Game Changers Smooth Banknote Production

Ergonomics and automation are well-known terms these days. But where does the banknote industry stand in these areas? Do printworks have to address both areas, which benefit employees and companies alike?

Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions (K&B) certainly thinks so, with the announcement that it has developed three game-changing new solutions to automate one particular aspect of banknote production that is mainly manual and imposes heavy physical strains on employees – namely substrate handling.

The first solution is the company’s reel sheeter, which it says fundamentally changes the way machines are fed by replacing piles with reels. This small conversion has a number of benefits, from avoiding pre-counting and pre-stacking to allowing much more efficient storage, and results in fast payback thanks to savings of up to 20% of substrate prices.

With up to 45,000 sheet non-stop operations and precise cutting by register or pre-determined sheet length, productivity is increased compared to sheetfed operation and labour can be reduced.

K&B has also invented a pallet lifting device to address the issue of pile preparation. With simple height adjustment and posture friendly pallet lifting, employee health is protected, says the company.

Maintenance is also reduced thanks to an electric drive instead of a hydraulic one. The system is available as a new module or as a retrofit to existing pre-stacking devices.

Automatic sheet handling with SASHa

And then there is SASHa, which stands for ‘System for Automatic Sheet Handling’.

This new system manages the full preparation of piles prior to processing in a printing machine by gripping stacks, automating the unblocking and aeration of piles. Health and safety is also increased through the elimination of heavy lifting for pile preparation.

Thanks to a movement pattern modelled by a human being, K&B says that the system ensures the best possible breaking and airing of the layers for all substrates, whether polymer, cotton or hybrid. With its embedded laser scanning and multiple servo-axis, SASHa constantly analyses the pile shape and adapts the gripper handling accordingly, ensuring full process control.

In terms of productivity, K&B claims that, allowing a 24/7 operation and a speed of up to 18,000 sheets/hour, its pile preparation capacity is both enormous and unique in the market.

Furthermore, with its reduced footprint and an easy-to-use interface (similar to that on a smartphone), it can be operated without extensive training.

According to K&B, at a time when cost control over operations is increasing, when the quest for efficiency and zero waste policy are on the priority list, its new solutions can automate the work of between 8-16 people doing non-added value and unhealthy work, per printing line and per shift in a typical printworks.

‘Both ergonomics and automation have proven to bring many advantages whenever they are implemented, from increasing efficiency and productivity to reducing discomfort and cost, including improving quality and reliability’, said Dragan Dragoz, Product Manager for K&B.

‘Moreover, these new solutions are yet another demonstration that Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions truly focuses its energy on finding solutions for you throughout the entire value chain of banknote production from design, pre-press, printing, logistics and much more’.