Crews at the Rigid Containers Limited plant in Desborough, Northamptonshire have broken the world production record for a BOBST FFG 618 Quatro casemaker twice within a matter of days. The achievements were marked by BOBST this week with the presentation of commemorative plaques at the plant.
The BOBST FFG 618 Quatro used for the record breaking runs has only been installed at Rigid Containers Desborough plant since July this year. During operator training by BOBST UK Instructor Andy Colley, the three teams chosen to run the machine became determined to beat the official BOBST world production record for an FFG 618 Quatro.
This stood at 183,000 feeds in an eight hour shift and had been set at a plant in the United States. At the end of September, a team from Desborough's 'B' shift led by cell leader Pete Smith, broke that record by achieving 186,550 feeds in one shift. The crew, consisting of Stan Morkunas and Roman Czelaga, with additional help from Rimantus Jakutavicius and Karol Ciesla, carried out four sets during the record run and produced 64,818 m2 of product.
Just over a week later, a crew from the plant's 'A' shift beat their colleagues' record by producing 204,000 feeds in eight hours. Led by Andy Crook, the team of Rimantus Jakutavicius, Steve Filson and Mike Cowley lost only seven minutes of production time throughout the entire shift and achieved net production of 25,500 boxes per hour, just 500 boxes an hour off the maximum possible running speed of the machine.
BOBST this week presented the plant with two commemorative plaques to record the achievements. A Platinum Box award recognised the achievement of the 'B' shift, while a Double Diamond Box award was presented to the plant in recognition of 'A' shift being the current world record holders for BOBST FFG 618 Quatro production. The BOBST FFG 618 Quatro is the benchmark mini-line casemaker for retail ready packaging manufacture, offering high running speeds, quick set-ups and fast changeovers. The line at Desborough has been fitted with a BOBST FFG PALLETIZER which further enhances the productivity of the FFG 618.
Richard Coward, Managing Director of Rigid Containers, said, "The whole manufacturing team at Desborough are to be congratulated, especially the crews for their dedication and teamwork. Les Swanick, our Site Director, Darren Melville, our Conversion Manager, and Andy Colley, the BOBST FFG instructor, have worked closely together to bring the local team through their training and this has given them the tools to help them produce this amazing performance."
Paul Walters from BOBST said, "This achievement follows well co-ordinated management of the overall project by both Rigid and ourselves, from the installation of the line by Bobst Lyon technicians - working closely with Ian Constable, the Engineering Manager at Rigid - to the training program delivered by Andy Colley from BOBST UK & Ireland. The plant's ability to break the record twice in such a short space of time reflects the dedication, commitment and enthusiasm of the management and operators at Desborough, who wanted to get the machine running to its maximum production capability as soon as it was commissioned. Our Services team, and Andy Colley in particular, have built up a superb relationship with the plant and this has been a vital element in the achievement of two record breaking runs in this short space of time."
