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April 2022 #14273 Page #54
Innovation in Action at Vekta
By Ed Serrano Managing Director VektaUSA
I
n business today, it is necessary to be agile and responsive to change. But, to have that real edge – the ability to truly set yourself apart – you need to be unique. Your solutions need to define I-N-N-O-V-A-T-I-O-N.
As a company, Vekta defines innovation. By reviewing how the Vekta PackFeeder V2 has evolved into the V3, we’re sure you’ll agree.
To be truly innovative, it all starts with lIsteNiNg. Suggestions, ideas, and improvements can come from anywhere, so listening is essential. We listen to the manufacturing team, the engineering design team, and service engineers interacting on site with the product. But the most important suggestions – the crucial ideas – come directly from our customers who are using our machinery day in, day out. The PackFeeder V2 is market proven and tested, but it is still young in the design evolution cycle of the machine. Vekta has been actively listening and understanding what our customers have been reporting. That feedback has centered on picking reliability and system resilience to non-ideal operating conditions. With that in mind, we began to re-evaluate our vacuum system, with special emphasis on the use of compressed air and off-the-shelf gripper units.
The challenges of the previous compressed air supply The PFV2 requires a high flow compressed air supply to drive the vacuum system that is used to grip the timber and pick up the boards. The issues included: • Customers were having to upgrade their factory air compressor to get the flow required for adequate performance; • If the flow was too low, the gripping performance was compromised; • The venturi items that generated the vacuum were susceptible to clogging, making them less efficient with time; and • The cost of machine downtime to replace a vacuum module was high.
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