The cost control value of the invisible gripper for cost reduction and efficiency improvement - the indentation strip and the knife plate spring pad

In the cost accounting of packaging production, many enterprises often focus on large expenditures such as raw materials and equipment depreciation, but overlook the cost impact of "small accessories" like creasing strips and knife plate spring pads. In fact, the scientific selection and management of these two types of accessories can not only reduce direct procurement costs, but also achieve indirect cost savings by lowering the scrap rate and enhancing production efficiency, thus becoming an invisible tool for enterprises to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

Reasonable selection is the basis for controlling direct costs. Some enterprises have a "one-size-fits-all" phenomenon when making purchases. They choose the same specification of indentation strips and knife plate spring pads for whatever products they produce, which leads to poor compatibility and rapid wear and tear. For instance, when manufacturing thin paper packaging, the use of high-hardness indentation strips not only easily leads to thread breakage and defective products but also causes frequent replacement due to the mismatch between the indentation strips and the materials, increasing the frequency of procurement. The correct approach is to precisely select the type based on the material properties and batch size of the production order: for small-batch and multi-specification orders, medium-hardness indentation strips and standard-density elastic pads with strong versatility can be chosen to reduce inventory overstock. For large-scale and fixed-specification orders, dedicated accessories can be customized. Although the single purchase cost is slightly higher, the service life is extended by more than 30%, making it more economical in the long run. In addition, by signing long-term cooperation agreements with suppliers, bulk purchases can enjoy a price discount of 5% to 10%, further reducing direct costs.

Reducing the scrap rate is the core to achieving indirect cost savings. According to industry data statistics, approximately 15% of the waste products in packaging production are caused by problems with the creasing strips and the spring pads of the knife plates, including blurred creases, broken lines, and burrs during cutting. Take a company that produces 100,000 cartons per day as an example. If the scrap rate is reduced by 5%, 5,000 defective products can be saved every day. Calculated at a cost of 1 yuan per carton, more than 1.8 million yuan can be saved annually. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to establish a matching file between accessories and products: record the optimal indentation strip hardness and elastic pad density parameters for different paper thicknesses and die-cutting speeds to avoid defective products due to parameter errors. At the same time, regularly inspect the condition of the accessories. When the surface of the indentation strip shows wear or the elasticity of the spring pad decreases, replace them in time to avoid the production of a large number of defective products due to the decline in accessory performance.

Improving production efficiency can further amplify the effect of cost savings. Insufficient elasticity of the spring pad of the die-cutting plate or improper installation of the creasing strip can lead to problems such as material adhesion and die-cutting plate jamming during the die-cutting process. On average, each shutdown for processing takes 10 to 15 minutes. Calculated at a production rate of 200 packages per minute, each shutdown will result in a loss of 2,000 to 3,000 packages. By choosing high-quality knife plate spring pads, the material separation time can be shortened to within 0.1 seconds, reducing the frequency of machine stops. By using pre-installed and positioned indentation strips, the installation time of accessories during order replacement can be shortened from 30 minutes to 10 minutes. Based on three order changes per day, it can increase the effective production time by 1,095 hours annually. Calculated at a production capacity of 4,000 pieces per hour, it can create an additional production capacity value of 4.38 million pieces.

In addition, the recycling and reuse of used parts can also create additional value. Some high-quality polyurethane material indentation strips and knife plate spring pads can be recycled by suppliers for material regeneration after being used. Enterprises can not only obtain certain recycling subsidies but also reduce environmental protection treatment costs, achieving resource recycling and reducing expenses at the same time.