Controlling a corrugating machine…

The Vokkero® communication system has once again convinced professionals working in extremely noisy conditions. At Smurfit Kappa, corrugating machine operators have permanently adopted it.

The Vokkero® communication system has once again convinced professionals working in extremely noisy conditions. At Smurfit Kappa, corrugating machine operators have permanently adopted it.

Corrugating machines are extremely sophisticated machines used to manufacture cardboard packaging. They are true production lines in themselves.

To operate they require the intervention of several operators working from clearly defined workstations:

• “Single face” (2 people) and “double face” operators have the task of loading / removing the paper reels, checking their progress and gluing and setting the machine parameters.
• The “cutter control” operator’s task is to take regular samples during production, to check the quality of the sheets (dimensions, bonding, etc.) and to ask the machine operators to adjust the parameters.
• The “general control post” operator checks the machine’s parameters, checks the quality of the cardboard manufactured and sends instructions to the operators.
• The “forklift truck driver” takes the reels of paper to the single/double operators according to manufacturing need.

All of them, irrespective of their posts need to communicate with their colleagues.

However, corrugating machines are extremely noisy. After testing a great number of solutions that were ineffective under these conditions, Smurfit Kappa decided to equip them with Vokkero® radio communication systems.

Thanks in particular to a high-performance noise filter, operators can now speak to each other clearly and intelligibly.

Equipped with microphone headsets coupled with moulded hearing protectors, they understand each other’s instructions simultaneously without any difficulty, carrying out all the operations linked to their workstations, hands free and calmly.

Thanks to Vokkero®, the operators of Smurfit Kappa’s corrugating machines can synchronise their tasks perfectly, thus ensuring their safety and that the cardboard manufacturing process runs smoothly.