One of two Mark Andy P7 Performance Presses at Prakolar in Brazil

 

The modular nature of today’s narrow web press offers printers a wide choice of options and the opportunity to tailor its capabilities to their exact needs and gain entry into new markets. The press is at the heart of the printer’s operations and the largest investment a company can make. By Neel Madsen.

The list of main drivers behind recent technological developments in narrow web presses includes the usual suspects: improved quality, reduced downtime, quicker job changeovers, less waste and reduced energy consumption. Each manufacturer has its own interpretation of these requirements and it can be a daunting task to decide which press to choose. Most often we see that once a printer has found the brand that works, the next purchase will be from the same stable of machines.

Lean, mean and green

The driving factors behind Mark Andy’s Performance Series technology
and platform developmentsare based on lean principles with the aim to increase productivity, reduce waste and directly support sustainability. By addressing key factors in the flexo workflow, it promises to reduce set up time by 60%, material waste by 50%, improve on profit margin and reduce labour costs and overheads.

Director, global marketing, Mary Sullivan, explained how the company reviewed many areas of waste and relied heavily on lean principles as the drivers to developing its award winning machines. She said, ‘From several months and hundreds of discussions with converters all over the world, seven top forms of waste were identified that deteriorate profits in a narrow web shop today. These seven forms of waste can adversely impact a lean and sustainable print workflow.’

These seven types of waste can be summarised as follows: 1. Each time a product is moved, it may become lost or damaged, and transport takes time and energy without adding value. 2. Housing, protecting and monitoring inventory can be a costly process. 3. Any movement of a worker or piece of equipment means time spent, more wear, higher likelihood of damage and increased safety risks. 4. Any time a product is not in transport, and is not being processed, it is simply lying idle. 5. Over-processing occurs when more work is done on a product than is required by customers using up critical materials and squandering operator time. 6. Over-production occurs when more product is produced than is specifically requested or required by the customer. 7. Defects are the most obvious waste of materials and time in any process.

Ms Sullivan continued, ‘While the idea might sound obvious, the practice is often counter-intuitive. In order to be truly lean, new equipment must be designed to be simple, fast, easy to use, and standardised throughout. Equipment manufacturers sensitive to lean manufacturing spend less time chasing what is ‘techy’ and ‘cool’, and more time analysing workflow processes to make machines that are smart, well designed and less wasteful.’

Repeat customer

In 2011, Mark Andy received two international technical innovation awards for the Performance Series line and nearly 150 machines have been sold in 28 countries.

One repeat customer is Prakolar Rótulos Autoadesivos, which has purchased its second P7 printing system, after installing its first in mid 2011. The company’s fast paced growth, along with its need to deliver high quality labels efficiently and consistently, led it to explore modern technology to meet its demands. Both of the presses are 250 mm wide, eight colour dual servo platform machines capable of high quality combination printing effects, such as cold foil, rotary screen, chilled UV curing as well as converting options.  

Prakolar, celebrating 45 years in business this year, is one of Brazil’s top suppliers for pharmaceutical, cosmetics, foodstuff, chemicals, beverages and other industries. The company is an NBR ISO 9001/2000 certified business and has also been recognised with awards for flexo printing excellence.

The Scandinavian way

Danish press manufacturer, Nilpeter A/S, said that the main drivers behind the development of its machines and embellishment technology are two fold. The first focus is on giving customers the opportunity to gain new markets by adding value to labels. This is done by a combination of printing principles with a large array of value adding options, such as gravure printing units, flat bed hot foil and sculptured embossing, multi-web combination for booklets and multi language labels and hot melt stations for inline lamination.



Sales and marketing director, Jakob Landberg, said, ‘We have a high proportion of customised machines in the market, designed in cooperation with our clients for very specific applications, and our focus is on being the best solution provider for complex, high value labels and flexible packaging.

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He continued to explain that the other main focus is optimisation of products to existing markets.
 ‘There is a constant focus on achieving more lean production from our products by cutting waste, set up time and energy. We use many innovative resources on smart control systems, inking systems, sleeve based printing cylinders and anilox systems and low energy UV systems. This not only improves efficiency, but also sustainability at the same time.’

Cover printer

The special flexo printed cover of the April issue of FlexoTech was printed on OPM Group’s new seven unit Nilpeter FA-4 UV flexo press, which was installed in January this year. At the same time, it also became the first UK label converter to adopt Nilpeter’s new Cleaninking anilox system, launched at Labelexpo 2011.

The FA-4 has a web width of 420 mm and top speed of 175 m/min. It can handle a wide range of multi-substrate packaging and labelling materials, aided by a servo-driven infeed, servo drives on all print units, as well as a mid-feed pacer and die-cutter units. Chill drums positioned at every print station allow a constant surface temperature for thin, heat sensitive films. An absence of gear wheels on the printing cylinders not only avoids the risk of gear marking, but also gives greater flexibility with repeat lengths. The unwinder and rewinder take 40-inch diameter reels. A taper tension control on the rewinder maintains uniform web tensions.

Options include interchangeable ‘drop in’ rotary screen cassettes. A hot or cold foil option allows metallic printed effects while the delaminating/relaminating module is used in reverse-side printing of primary labels. Printing is by either conventional flexo plates or lightweight photopolymer sleeve constructions while easy-load plate and anilox sleeve technology reduce job changeover times.

Fitted with the new energy-saving MBS-6 lamp modules from IST, OPM’s specification replaced an existing Nilpeter press and complements a nine-unit FA-4 installed two years ago at OPM Flexibles.

‘Today’s trading conditions demand that converters like us must have the right kind of equipment to achieve a lean manufacturing approach to improving margins. Our latest FA-4 setup represents a phenomenal piece of technology in this respect,’ said Chris Ellison, owner of OPM Group.

Eco design

Gallus Group said that it applies the principles of eco design and systematically factors environmentally relevant aspects into the product development process of all its presses. It said that it is ‘an enthusiastic advocate of sustainable business practices and takes its economic, social and environmental responsibilities seriously.’

Through regularly analyses of the life cycle of its presses, which also involves examining the production workflows at customer sites, the company is looking for ways to improve processes and then implementing these improvements in new presses and technologies.

Granite core

The Gallus ECS 340 press, also known as ‘the granite press’, is described as a cost effective and eco friendly label press. The company implemented a whole range of measures in order to improve the ECS 340 press system and offer printers lower operating costs and optimum print performance while reducing the impact on the environment.

The press has a very compact design and thus the web travels just 11 metres or 1.1 metres between printing units. This reduces the average amount of waste produced per job by up to 70% compared to other designs. The very short web path also offers additional benefits. For example, the result of adjustments made during production is visible immediately and facilitates an efficient workflow, while the dynamic feed ensures that the print image is not altered when speeds are changed.

Fast job changeovers are made possible by sleeved plate cylinders and anilox rollers, and the chambered doctor blade system offers fast ink change. The system also enables the reuse of residual inks, which cuts down on cleaning time. The press, which comes with full servo drive technology, is also equipped with cooled impression cylinders, leading to substrate flexibility.

Energy consumption during the print process is kept to a minimum through a system of demand-based power control for the UV lamps and the lowest possible standby ratings. This reduces heat buildup and cuts the cooling requirements. The UV systems on the ECS 340 work with a central, water-cooled system that does not generate any exhaust air, keeping the surrounding environment cleaner. Waste heat generated can be reused for heating hot water and the production space.

The stabilising core of technical granite promises low coefficients of expansion, good wear resistance, optimum vibration damping and freedom from unwanted internal stresses. 

Finding a niche

Edale said that it works closely with its customers to custom-build presses to their exact specifications, whilst being designed to be upgradeable. Having launched three machines in 2011, it specialises in exploiting niche markets through product innovation, such as the Alpha-Multi twin stack press with its very short web path and small footprint.

The main drivers behind the company’s technological developments include ensuring that its range of machines are attractive to existing and potential customers, as well as considering the environment and its duties to reduce wastage.

Sales and marketing director, Jeremy Westcott, said, ‘Our overall aim is to help our customers become more efficient, minimise their machine and employee downtime, and in turn reducing lead times. And with colour changes achieved in less than 70 seconds and set up achieved in just one web length, there is only minimum material wastage.

Edale’s presses are designed to cope with a wide range of substrates, surfaces and callipers. Their modular design ensures that upgrades can be made easily thereby future-proofing the technology. As demands and business grow, additional stations such as digital, gravure, screen, foiling and lamination can be added, and other processes combined.

Quick pit stops

The Edale Gamma printing and converting system can handle delicate substrates from 12 micron film up to 600 micron carton board. Servo drives on the press offer a high level of web control for top printing and converting quality, while the pre-register system cuts down on makeready by locating the cylinder before printing begins. On press colour management allows the ink pan to be removed when the print head is fully set up, and the quick release catches and easy handling of lightweight cylinders means changeovers are achieved in under 70 seconds.

One of the company’s existing customers, in the pharmaceutical industry, has recently purchased its second Gamma, a dual servo flexo press designed for the high quality print coupled with high speed changeovers, minimum downtime and minimum wastage. The latest installation also incorporates the inline web fed flatbed die-cutting system, FDC-510. The company has already reaped the benefits of producing runs as short as 1000 cartons without the need for costly rotary tools normally used on web fed presses, making smaller jobs much more profitable.

Mr Westcott concluded, ‘We have noticed, and this reaction was enhanced during drupa, that flexo is becoming a lot more desirable – especially now that the results are rivalling offset. We met a lot of offset packaging companies who have shown a strong interest in moving over into flexo after results they have been seeing. The initial and long term cost benefits and flexibility of flexo versus offset is one of the biggest advantages that Edale have.’

New digital focus

To complement its well-established range of narrow web flexo presses, Focus Label Machinery launched its first digital inkjet press, the d-Flex, at drupa. A full colour UV digital inkjet press with inline servo driven flexo print head and converting facilities, it incorporates piezo ‘drop on demand’ inkjet heads from Konica Minolta and offers the facilities for inline flexo printing/coating, corona treatment, cold foil, laminating, varnishing and die-cutting, either in roll to roll, or roll to sheet applications.

The modular inkjet system is available in 142 mm, 250 mm and 330 mm wide versions, with running speeds of up to 50 m/min. In addition to process colours, a white option is also available, with LED curing, for printing onto transparent filmic substrates.

The flexo print and converting section of the press also enables off line overprinting/varnishing of pre-printed web, with accurate re-registration, at speeds of over 100 m/min, due to efficient UV curing and full rotary die-cutting. The flexo print head can also be used to pre-coat substrates.

Antony Cotton, technical sales manager, said, ‘With increasing pressures from buyers to order less labels at more regular intervals, the d-Flex offers an effective method of producing short run, digitally printed labels on affordable equipment, without click charges or obligatory service contracts.’

Fast action

A privately owned company based in Kidderminster, K2 International has more than 25 years’ experience in manufacturing flexo presses for the label and packaging industry. With installations around the world, the company serves an international customer base from its UK operation and has a network of distributors in every continent.

Shown at drupa, its FA Fast Action press is available for both narrow and wider web labels and packaging applications up to 800 mm and its modular design means that it can be supplied with from one to 12 printing stations for processing UV or water-based inks. ‘While our core competence has been in labels, we also manufacture wider web presses to meet the demand for packaging such as shrink and wrap around labels as well as specialised applications,’ said managing director, Russell Oddy. ‘For example, we recently supplied an 800 mm wide press for printing butter wraps equipped with drying systems for both solvent and water-based inks.’

Standard equipment includes PLC touch screen controls, automatic web tension, print and die stations of equal height for safer operation, ceramic anilox rollers and fast action print and die stations. Options include rotary cold foil stamping, UV laminating, sheeting, fan folding and video web inspection as well as remote diagnostics.