A thirst for opportunity
Bunting found the recently introduced Keyence XM-5000 to be the ideal inspection tool for checking taper angles on tapered cylinders and tapered shafts, and cylinder concentricity
Magnetics specialist, Bunting, shares the journey towards its expansion for supplying the two-piece can industry with decorator cylinders at its brand-new manufacturing centre in the US
All images courtesy of Bunting
Bunting has been manufacturing magnetic cylinders for the printing industry since it was founded in 1959. Back then, the big R.R. Donnelley plants in Chicago were purchasing magnetic cylinders for commercial printing of catalogues. Since then, Bunting evolved amid dramatic changes in the markets it supplies and the products it manufactures.
The introduction of aluminium beverage cans in the late 1950s was a game changer. Bunting saw an opportunity to support the budding beverage business and enjoyed modest success in this area over the next few decades.
Then, in 2020, everything changed. During the global coronavirus pandemic, beverage cans were in such demand that the global supply chain simply could not keep up. Bunting saw orders for its magnetic cylinders skyrocket almost overnight.
“I remember exactly when it hit us,” said Michael Wilks, Bunting’s global director of marketing. “In February 2020, we were hit with orders that were 250 per cent of our capacity. Two months later we saw a similar spike. Then again, and again, every two or three months through the middle of 2022.
“Major challenges from the beverage can industry hindered our ability to make deliveries in a timely manner. Our suppliers were stretched to their limits, our employees were on overtime, and the phones just kept ringing. We started receiving a lot of calls from customers for Rutherford-style tapered-bore products that we had never made before,” Wilkes said.
Answering the call
“We took a hard look at expanding our existing machine shop where the cylinders were made,” said Robert Bunting, Bunting’s president and CEO. “We looked at outside acquisitions, but we opted for an existing building just down the street from us. It was the most expedient solution we could come up with.”
In 2022, Bunting quickly determined what equipment was needed and how fast it could be obtained for what would eventually be called the Manufacturing Center for Magnetic Decorating Cylinders. This was the plan to meet the spiking global market.
A booming beverage industry
From canned beer and soda to energy drinks and water, the global aluminium beverage can packaging business is huge – some $127 billion, according to industry reports. Analysts believe that number will swell to $147 billion by 2027.
Ready-to-drink cocktails are booming. Coffee, water, and wine companies are adopting more aluminium canning practices. Plus, consumers are moving away from plastic bottles and into cans due to environmental concerns and widespread, fashionable sustainability initiatives.
Innovation continues to drive growth. With that growth comes the need for additional beverage can plants on a global scale, which means more new decorators. Then let’s not forget there are some 8,000 existing decorator cylinders in use today that will need replacing when they are worn beyond their tolerance limitations.
Consider this: 280 billion aluminium cans of soda and beer are consumed every year. The possibility exists that the last can you drank was, at some point in the manufacturing process, touched by a Bunting product.
Bunting purchased two new Kellenberger K100 ID/OD Grinders in 2022 which are capable of both ID and OD grinding
Precision realised
It was not just the Bunting name and its reputation that brought immediate success for its magnetic can decorating cylinders. It was its people and their persistent pursuit of precision. Can decorators around the world quickly took notice.
Bunting’s decorating cylinders are machined with TIR tolerance of .000080” (2 microns) on some models, to achieve optimal registration with printing plates. That means accuracy to nearly 80 millionths of an inch. For perspective, a human hair is about 70 microns in diameter – Bunting machines its cylinders with incredible precision. All of Bunting’s cylinders are engineered to fit Rutherford, Concord, Hinterkopf, Mall/Herlan, Packsys Global, or any other brand of two-piece decorator.
Industry-fuelled growth
In 2023, Bunting is opening a production facility in Newton, Kansas, exclusively for its two-piece can decorating cylinders operation. The Bunting Manufacturing Center for Magnetic Decorator Cylinders is a highly automated, newly equipped facility with the capacity to meet the global demand for decorator cylinders and shafts.
Knowing one major challenge facing many manufacturers today is finding skilled labour, Bunting developed a layout for the new building that would include multiple robots. Joseph Jackson, Bunting’s advance product engineer, was tapped to lead the company into the age of robotics.
“It was a significant project that required a great deal of focus,” said Jackson. “We had to measure and weigh every type of cylinder we currently make and add in all the cylinders and shafts that our customers were requesting. The machines themselves, like the 7-Axis Mill/Turn, can take the product much farther through the manufacturing process in a single setup. So, we had to rethink the entire process of how we make the cylinders.”
Bunting will use a precision pallet system to stage the components at the robots. That way, the robot knows where to start and where to finish. Doing so allows the company to reduce headcount in the new facility.
Recent advances in Coordinate Measuring Machines, or CMMs, have been incorporated into the company’s new facility. Keyence has new CMM units with handheld probes that feed the location of the sensor back to the computer.
“This new twist to older limitations means the QC Inspector can check ID and OD dimensions, concentricity, and also check angle dimensions,” said Rob Clausing, Bunting production services support manager, who oversees inspection.
“With an accuracy of .0004” (10 μm) over a 10-foot (3 meter) span, and a repeatability of within .00008” (2 μm), we are confident that the quality of our product will be unmatched in the industry,” said Clausing.
With smart investments in technology, personnel, and infrastructure, Bunting is positioned for continued success. “We are planning on being in full production mode shortly after the Metpack exhibition,” said Wilks.
Experience matters
Bunting also landed an executive to run the printing cylinders division. Troy Brodhagen, who previously worked for Bunting, has returned to drive growth for the company as its new product manager for printing cylinders.
Brodhagen is familiar within industry circles and is anxious to lead Bunting with its current and new competitive products. “It’s an exciting time for Bunting. Investments in the new building and machinery position the company for tremendous growth,” said Brodhagen. “We now have the ability to produce our current line of products much faster and the adoption of new tapered cylinders open up many opportunities for us.”
Bunting will exhibit its full line of magnetic cylinder products for two-piece can decorators, and its line of conveying equipment and components for steel three-piece cans at the Metpack exhibition from 2-6 May in Essen, Germany, at stand 3D40.
Bunting offers a complete lineup of magnetic and non-magnetic cylinders to equipment OEMs
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