THE DATA FRONT

Labels&Labeling |33
The Karlville and Nilpeter teams
in front of the ProCombi
Karlville makes its move
Danielle Jerschefske reveals details of Karlville’s expansion into the narrow web slitter rewinder market
‘We see a niche and plan to capitalize on it,’ says Raul Matos,
vice president for Karlville Development LLC. ‘Many of our
shrink finishing customers are also in need of narrow web
slitters that can handle modern, tricky films. So, we decided to
utilize our combined experiences in film and wide web slitting to
bring reliable, and well serviced, film and label slitting machines
to the narrow web market.’ Working with Webcontrol (see
boxout), Karlville has offered wide web slitting and rewinder
machines (1-1.6m) for five years. Meanwhile in the last eight
years, the company has installed over 400 shrink sleeve
finishing systems.
“We think there is a great opportunity
to take a dominant position in Latin
America. This is our first goal”
Technology
Karville’s new 350mm wide KSI ProLabel slitter rewinder
operates at speeds up to 300m/min, using two AC vector
motors for both the nip and rewind. Its unwind comes with a
magnetic brake to ensure accurate tension ranges for such
complex applications using PET and PE liners. Matos explains,
‘The strategy for this model is mass production, offering the
best value and most standard options available in the market.
Similar to our shrink sleeve models, the KSI Pro models will be
manufactured and sold “fully loaded”.’
The KSI ProCombi slitter rewinder has been specially
engineered for flexible packaging applications and is available
in wider 450mm and 650mm web widths. This model has four
AC vector motors for the nip, unwind and dual bi-directional
rewinds. Its tension controls are fully automatic and it comes
with a dancer on the unwind for flagging errors without slowing
production. Additionally, ‘quick changeover’ rewind shafts allow
varied tension controls for difficult flexible packaging and film
label materials.
Both KSI Pro models are outfitted with a programmable
logic controller and a touch screen interface that corresponds
with a ‘smart’ controller. This controller includes proprietary
software written for accurate label counting, multi-lane missing
label detection, flag detection and matrix waste calculations.
An automatic fault positioning management system gives
a label repeat length detection of .005inches. Both models
also offer a motorized slitting cartridge with interchangeable
shearing knives so customers with current market machines
are able to use existing tooling. ‘It’s simple yet an important
way for the industry to consider Karville rewinding machines,’
Matos says.
Webcontrol history
Raul Matos and John Price started Karlville twelve years ago,
introducing a shrink sleeve product line. In 2006, the company moved
into the application side of the business and currently has a tech and
service center in Leon, France. Webcontrol in Taiwan, a recognized
Karlville partner that helped the lead the company into the slitter/
rewinder market, manufactures all Karlville equipment. Webcontrol and
Karlville recently completed construction of its new 200,000 square foot
manufacturing site in Asia.
may 2009 | L&L