CTP flexibles, the Cape Town-based and leading South African converter of flexible packaging materials, will be making an exciting start to the New Year 2012 with the arrival and installation of three 1,350mm wide Titan ER610 compact slitter rewinders. The first Titan slitter will be installed during January with the second and third machines following closely behind.

Recently, CTP flexibles has seen a dramatic increase in its customer base and also in the demand for its flexible packaging materials, so much so that its slitting capacity has been placed under tremendous pressure – hence the decision to invest in three new Titan ER610 slitters.

"With the three new Titan slitters we will have ample capacity to cope with both current demand and also future expansion of our business," commented Gary Seale, managing director of the company. "We had already installed one 1,650mm and one 1,350mm wide Titan ER610 slitter during 2010, which gave us every confidence to invest again with Titan," he confirmed. "For our production requirements, this slitter really is the perfect solution."

CTP flexibles manufactures specialised plastic extrusion and flexible packaging for the food, beverage, confectionery, industrial and general merchandise industries. With leading technology and as part of Caxton & CTP Publishers & Printers, the company has been producing and converting packaging for South Africa’s blue chip companies since 1971.

"We produce everything here," Gary Seale explained. "We extrude high-density, low-density and linear low-density polyethylene films and produce cast polypropylene films. We also manufacture a comprehensive range of sophisticated products – from laminations, multi-layer films and shrink films to bags, pouches and shrink sleeves."

The Titan ER610 compact slitter rewinder has been a great success worldwide for Atlas Converting Equipment with sales of more than 100 machines worldwide. It is available in two web widths – 1,350mm and 1,650mm (53in and 65in) – with a maximum rewind diameter of 610mm (24in). It also features a 10in touch-screen control system and an integral edge-trim extraction system. The pneumatically controlled braking system provides accurate web tension control and a digital edge-guide system controls lateral movement of the unwind reel to +/- 50mm (2in).

Slitting systems available include shear knives, rotary razor (burst) or razor slitting in air or groove. Optional features include an anti-static control system, laser (line) core positioning and a new option for shaftless unwind roll pick-up from floor. This option is included in the technical configuration of the three Titan ER 610 slitters for CTP flexibles and will also be retro-fitted to the two existing Titan ER610 models installed last year.

The Titan ER610 slitter can process a wide range of flexible materials including plain, printed, coated or metallized film from 20 to 200 micron, a wide range of laminates and paper from 30 to 200 gsm at speeds up to 450m/min (1,500ft/min). The minimum slit width can be as narrow as 25mm (approximately 1in).