparatus is configured to slice food products into slices. A load assembly pivotally is mounted on a frame and a food product is positioned thereon. A drive assembly on the frame receives the food product from the load assembly and moves the food product relative to the frame. The load assembly can be positioned in at a first, lowered position relative to the drive assembly, a second, partially raised position relative to the drive assembly and a third, fully raised position relative to the drive assembly. The drive assembly engages the food product when the load assembly is in the third, fully raised position.

A food slicing system includes a hub fixedly secured to a drive shaft and configured to rotate with the drive shaft. The hub has a central pilot projection coaxial with the drive shaft, and flat, blade contacting surface surrounding the pilot projection. A counterweight is eccentrically mounted to the hub and rotatable between a first position and an second position relative to the hub. Wherein when the counterweight is in a first position, the counterweight is in axial alignment with pilot projection, and permits the blade to be attached to or removed from the hub via movement of the blade in the axial direction. When the counterweight is in the second position, the counterweight is eccentric to the pilot projection and is offset from the axis of rotation, to provide a predetermined amount of weight offset from the axis of rotation to counterbalance the weight of the blade.