Channel baling press goes to Poland

The owner-run company currently has five employees, all of whom are in no doubt about the quality of the German machines. P.U.H Kondzłomex first came into contact with the baling press manufacturer HSM when it began operating in 1995 and it purchased a second-hand HSM vertical baling press in very good condition. In the years that followed the company continued to grow and it was necessary to supplement the manual, vertical baling press with a machine with higher throughput. P.U.H Kondzłomex therefore turned to HSM Polska, the Polish subsidiary of HSM GmbH + Co. KG and consequently a second-hand fully automatic channel baling press was put into operation in 2009. This was in service continuously for over four years, before being replaced by a new baling press, the HSM VK 4212, in 2013.

The machine ran smoothly for years and would theoretically still be in service today, but its throughput capacity was simply no longer enough to cope with the increasing amount of material for compression. This meant that the material delivered was all too often not properly pre-sorted, and P.U.H Kondzłomex’s customers set great store by homogenous bales. And not only that; material that is stored for too long costs money and so loses value. What was needed was a baling press with higher throughput capacity that would work more quickly than the previous model. To ensure this, the plan was to equip future machines with conveyors that can be directly fitted with a front loader. This solution reduces the time spent feeding material and the material for compression can then be processed in real time. The working time saved is used by employees to pre-sort material manually. Owner and CEO Szymon Woźny knows exactly how important pre-sorting is, because „if the bales are not properly sorted, no-one will buy them from you“.

An additional challenge for the company was that the baling press currently in service was due a general overhaul due to wear and tear and so would be out of service for some time.

To give other baling press manufacturers a chance there was a fair selection process, in which several offers from different providers were invited. The requirements for the manufacturers were clearly stated – to exchange the old machine as seamlessly as possible, if possible, without interrupting the operating procedure. HSM put forward the decisive argument in this respect. As well as buying back the old machine, HSM would handle the entire exchange process: they would dismantle the old machine and install the new baling press. A further advantage of HSM’s solution was the horizontal bale strapping, which is much more suitable for shredded paper than the vertical strapping used by most manufacturers.

Obviously, the longstanding partnership with HSM also played a part in the final choice of the supplier. After all, people have been putting their trust in HSM’s reliable and high-quality products for years. And Szymon Woźny, owner of P.U.H Kondzłomex, had a high regard for the professional, business-like but also fair way in which the HSM employees collaborated with his company.

After an in-depth analysis of the desired throughputs – and taking into account all parameters – the fully automatic channel baling press HSM VK 6015, with its pressing power of 720 kN and a throughput capacity of up to 14.5 t/h proved to be the perfect solution for P.U.H Kondzłomex. This machine is the most powerful baling press and its dimensions mean that it fits into the existing production hall – only the bale chute had to „stay outside“, eventually ending up in front of the hall. Another distinguishing feature of the HSM VK 6015 is its extremely high degree of compression. This was very important to the company, as it means that the main material for compression – shredded paper – can be pressed into more compressed bales of up to 470 kg.

The production waste from the printing plant, as well as small quantities of cardboard and foil, is now processed on the baling press in a single-shift operation, five days a week. The company only processes secondary raw materials that can be easily sold. Printing plants and production sites are the biggest suppliers of material for compression. The waste is collected directly on-site from the company in containers and receptacles provided by P.U.H Kondzłomex. However, it is also possible to deliver small volumes such as newspapers and books directly. All visitors who deliver material are impressed by the large scale of the system. Because of the specific pressing power, the bale density is extremely high. This ensures that the trucks are always full to capacity. Depending on the material a truck can take between 48 and 64 bales. These bales usually take up the permissible maximum load in the trucks – often there is even room for more bales. The so-called logistic minimum – a load of approx. 22 tons – is now always reached. Most of the compressed secondary raw materials are delivered directly to the paper factories without further processing.

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