SCA Hygiene Australasia (SCA HA) Consumer division’s manufacturing site in Box Hill, Victoria, is a hygiene solutions company. They are manufacturing and marketing a number of leading household brands including Sorbent, Purex, Handee, Deeko, Hygenex, Treasures, Libra, TENA and Orchid. Employing about 1700 people, SCA HA operates across seven manufacturing, production and converting facilities - three in Australia, three in New Zealand and one in Fiji.

SCA HA engaged FlexLink Systems to design a system to transport and reorientate household towels from the wrapping machine to the bundler. “Our previous system relied on gravity and air to change direction of travel. This sometimes caused problem explained Gary Wood, Senior Development Engineer. 

Diverting on the fly
The new solution had to be flexible enough to handle a multiplicity of roll dimensions and packaging formats. “We produce a wide variety of household towel and really needed a system that could accommodate all of our products”, explained Gary Wood. To meet the capacity requirements of the new machines, the company also needed to increase production rates without causing instability or damaging the product. 

Working closely with SCA HA engineers, FlexLink developed a layout concept to match their client’s needs and available space. The project involved the installation and commissioning of a fully enclosed dynamic diverter. The diverter accelerates and separates the flow of rolls from the wrapping machine and distributes them evenly between the input lanes of the bundler. Up to five output lanes can be employed, depending on bundle size and configuration. Rolls are diverted ‘on the fly’ eliminating the need to clamp or accumulate products. 

The resulting reduction in conveyor speed and accumulation areas minimizes the risk of damage to the product while optimising machine up time. This enabled SCA HA to increase their capacity to up to 220 packs per minute, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

Increased floor space
Another important design feature of the project was FlexLink’s double ‘wedge’ system, the absence of which was previously costing unnecessary and expensive downtime. The double wedge conveyor gently elevates and upends packs 90 degrees to ensure the correct orientation for the bundler. As well as solving the reorientation problem, FlexLink were able to create more floor space. By raising the packaging line, operators and maintenance staff had safe, easy access to the production area. 

The flexibility of the application has enabled SCA Hygiene Australia’s Consumer Box Hill plant more efficient use of their production machinery, employees and premises.