Redevelopment of the CTP flexibles Cape Town site has resulted in a 5,000m2 slitting hall where seven of the ten slitter rewinders are Titan machines

In recent years CTP flexibles, the Cape Town-based and leading South African converter of flexible packaging materials, has achieved dramatic expansion of its business. In 2010, the company installed a new eight colour Fischer & Krecke FP16-S flexo printing press and, in order to cope with the increased printing capacity, it also installed two Titan ER610 compact slitter rewinders – one 1,650mm and one 1,350mm-wide machine.

Further increases in production to serve its expanding ‘blue chip’ customer base led to the addition of three more 1,350mm-wide Titan ER610s during the first few months of 2012. This brought the total number of Titan ER610 slitter rewinders at CTP flexibles to five machines – and seven Titan slitters in total, if two older machines are included.

"We are enjoying record sales and now operating 24/7," explained Gary Seale, managing director of the company. "With the five new Titan ER610 slitters we now have ample capacity to cope with both current demand and also future expansion of our business. Having installed the two Titan slitters during 2010, we had every confidence to invest again with Titan," he confirmed. "For our production requirements, these slitters really are the perfect solution."

CTP flexibles manufactures specialised plastic extrusion and flexible packaging materials mainly for the food, beverage and confectionery industries. The company is part of the CTP / Caxton group and has been producing high quality flexible packaging since 1971.

"We produce everything here," Gary Seale added. "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, multilayer films and shrink films to bags, pouches and shrink sleeves."

The Titan ER610 compact slitter rewinder has been a great success, with sales of more than 100 machines worldwide. It has a maximum rewind diameter of 610mm (24in), a ten inch touchscreen 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 +/- 50 mm (two inches). The minimum slit width can be as narrow as 25mm (approx. one inch) at speeds up to 450 m/min (1,500 ft/min).

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 an option for shaftless unwind roll pick-up from the floor, which is included on all five Titan ER610 slitters commissioned at CTP flexibles.