M&R Passport Auto Unloader.

[Inkworks]

I'm wondering about these unloaders, what are they worth$$$?

From what I can read online, they are good in some situations, but not for all applications, any elaboration on that?

Can I get one to work with a Workhorse Falcon E?

[Rockers]

They are very expensive. As far as I remember my contact at M&R once told me it`s in the $30000 region.

[mk162]

so about 1.5 years of a human unloader...with no QC capabilities.

[CGS]

We've got Passport for sale at half that price, let me know if you have any interest in it.

[Inkworks]

15G for a used unloader eh? We'll I guess that'll get pushed down the list a bit then.  I'd love to play with one, and think it would be a good fit for some of the jobs we do, but that's a little steeper than I expected.

[ZooCity]

How do you overcome the QC thing though?  Do you wind up hiring someone to stand there and watch all the shirts on the belt anyway?  Seems to me that you have to keep a keen eye for lint blockage on the screen and the whole host of pita type things like pigment chunks, etc. or you'll be deep into scrapped pcs very quickly.

Other than that, these things would be awesome.  One press op, one catcher sounds great.

[244]

How do you overcome the QC thing though?  Do you wind up hiring someone to stand there and watch all the shirts on the belt anyway?  Seems to me that you have to keep a keen eye for lint blockage on the screen and the whole host of pita type things like pigment chunks, etc. or you'll be deep into scrapped pcs very quickly.

Other than that, these things would be awesome.  One press op, one catcher sounds great.

At normal speeds you have plenty of time to qc the print. it comes out right next to you, takes no breaks, needs no benefits, and shows up on Monday ready for work!

[Inkworks]

Yes, I think the QC thing can be overcome, run a sticky screen, do interval checks, and generally run a tight process from start to finish. Ihat price is a tough hurdle for a smallish shop I think.

Any word on whether it can be run on other presses? What does it use for a trigger?

[244]

Yes, I think the QC thing can be overcome, run a sticky screen, do interval checks, and generally run a tight process from start to finish. Ihat price is a tough hurdle for a smallish shop I think.

Any word on whether it can be run on other presses? What does it use for a trigger?

We do not reccomend using on other presses

[Inkworks]

Fair enough, I get liability issues from an OEM perspective. Just wondering if it uses a simple trigger from the machine,or  has to be programmed into the CPU or what.

[ZooCity]

Sounds very doable with the necessary precautions.  Def a lot of other items I would be grabbing before this at that price but for those shops who are bigger and better set up I could see a passport being an excellent addition.  I like the idea that, without additional payroll involved, you are freeing your loader up to really focus on perfect throws.

I can see how it would be really hard to support a more complicated machine like this across other brands.

[TCT]

Sounds very doable with the necessary precautions.  Def a lot of other items I would be grabbing before this at that price but for those shops who are bigger and better set up I could see a passport being an excellent addition.  I like the idea that, without additional payroll involved, you are freeing your loader up to really focus on perfect throws.

I think that is the first thought that comes to mind. I was talking about the used one with someone maybe 2 weeks ago or so,  and he had your same mind set. I did at first but then I couldn't see how a place would be able to have multiple Passports on 1 dryer. Rich(or anyone else) is there anyone that has a multiple Passport on 1 dryer setup, or is it possible?

[ZooCity]

I don't see why you couldn't use two passports on one dryer.  Just a matter of the belt being wide enough to hold the tosses from each passport and chamber accommodating the output of the presses.

I don't know where the line of efficiency gets drawn between having one mega dryer with, say, a 72" split belt and a 12-16' chamber and having two smaller 48-60" belt dryers but I imagine that line is more of a consideration than the unloading device when you are running a shop that needs multiple robot unloaders.

[tonypep]

A Marc Eckos NJ facility they ran five production lines two shifts all with Passports (best by my memory, it was at least that) And yes thay had huge QC issues. Can't stack it up entirely to the Passports but they were a factor. They were running 2 to 4 layers of density with 3 or more flashes on the autos and the ink viscosity would change and some of those prints fell like a bad souffle. They were under tremendous pressure to meet tight deadlines, that didn't help either. Much more to that story but thats not fit for public consumption.
I think its safe to say that Rich would at least partially agree with the statement that the PPs are targeted at large to mid volume ops with long runs and limited pallet changes and garment sizes.

[TCT]

Zoo,  are you saying that they would unload head on into the dryer vs. one from each side? I would think you would need 2 Alpha8's to get that close and that would even be pushing it.  I think even with a 72" belt if they were unloading from the side there would still be some shirt overlap. Plus running a 72" belt without a Passport,  you could probably unload 3 autos manually. I agree with you that it becomes a issue of efficiency at a point.  I could see 1 Passport and 1 manual unload for a dryer,  but I just can't see how you could use more than 1 Passport per dryer. 
Note- I don't have anything to prove here,  and I am not trying to hate on the Passport(I think the concept is actually pretty cool),  it's just I had this EXACT debate like 2 weeks ago!

Tony,  you don't happen to know how the dryers and Passports at Ecko were configured do you? Also if we ask you discharge questions or organization questions under a different topic like this one can you convertly answer them!?