The DRUPA fair, scheduled (and then deleted) in June 2020, should have been the stage for the world premiere of the latest born in BIMEC: BBOX.
The new machine comes from an evolution of the TCA 64 E. It is an innovative slitter rewinder, which reflects the ongoing evolution of technology and the company.
Right from the choice of the name, the company wanted to declare the greatest innovation of the machine: the compact structure that allows to create a machine that can achieve maximum efficiency and productivity while maintaining all the features that already distinguish every Bimec machine on the market, which are the simplicity of use, versatility, structural compactness, ergonomic and the right price.
Like the previous TCA 64 E, BBOX is an automatic change slitter with separate unwinder, overhead web path and winding inside the bridge, but the news is the addition and integration of fully automatic and semi-automatic technical solutions, introduced to decrease downtimes between each work cycle.
From a careful analysis of similar machines on the market, it emerged that their great production efficiency was only affected by the downtimes necessary for loading the new cores, restarting, unloading, and palletizing the finished reels. These steps forced the operators to decrease the working speed to keep up with the pace of the machine.
On the market, this “minus” was obviated, in some automated slitters by technical solutions that speed up these processes but the automatisms they are equipped with are rigid and expensive in addition to the fact that their integration into handling solutions requires an accurate study of logistics and large spaces around the cutter.
The new BBOX is space-saving, complete handling lines require months of logistical, installation, and start-up studies while BBOX can be placed in small spaces and managed compactly. With other solutions, any job variation (reel size, sealing of finished reels) involves a long and sometimes impossible machine setup, the setup times of BBOX are faster. Its versatility and automatic operation make it convenient also from an economic point of view.
The particular configuration and integration of the new devices allowing the operator to be in the unloading position for most of the time, let him takes care of the packaging phase of the reels while keeping the main areas of the machine under control: unwinder, winding, and unloading.
The new BBOX will be presented to the whole world very soon: BIMEC is preparing a great digital event dedicated to all those interested in the new machine or, in general, in the rest of the product range. It is undeniable that the global health situation, made critical by the Covid-19 Pandemic, has complicated and sometimes damaged our work.
Like many other companies, in Italy and anywhere else, Bimec did not waste time remaining inactive, but immediately began to strengthen new tools and define new procedures to be always operational, effective, next to you as much as possibile.
As a matter of fact, as often happens during a crisis, the innovations we have introduced or the procedures that we have strengthened are a real improvements destined to last, even when the Pandemic will be over.
“We have reorganized and improved the remote assistance and testing service on our machines, reducing travel and optimizing time and costs. We have prepared new digital communication tools (including zoom events and calls through online platforms) that allow us to improve exchanges between colleagues and to be always close to customers, providing information but also anticipations and news. We have raised our standards of safety at work, introducing new distancing procedures for the protection of workers and all visitors.
We have tried to introduce not only a system of rules but to promote a real evolution of the company culture, supporting the knowledge of what keeps us safe.
Yes, because we do not want to give up on this. It is true that the new digital communication tools will remain operational in the future, but we hope to integrate them with the exchange and lineup that only a physical meeting can give. For us this is particularly important to allow you to touch, even with your own hands, our work”, comments Elena Bottoli of Bimec.
