Paper Recycling Systems — Waste Not, Want Money
G.F. Puhl is a full-service engineering and manufacturing company that serves the printing and corrugated industries. Puhl is also an OEM representative for a number of equipment suppliers.
There isn’t any one empirical solution or a Cadillac system that all printers should strive to attain. Roger Williams, sales manager for American Baler, points out that the optimal waste paper system should cater to the manufacturing layout of a given company.
“Local building codes, neighborhood restrictions and traffic patterns inside (the printer’s) building all play a part in how the system is designed,” he states. “The most common mistake is undersizing the equipment and then discovering its inability to perform properly.”
Key Baler Attributes
According to Williams, the notable selling points of the baler are speed, force and customization of the programs. Force enables the printer to get more material in a bale, reducing wire and handling costs. A customized baler can control different aspects of the entire operation. Components start and stop based on fee rate, he adds, and can be shut down during slow periods, lowering utility costs.
Although American Baler manufactures just the baler, it is often contracted by printers to provide turnkey solutions. Virtually all of the companies listed here work with one another to provide pieces to the puzzle.
As puzzles go, these paper recycling systems are incredibly intricate. Bob Zacary, president of Air Systems Design, notes that most printers do not have the engineering background to understand pneumatic conveying; there are principles to air flow and how the mechanics of the system work. Often, they rely on sheet metal shops, which generally do not have the latest technology, he says.
“Since there is a lack of knowledge, printers often purchase based on the price they can afford,” Zacary says. “The result, most of the time, is a system that has dust issues and plugs often, causing downtime on the production equipment. Paying employees to unplug pipes each week also comes out of their profit.”
