HSM installation keeps medical supply firm healthy

Frickingen, Germany-based HSM GmbH + Co. KG says it has installed two balers at a customer’s plant designed to arm the medical supply firm with healthy recycling habits.

In Heidenheim, Germany, HSM is helping Paul Hartmann AG bale OCC (old currugated containers) and polyethylene (PE) film scrap generated as byproducts from its medical and hygiene products manufacturing and shipping processes.

According to HSM, two of its balers—a horizontal HSM HL 4812 and a vertical HSM V-Press 860 S model—are preparing bales made of OCC and PE that weigh 400 kilograms (880 pounds) each.

HSM and Paul Hartmann estimate some 260 tons of OCC and 60 tons of PE are generated at the Heidenheim facility each year.

The Paul Hartmann employees assigned to select new balers, Michael Kormann, head of homecare logistics, and Kornelia Bischof, waste management officer, were dissatisfied with shipping the OCC and PE away loose. They also were unimpressed with the first baler they tested, according to HSM, because it could produce bales of only up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds) in weight.

After additional research, Kormann and Bischof tested (and then purchased) the models supplied by HSM. “The products make a very good impression,” says Kormann.

The vertical baler is used for compressing the PE films. Kormann and Bischof say they were impressed with its sliding door for easy access and liked its automated compressing process that starts on its own when the door is closed. The door also opens automatically after the end of the baling cycle.

According to HSM, its customer also liked the option of PE strapping on its PE bales, which has entailed costs that are 75 percent lower compared to steel wire. “The machine was adapted to our needs and the innovations worked well,” states Kormann.

HSM advised Paul Hartmann not to install a fully automatic baling press, including automatic bale wiring, in Heidenheim for its OCC. The reason: the volume of 260 tons per year does not justify a fully automatic system.

“In the end, we decided to use the HSM HL 4812 semi-automatic baling press. This is the ideal solution for functional and commercial reasons,” says Kormann. “Now, each cardboard bale is manually strapped with four wires in [the] Homecare Logistics department. That works fast and well.”

It has proven ideal that the OCC is delivered to the paper mill that produces new cardboard boxes for Paul Hartmann AG. This reduces purchasing costs and transport costs in what Kormann calls “an almost perfect recycling material loop.”

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The buyers of the OCC bales are happy with the new raw material from Heidenheim, adds Kormann.  “Correctly sorted, unsoiled, of constant quality and optimally compacted – we supply dream bales,” he states.