2016 was a year of significant investment for Jamestrong Packaging.
Following the opening of its $10 million dedicated infant formula can production line at its Kyabram, Victoria manufacturing plant (see PKN, July-Aug 2016), the company has successfully installed its new $13 million KBA MetalStar 3 printing press and a $250,000 computer-to-plate system at its Milperra, New South Wales plant.
“Under our new owners [Shanghai Yuanlong Investment company Ltd] we have embarked on an investment strategy intended to generate long-term growth for our business in the Asia-Pacific region,” Jamestrong managing director John Bigley said.
“We believe these major, focused investments demonstrate that we are committed to industry best practice and to offering leading product quality and service,” he said.
“We are sourcing equipment, people and infrastructure that will ensure our customers’ needs are anticipated and their expectations surpassed well into the future.
"With respect to metal decoration I don’t just refer to our traditional can customers but we may also look at future contract metal printing possibilities with our new installed capacity," Bigley told PKN.
The 8-deck metal printing press, touted as the fastest of its kind in the world, is in the commissioning phase and is expected to be fully on-stream by the second quarter of 2017.
Like Jamestrong’s infant formula can production line in Kyabram, the KBA MetalStar 3 printer has been installed in a purpose-built facility with the capability to operate in a ‘red line’ positive air-pressure environment – equivalent to the HEPA3 air filtration used by fillers in their production environments.
“The printing investment has been a long time in the making,” project director & Jamestrong technical director Andrew Buchan said.
“We have been looking to invest in this technology for many years, even back in the Amcor days, but we are very pleased that we have finally been able to execute our printing strategy,” Buchan added.
“As we near completion of this project we are becoming more and more certain that operating the KBA technology will give us a real competitive advantage.”
Indeed, during recent trials at Jamestrong, the press has exceeded expectations. Jobs that previously took four passes can now be achieved in a single pass, according to Jamestrong Milperra print manager Tim Bright.
“With our older metal printers we used to put about 500 finished sheets on the floor in an hour,” Bright said. “Now with the MS3 press we think that figure per hour will increase to 4000 finished sheets.
“If you multiply that by hours we can have the machine in production potentially 24-hours per day, six days per week – that’s a phenomenal potential output.”
Once it's operational, the press will produce non-food grade cans in the interim while the company confirms food-grade certification and validation for the line, which can take up to three months.
Milperra Manufacturing manager Greg Bessant said that Jamestrong is making a large investment in specialist staff recruitment and operator training before full production can commence.
“We have brought three full-time specialist KBA operators into the business who are sharing their knowledge with our existing operators and vice-versa. All 20 of our print staff will have completed operator training by Q2 2017.”
Bessant said the team at the Milperra plant is looking forward to bringing the MetalStar 3 printer to full capacity. “The extra flexibility it offers is going to be a huge benefit for us and our customers,” he said.
