Page 58 - Packaging News Magazine Nov-Dec 2018

58 CASE STUDIES www.packagingnews.com.au November-December 2018
Platypus unpacks new Asian gear
Brisbane printer Platypus Graphics has rebranded to Platypus Print Packaging after expanding its packaging capability with the addition of a new carton erector.
LATYPUS invested in a Winshine 9905D high-output carton erector, supplied through Graph-Pak, at the end of last year. So far, director Tom Lusch has been very pleased with
how it operates. “The new machine’s go- ing well. It’s probably twice as productive as our old one. The service and training have been good, and we’re happy with the
result,” he says.
Lusch made the purchase decision after
accompanying Tom Ralph, managing di- rector of Graph-Pak, and another Austra- lian customer on a trip to Taiwan to see Winshine’s plant in operation.
“Platypus has always been mostly Euro- pean machinery, but of late we opted to go Taiwanese equipment. We find the Tai- wanese gear reliable and strong,” he says.
The carton erector, which folds, glues and re-shapes die-cut cardboard into car- tons suitable for the food industry, has add- ed much-needed production capacity to Platypus’ operations. The machine al- lowed Lusch to push further into the pack- aging space. “We’re putting more empha- sis on the packaging world. The equipment has opened up markets we didn’t have be- fore – without a box erector we couldn’t have done any of this,” says Lusch.
Tom Ralph says Taiwanese kit like this represents a great way for small packaging printers, or even commercial printers look- ing for new revenue streams, to explore a new market for a much lower upfront invest-
ABOVE: The Winshine 9905D high-output carton erector.
LEFT: Seeing for themselves: Tom Lusch, Platypus Graphics (left) with Tom Ralph, Graph-Pak, in Taiwan.
ment than European machinery and with- out having to outsource their operations. “Printers like to print on everything they can, but would have been ruled out of this race before. These days, however, with af- fordable and reliable equipment coming out of Taiwan, commercial and packaging print- ers can enter – and be competitive in – mar- kets they couldn’t before,” Ralph says. ■
A breath of fresh air for wine
An Indian winery has turned to compressed air solutions from Elgi to automate its production processes, praising their speedy and high-quality output.
SULA Wines, which operates two wineries in Karnataka and Maharashtra, sells more than 20 varieties of wines and has a total capacity of 12 million litres. It employs Elgi compressed air technology across the winemaking process, from harvesting to bottling. “Compressed air helps Sula main- tain the quality and speed of production to meet the demands of a growing business,” says Tom Fyfe, president of Elgi Australia.
“The harvested grapes are sorted and then taken to the winery where they are de-stemmed and crushed with the help of pneumatic equipment.
“Filling machines are also powered by pneumatic valves with compressed air to lift the bottle and fill it to the desired limit. The filled bottles are then transported through a conveyor belt to another section where the bottle caps are closed through a pneumatic operation,” he says.
A Sula representative gave Elgi’s prod- ucts, which the company has used for 15 years, a thumbs-up, saying they ensure high quality processes. “With these com- pressors, we can speed up production, mi- nimise waste and ensure we get the same
quality product in every batch of wine we produce at the winery.”
Elgi recently purchased Australian company FR Pulford and Son, along with its wholly-owned subsidiary Ad- vanced Air Compressors. According to
Fyfe, Australia exports more than 750 million litres per year, with only 40 per cent of Austra- lian wine production consumed domestically. He believes auto- mation, especially with com- pressed air, is a good way to ensure accuracy and speed in wine production.
“We are here to serve the market by delivering exceptional service matched by high quality products. Our compressed air and on-site nitrogen generation is well-known in Australia,” he says. ■