Why Isn't Your Slitter running?

Presented by Timothy Walker, TJWalker + Associates, Inc.

Walking by any slitter and more likely than not, it won’t be running. Why isn’t your slitter running? Besides having no input material or no demand for slitting, your slitter is likely not running because the operator is busy with the many activities that need to be completed between runs.

From an equipment uptime analysis, most slitter-rewinder operations are inherently inefficient. Few slitting processes can justify the capital expense of automatic unwind splicing or rewind roll starts. This makes for busy slitter operators. When the slitter stops, the operators go to work, cutting off and
unloading the finished rolls, loading and starting the new cores. But the operators work doesn't stop there, knife setups, unwind splicing, roll packaging, paperwork, and other tasks can also take away from the turn-around time to get your slitter running again.

To maximize your slitter efficiency, understand what activities are on the critical path between the instant your slitter stops and the next time you can hit the run button. Think about how fast you could get back to running if the operator only did the critical tasks, or better yet, if the operator had help doing them. Does it make business sense to have two slitter operators? The answers are below.