Featuring a printing width of 1650 mm and a maximum repeat length of 1250 mm, the Vistaflex CL 10 flexographic printing press is the flagship of this product line from Windmöller & Hölscher. The first machine of this type in Europe has recently been commissioned at Neemann, in Leer. For the German manufacturer of flexible packaging, founded in 1889 and boasting a long-standing tradition, it has not only extended its printing capacity, but the company is also looking forward to new opportunities in the promising, though keenly contested, flexible packaging market.
M Neemann OHG, a prospering medium-sized family run company, has lately been making substantial investments. Around 4500 square metres of floor space have been added to its facilities and this is also where the new wide web press has been installed. Today, the company, which is jointly run by the third and fourth generation of the family, has a staff of about 140 and produces flexible packaging material for the consumer goods sector.
The investment decision was preceded by months of selecting and configuring the machine’s exact specification – the main focus being on superb print quality, the shortest possible makeready times and maximum economic efficiency. ‘Following extensive comparison tests, we decided that the Vistaflex was preferable to a side loaded sleeve machine,’ said pressroom manager, Manfred Hüttemeyer. Eventually, the decisive factor was that side loading is bound to have its limits because of the higher weights of sleeves and adaptors that the operator need to handle when printing large widths and repeat lengths.
‘Thanks to the Vista-Port option, changeover between production runs is notably faster and can be done with greater ease,’ said Mr Hüttemeyer. ‘Also, the printing quality is unprecedented, which is attributable to the sturdy cylinder bases with directly fitted sleeves that are mounted without adaptors,’ added technology manager, Wilfried Hoppen.
Vista-Port is the innovative handling robot that enables fully automatic changeover of plate cylinder bases and sleeves as well as anilox rollers during makeready. The press operator selects the sequence of orders, and Vista-Port automatically organises the changeover actions and completes them in the most efficient manner.
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