Fine Cigarettes Push China
Innovative machines developed to answer demand from fine cigarettes
The rapid development of fine cigarettes in China in recent years has brought higher requirements to domestic cigarette manufacturers in device segmentation.
By TobaccoChina Online
From the 1980s onwards, China has developed a batch of cigarette making and filter assembling equipment with independent intellectual property rights through the combination of technology and trade, and re-innovation after introducing and absorbing foreign advanced cigarette making and filter assembling technology. However, no equipment is specifically designed for the production of fine cigarettes. Most cigarette factories perform the replacement and adjustment of spare parts on existing equipment during the development of alien cigarette products. However, the overall flexibility of existing medium and high-speed equipment is not strong enough, especially when the cigarette brands or specifications need to be adjusted and the existing models cannot achieve fast conversion. As a result, general issues such as cumbersome operations, long periods, and high costs arise in parts replacement and equipment adjustment.
Therefore, industrial cigarette enterprises are increasingly demanding fine cigarette equipment. In order to meet the market demand and provide equipment and service guarantee for the development of fine cigarettes, the Chinese tobacco machine enterprises quickly responded to market demand, actively providing domestic enterprises with fine cigarette equipment as well as customized services for their individual needs. They have provided timely and effective technical equipment support and protection for the industry to create new economic highlights.
Enhanced R&D to Solve Technical Problems
Each design of fine cigarettes by industrial enterprises will ultimately be supported by production equipment. This has brought new market opportunities to domestic tobacco machine manufacturers and also put forward higher requirements.
Chinese-made fine cigarette equipment is a “re-creation” of conventional cigarette equipment as a development platform. China Tobacco Machinery Group initiated r&d of fine cigarette equipment as early as 2007. Based on the Model ZJ17 cigarette making and filter assembling units, Changde Tobacco Machinery Co. Ltd had completed the r&d for Model ZJ17D units by the end of 2008. Shanghai Tobacco Machinery Co. Ltd subsequently launched its ZB45 modified packaging unit, technically well prepared for the arrival of the fine cigarettes market.
A series of challenges lie in front of China’s r&d personnel of domestic tobacco machines: the finer the cigarette, the paper becomes less tolerant and easier to break, and may be punctured by tobacco stems (if any) contained in tobacco shred; as the diameter of cigarette decreases, the length increases and draw resistance grows, for example.
For cigarette making and filter assembling units, it is necessary to put in place a perfect stem-shred separating device to remove the trash and to prevent the stems puncturing tobacco paper. It also needs to control the amount and uniformity of tobacco shred, reducing the draw resistance of cigarettes. It is required to redesign cigarette making and filter assembling to meet the production requirements of fine cigarettes. It needs to redesign the packaging unit and install the relevant basic parts; change all the special parts related to the cigarette packaging size and cigarette arrangement. There are more than 700 kinds of parts that need to be redesigned and modified.
The journey to technological improvement is full of difficulties. China’s domestic tobacco machine manufacturers have finally successfully launched the domestic fine cigarette equipment after repeated discussion, research, simulation, test, and modification.
In 2014, when the vitality of the fine cigarette market was released and the demand for industrial equipment was very urgent, the domestic tobacco machine manufacturers responded quickly and filled the gaps in the market. They provided 15 sets of fine cigarette equipment for Jiangsu, Hubei, Sichuan, and Chongqing branches of China Tobacco Corporation, offering timely technical equipment support for the industry to create a new bright spot for economic operation.
Customized Services Meet Market Demand
In 2014, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration of China (STMA) issued the Notice on Regulating and Supporting the Development of Fine Cigarettes, which stipulated that the cigarette circumference of fine cigarettes should be 17 mm ± 1 mm. The r&d personnel of Chinese tobacco machines manufacturers would often convert cigarette circumference into another unit of measurement - cigarette diameter, which is more widely used in the production process of cigarettes, such as cigarette forming, adding filter rods, cigarette making and filter assembling, packaging, and other links.
In order to cater to market demand, these tobacco machine manufacturers have adjusted their equipment according to various needs of cigarette brands, making the cigarette diameter to be 5.19mm to the minimum and the length between 84 mm and 100 mm. Within this range, industrial companies can perform “menu-ordering.”
With regard to fancy packaging of fine cigarettes, the tobacco machine manufacturers effectively adopt mature technology platforms to complete the development of multiple kinds of special-shaped packaging equipment. New machine restructuring and overhaul and equipment modification are adopted to shorten the supply cycle to meet the needs of industrial enterprises.
Technical Reserves Respond Quickly to the Market
Under the current technological conditions, as long as the cigarette industrial enterprises proposes requirements on equipment, Chinese tobacco machine manufacturers can immediately put it into design and provide fine cigarette equipment for the whole lines of industrial enterprises as fast as within three months through new machine restructuring and major remodeling methods, including “single-line” equipment used for cigarette making and filter assembling units, packaging units, and cigarette reservoir and transferring devices. The lead time can be only six months in the event of large changes in specifications.
At present, domestic fine cigarette equipment has formed two complete production lines: one is the ZJ17D cigarette making and filter assembling unit with a production capacity of 5,000 cigarette/min + ZB45 (improved) packaging unit; the other is the ZJ112 with a production capacity of 7,000 bpm (improved) cigarette making and filter assembling unit + ZB47 (improved) packaging unit.
It is precisely because domestic tobacco machine manufacturers can quickly respond to the market with a short supply period and provide personalized services for industrial companies that the situation where foreign fine cigarette equipment dominates the market is disturbed and domestic equipment can compete with imported equipment at the same level. At present, there are already 30 units of home-made fine cigarette equipment in use at various cigarette factories. In terms of use, regardless of the operating speed, effective operation rate, product quality, and material consumption, they all maintain the same level as imported equipment and are well received by industrial enterprises.
In order to improve the competitiveness of domestic fine cigarette equipment and reach the international level of similar advanced units as soon as possible, China’s tobacco machine manufacturers have actively organized fine cigarette equipment research, technological improvement, and follow-up r&d of supporting equipment, creating technical reserves for supporting the future development of fine cigarettes.
Moreover, domestic tobacco machine manufacturers continue to track the operation status of various types of fine cigarette units, providing technical support for industrial enterprises. They fully take in the experience of advanced models and user suggestions for improvement and understand and master market information in advance, as well as sort out the market’s popular packaging, aiming to continuously improve the unit’s technical performance and ability to guarantee the intrinsic quality of fine cigarette products.
In 2017, STMA approved 10,000 cigarettes/min and 500 packs/min ultra-high-speed fine cigarettes making and filter assembling and packaging units; the prototypes of 6,000 cigarettes/min and 7,000 cigarettes/min fine cigarettes making and filter assembling units were handed over to the clients for examination; and 400 packs/min fine cigarettes packaging units, 400 m/min fine filter rod forming machines and other products were checked and accepted. At present, fine cigarette equipment is basically serialized, which can effectively meet the output requirements of different users.