A retrospective of BKC's product lines - Part 1 BKC's test stations
13.04.2010
Measurementof cigarettes and filter rods has always been an important part of cigarette manufacture, even before the introduction of electronics. However, the rapid advancement of electronics into our lives has also provided benefits in the measurement of key quality and manufacturing parameters. This was further enhanced when multiple measurement instruments (Testing Station) were introduced that provided a homogeneous view of the all the parameters of each cigarette.
The first Testing Stations were often no more than individual manual instruments physically stacked on each other with measurements displayed on simple individual numeric displays. Their usefulness soon became apparent and so give birth to a specifically designed product line known as Testing Stations.
BKC first instrument in the Testing Station style was the Drop Though (DT) range, providing a building block approach to tailoring the instrument to each customer’s needs. This product line grew into a total of eight different measurement blocks, of which any five could be selected to be combined into a Testing Station. The DT also stood out as being the first Testing Station utilizing a Windows style user interface. This instrument became very popular for quality lab and production cell use.
Testing Station soon became the standard instruments for both laboratory and production floor quality measurement. With this increased capability came more need for data collection, at machine analysis and auto-sampling for both filter rods and cigarettes, all of which have all been met by the DT’s evolution.
With increasing need for a maker cigarette inspection also came the need for a compact highly reliable instrument that provided the fundamental measurements for cigarette and filter rod production control. The On Machine Instrument (OMI) delivers weight, diameter/circumference, ovality, pressure drop open/closed and filter/tobacco column ventilation, all in a package with a 52% reduction in the DT footprint and 56% reduction in total space taken and a 99.9% uptime rate.
The OMI instrument line has continued to grow from its first introduction in 2001. Today it offers the same compact design as well as increased throughput speeds, SQL database integration, auto-sampling, auto-calibration, calibration tracking, maintenance scheduling, tailored user interfaces and Triacetin measurement.
Borgwaldt KC continues to develop and refine its line of Testing Station Products and will introduce a visual inspection option in 2011 to the family.