SmartShield Packaging has added a WARDJet X-Series waterjet cutting system to its production floor, giving the custom protective packaging supplier more precision and more design flexibility for foam inserts, equipment cavities, shadow boards, and case interiors.

The company builds protective packaging for aerospace, medical device, robotics, defense, and healthcare customers. As order volume grew and packaging designs got more complex, SmartShield went looking for equipment that could keep pace on both fronts, and landed on the X-Series for its 5-axis capability, service network, and reliability.

"Precision is of great importance when designing the packaging that will be protecting your valuable equipment and medical devices. In our opinion, the WARDJet X-Series is the solution to enhance our manufacturing capabilities while providing exceptional efficiency, consistency, and quality of our products," said Sam, director at SmartShield Packaging.

What the System Adds

The X-Series cuts a wide range of packaging materials—polyethylene foam, cross-linked polyethylene foam, polyurethane foam, plastics, and wood—without the compression or tearing that can come with conventional cutting methods. Because waterjet cutting is a cold process, SmartShield is producing cleaner geometries straight off the machine, cutting out secondary finishing work.

Multilayer cutting is also part of the productivity gain: stacking and cutting several layers at once lets SmartShield hold dimensional accuracy across each layer while increasing overall output—a direct line to faster turnaround for customers.

The 5-axis head is where the design flexibility comes in. It lets SmartShield produce beveled foam inserts, multiangle cavities, and other complex geometries that would be difficult or impossible with 3 or 4-axis equipment—opening the door to more specialized, application-specific packaging work.

Machine Specs

WARDJet builds the X-Series around a structural aluminum crossbeam and a premium ball screw drive system, which the company says delivers traversing speeds up to 900 ipm (22.9 m/min)—high for a production waterjet—along with tight cut accuracy. The system is modular, configurable to a customer's cutting area needs, and upgradeable over time with additional cutting heads or the 5-axis option.

Construction includes what WARDJet calls the thickest steel tank in its class, and the machines are built at the company's plant in Ohio.

Cutting areas vary by model, each with 12 inches (0.3 m) of Z-travel:

• X-1515: 5 ft x 5 ft (1.5 m x 1.5 m)
• X-1530: 5 ft x 10 ft (1.5 m x 3.0 m)
• X-2040: 6.7 ft x 13 ft (2 m x 4 m)
• X-2540: 8.2 ft x 13 ft (2.5 m x 4 m)

For SmartShield, the upgrade translates into more manufacturing capacity, more consistent output, and the ability to take on packaging jobs that weren't achievable with its previous equipment.