Manufacturing system with flat-bed and rotary diecutters and method for operating the manufacturing system

Abstract

A manufacturing system for manufacturing folding boxes or labels from a web of printing material, includes a web unwinding device, a flat-bed diecutting and/or stamping/embossing unit disposed downstream thereof, and a product delivery disposed downstream thereof. The flat-bed diecutting and/or stamping/embossing unit is deactivatable and at least one rotary processing module for processing the web of printing material, in particular a rotary diecutting module, is provided between the flat-bed diecutting and/or stamping/embossing unit and the product delivery. This construction of the manufacturing system advantageously allows the planar elements to be processed either by the flat-bed diecutting and/or stamping/embossing unit or by a rotary diecutting module. Thus, the manufacturing system may be operated at high productivity. A method for operating the manufacturing system is also provided.

Claims

1. A method for operating a manufacturing system, the method comprising the following steps: providing a manufacturing system for manufacturing planar elements from a web of printing material, the manufacturing system having: a web unwinding device configured to unwind the web of printing material, a flat-bed unit configured for at least one of diecutting or stamping/embossing by stroking a platen of the flat-bed unit, the flat-bed unit disposed downstream of the web unwinding device and configured to be deactivated by deactivation of the stroking of the platen, a product delivery disposed downstream of the flat-bed unit, and at least one rotary processing module configured to process the web of printing material, the at least one rotary processing module disposed between the flat-bed unit and the product delivery, and the at least one rotary processing module including a rotary diecutting module; and feeding the web of printing material from the flat-bed unit to the at least one rotary processing module.

2. A method for operating a manufacturing system, the method comprising the following steps: providing a manufacturing system for manufacturing planar elements from a web of printing material, the manufacturing system having: a web unwinding device configured to unwind the web of printing material, a flat-bed unit configured for at least one of diecutting or stamping/embossing by stroking a platen of the flat-bed unit, the flat-bed unit disposed downstream of the web unwinding device and configured to be deactivated by deactivation of the stroking of the platen, a product delivery disposed downstream of the flat-bed unit, at least one rotary processing module configured to process the web of printing material, the at least one rotary processing module disposed between the flat-bed unit and the product delivery, and the at least one rotary processing module including a rotary diecutting module and tools having a uniform diameter, and a feed device including a compensator disposed upstream of the flat-bed unit and configured to convert a continuous web movement of the web of printing material into an iterative web movement; feeding the web of printing material from the feed device to the at least one rotary processing module in an iterative web movement; and synchronizing the tools of the at least one rotary processing module and the web of printing material relative to each other.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the tools include at least partially magnetic carrier cylinders for retaining the tools by magnetic force.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

(1) FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic, longitudinal-sectional view of a manufacturing system of the prior art;

(2) FIG. 2 is a longitudinal-sectional view of a first embodiment of a manufacturing system of the invention including two rotary processing modules;

(3) FIG. 3 is a longitudinal-sectional view of a second embodiment of a manufacturing system including three rotary processing modules; and

(4) FIG. 4 is a longitudinal-sectional view of a third embodiment of a manufacturing system of the invention including a web deflection device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(5) Referring now in detail to the figures of the drawings, in which corresponding elements and components are indicated by identical reference symbols and which are not drawn to scale, and first, particularly, to FIG. 1 thereof, there is seen a diagrammatic illustration of a manufacturing system 100 of the prior art including a flat-bed diecutting unit 10. In the illustrated embodiment, the flat-bed diecutting unit 10 includes a flat-bed diecutting module 12 and has a horizontal and modular construction. A web of printing material 24, for example a web of folding boxes printed onto a web of cardboard in an upstream web-fed printing press 8 which may include a web unwinding device, is processed in a processing direction from right to left in this illustration. The web of printing material 24, coming from a web entrance 14, reaches the flat-bed diecutting module 12 in a direction of web travel B through a feed-in device 13. In the flat-bed die-cutting module 12, the web of printing material 24 is cut by a lifting stroke H of a lower platen 28 equipped with diecutting knives and moving against an upper platen 26 in such a way that on one hand, individual sheets are severable from the web of printing material 24 in downstream processing steps and, on the other hand, individual printed products, also referred to as blanks, are stripped from the web of printing material 24 and are separable from each other. The separation into individual sheets is done at the exit of the flat-bed diecutting module 12. The severed sheets travel through a transporting unit 16 disposed downstream of the flat-bed diecutting module 12, enter a stripping unit 18 and enter a blanking unit 20 in which the blanks are separated from the waste and from each other. The blanks are then delivered by a product delivery 22.

(6) FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 illustrate respective manufacturing systems 100 in accordance with the invention. In the embodiment of the manufacturing system 100 of the invention shown in FIG. 2, the flat-bed diecutting unit 10 is deactivated and does not carry out a lifting stroke H. Instead, the web of printing material 24 passes between the upper platen 26 and the lower platen 28 of the flat-bed diecutting module 12 without being processed. A mounting region 30 for rotary tools 31, 32, 33 is located between the flat-bed diecutting unit 10 and the blanking unit 20 with the downstream product delivery 22. In accordance with the illustration of FIG. 2, a rotary diecutting module 31 and a rotary stripping module 33 are provided in this mounting region 30. Thus, the web of printing material 24 is not cut in the flat-bed diecutting module 12 but instead in the rotary diecutting module 31.

(7) In the alternative embodiment of the manufacturing system 100 shown in FIG. 3, three rotary tools have been mounted in the mounting region 30, namely a rotary embossing module 32, a downstream rotary diecutting module 31 and a rotary stripping tool 33.

(8) In contrast to the embodiments of the manufacturing system 100 of the invention described above, in the manufacturing system 100 shown in FIG. 4, the web of printing material 24 does not pass through the flat-bed diecutting module 12. Instead, a respective guide roller 40 is disposed upstream and downstream of the flat-bed diecutting module 12. The web of printing material 24 may be guided around the flat-bed diecutting module 12 by using transport rollers provided in the feed device 13 and at the exit of the flat-bed diecutting unit 10. The deflection causes the web of printing material 24 to be guided from the web entrance 14 into the mounting region 13 for the rotary tools 31, 32, 33 without passing the operating region of the flat-bed diecutting module 12. This allows the flat-bed diecutting module 12 to be set up while the manufacturing system 100 continues to be productive. For example, the machine operator may remove or insert the upper tool and the lower tool of the flat-bed diecutting module and patch up the diecutting knives while the manufacturing system is running.