Laserport at work
MANUFACTURING NEWS
With Laserport, Hauni presents a superbly flexible and dependable solution for online cigarette perforation. The system which comes in different configurations – 350, 500, 700, and 1000 – is based on a dual-beam design featuring different power levels. Laserport perforation units are suitable for use on practically any of the maker models currently on the market running at speeds up to 20,000 cigarettes per minute. With over 1,900 of its laser-based perforation systems now in the marketplace, Hauni is the tobacco industry’s leading manufacturer of online perforation technology. Laserport’s design draws on that experience while exhibiting optimized features.
“Our focus when designing new machines is always on modularity and flexibility, keeping an eye on the cost factor at the same time,” says Karsten Meins, head of Hauni’s innovation sensors and lasers. “In developing Laserport we’ve come up with a unit which meets those criteria.”
Laserport fits practically all Hauni maker models, a job that requires a minimum of material and time. Hauni developers bring the technology featured on their popular existing systems into line with the current state of the art. “The fact that Laserport can be used flexibly on nearly all the makers on the market spells an extremely safe investment for customers,” said Meins. “They can use it on existing machinery as well as on new production equipment.”
The new Laserport demonstrated its capabilities in field tests performed under normal manufacturing conditions at customers’ factories. “One example is our Laserport 500 which we fitted to a Protos-M5 running three shifts a day,” reports Meins. “We were really pleased with its performance. We found the new systems quick to integrate into the customers’ manufacturing setup, where they exhibited the expected levels of dependability and accuracy.”
Laserport offers all manufacturers, whatever their size, the option of adding online-perforated cigarettes to their product range for a modest outlay. “Laserport provides the highest perforation accuracy and visual end product quality standards on today’s market. The holes are perfectly positioned and clean-cut, ensuring the smallest possible standard deviation figures for ventilation,” says Meins. “The beam exhibits first class characteristics, making it possible to produce cigarettes with 1 up to 99 holes in either 1 or 2 rows. As a result you obtain identical ventilation values combined with low perforation visibility. Depending on what material you use, you can set the ventilation on products like multifilters or recessed filters to values anywhere between 10% and 90% by adjusting the hole length. In some brands even higher ventilation values have been achieved.”
Laserport’s modular design allows the resonator to be adapted practically in any way required, making the entire system quick to transport and inexpensive to optimize for use with a particular production line configuration. “Customers can save a great deal of time not only on modifications like these but also on maintenance and servicing,” comments Meins. “That’s due to factors like our use of identical basic modules, visualization systems and a large proportion of identical parts. The benefits of this flexible modular system as opposed to monolithic structures are evident not only in the area of staff training and installation speed but also in terms of the operating cost.”