Business View Magazine | November 2019

99 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2019 M iddleborough, MA might sound like an unlikely setting for the headquarters of Butler Automatic, the inventor and global leader of web splicing technology. But against the backdrop of historic New England, amidst the apple orchards and quaint colonial buildings, the future of packaging is unquestionably unfolding. At the family-owned business in the heart of Plymouth County, a team of engineers is busy brainstorming automatic splicing fixes that could wipe out roll change downtime and give packaging lines a big boost in Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). OEE is the benchmark measuring the efficiency and utilization of a factory’s assets. It’s an industry best practice to consistently strive for improvements in this metric because OEE identifies all preventable waste and productivity losses tied to manufacturing equipment. In this regard, Butler’s SP1 Automatic Roll splicer – one of three available product models – is an impactful solution that meets those needs. The Butler SP1 splicer automatically splices a new roll of film to an expiring roll in a typical pouching or bagging production line, eliminating roll change downtime and adding that gained time to overall packaging line output. The 2020 SP1 model features improved screen graphics that enhance visual feedback on process and recovery instructions, making operation and problem recovery easier for operators. The machine also comes newly outfitted with a Width Adaptive Vacuum Effectiveness (WAVE) Prep Bar, a proprietary technology that corrects web edge curl and eliminates variable web width adjustments. This, truly, is the future of roll splicing technology and with more than 2,000 splicing solutions on packaging applications alone, Butler Automatic is already well ahead of the game. “We were the first to develop splicers,” reveals Company President, Butler Au Redefining the packaging line