Malaysian Converter Runs 12 Micron Sealing Film and Coffee Cup Lids on One CC450-S Platform
Malaysian Converter Runs 12 Micron Sealing Film and Coffee Cup Lids on One CC450-S Platform
Case Background: Two Lines, One Crowded Floor
A packaging converter in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, supplies two product families to the same customer base: die-cut sealing film for takeaway coffee cups and food containers, and printed aluminum foil lids for dessert cups. The film side serves regional coffee chains; the foil side serves bakery and dessert brands across Malaysia and Singapore.
The plant ran these on two separate machines, both bought used, because the substrates behave in opposite ways. A lease renewal forced a floor-space decision: renewing the additional bay would have cost more per year than the difference in price between a used film cutter and a new multi-substrate machine. The converter tested whether one CC450-S could carry both product families.
Why Film and Foil Usually Live on Different Machines
| Behaviour | Thin film (12–40 μm) | Aluminum foil (35–150 μm) |
|---|---|---|
| Feed behaviour | Elastic; stretches under tension | No elastic recovery; wrinkles instead |
| Cut behaviour | Deforms before shearing if clearance is wrong | Burr and micro-crack at the edge |
| Handling | Static-prone; lids cling and mis-stack | Lightweight; lids can be thrown at high speed |
| Countermeasure | Low, stable tension; shear-friendly clearance | Higher tension; force-balanced cutting |
On a mechanical machine these countermeasures conflict — settings that protect film damage foil. That is the reason converters keep the two families on separate equipment. On the CC450-S, tension target, feed profile, die clearance and stroke timing are stored as separate recipes, so switching substrate is a parameter recall rather than a mechanical re-set.
The Two Jobs in Numbers
| Parameter | Coffee cup sealing film | Dessert foil lid |
|---|---|---|
| Substrate | 12 μm PET/PE laminate, pre-printed | 75 μm lacquered aluminum foil |
| Web width | 470 mm, three-up die | 500 mm, three-up die |
| Running speed | 380 strokes/min | 400 strokes/min |
| Cutting accuracy | ±0.25 mm | ±0.25 mm |
| Embossing | None | Common motor, full-format texture |
| Collection | Vacuum adsorption, automatic count | Vacuum adsorption, automatic count |
| Changeover between families | 25 minutes, parameter recall only | |
Three Problems Solved During Commissioning
1. Static on 12 μm film. The previous film machine dropped lids into a bin; on humid afternoons the 12 μm lids stuck to each other in groups of three or four and had to be separated by hand. Vacuum adsorption collection captures each lid at the die exit, so static no longer decides where a lid lands. The plant reports no hand-separation at all since commissioning.
2. Register on elastic film. Film repeat length changes with tension, and the old machine's mechanical follower could not keep up. The CC450-S reads the actual print mark each cycle with photoelectric tracking and corrects feed within the following stroke. Register on film improved from a documented ±0.8 mm to ±0.25 mm.
3. Edge quality on a soft substrate. A 12 μm laminate tends to stretch before it shears, leaving a feathered edge that seals unevenly on the coffee chain's cup-filling lines. The force-balanced five-link mechanism reduced peak impact loading, and after die clearance was set for the film recipe, edge inspection at 10× showed a clean shear line. That clearance setting is stored with the recipe, so it survives the switch back and forth to foil.
Configuration
| Web width | 520 mm maximum — covers both the 470 mm film web and the 500 mm foil web |
| Unwinding diameter | 800 mm, allowing partial rolls to be carried between jobs |
| Footprint | 2500 × 1550 × 2050 mm; net weight 2350 kg. Occupies less floor than the two used machines it replaced, including the aisle between them. |
| Certification | CE, ISO |
Outcome After Seven Months
- Lease renewal avoided; the second bay was released, which was the original justification for the project.
- Film output 22,800 lids per hour at three-up 380 strokes/min, against 12,000 on the previous film machine.
- Foil output 24,000 lids per hour at 400 strokes/min, against 15,000 previously.
- Scrap: 2.6% on film (down from 6.1%) and 2.0% on foil (down from 4.4%).
- One operator per shift instead of two; automatic counting removed the manual reconciliation step for both product families.
- Mixed daily scheduling is now possible, which shortened average order lead time from 9 to 4 working days for the coffee chain's recurring orders.
What Multi-Substrate Capability Really Means
Specification sheets list substrate ranges as a line item, and buyers tend to read them as marketing. In practice the range is the difference between one machine and two — but only where feed, tension and clearance can be recalled per product. When evaluating any high-speed die cutter for mixed work, confirm four things: the rated range rather than a stated range, whether feed and tension are stored per recipe, whether die clearance is adjustable and remembered, and whether the collection system works on the thinnest material you actually intend to run.
