2008 Technical Innovation Awards
Sophistication through Simplicity
Omet's X-Flex Takes 2008 Technical Innovation Award
By Christian R. Bonawandt
| The creative combustion that continues to drive flexography to new heights is rewarded each year when companies that have contributed to the growth of flexography with new and innovative technologies are honored with the Technical Innovation Award, jointly sponsored by the Flexographic Technical Association and Flexo Market News. |
Unite efforts... merge functions... combine tasks... eliminate redundancy. It sounds like the mantra of Lean Manufacturing. But it's so much more than that. It's a philosophy of reducing complication. In a single word: simplification.
Simplify the press. Simplify the process. Two things that, ironically, are far from simple to achieve. And this, at its core, is the reason that flexo press manufacturer Omet S.r.L. has been deemed the 2008 Flexographic Technical Association (FTA)/Flexo Market News Technical Innovation Award winner. The innovation: its X-Flex narrow-web press.
The X-Flex represents new levels of automation and waste reduction. It's touted as having one of the most stable print platforms, superior changeover times, and unsurpassed user friendliness. This is achieved by combining components and functions. But perhaps its most easily noted feature is the web path. With only 5.5ft. of web per print station, the X-Flex boasts the shortest web path of any flexo press on the market today.
Roll With It
One key feature of the press is a uniquely engineered print station that combines the impression cylinder and the chill roll. This is core source of the abbreviated web path. It's also a critical factor in the press's ability to average only 98ft. of startup waste (on an eight-station machine).
The X-Flex impression cylinder usually has the task of supporting the material while the printed image is transferred from the printing plate to the substrate being processed and it also has the function of transporting the material from a printing unit to another one and ensuring transport occurs without tension variations.
The chill roll serves to both transport the material and pick up heat from it. The heat is then yielded by the ink polymerization and drying devices-UV, IR, hot-air reflectors, etc. The heat increase in the processed material generates a dimensional change. This is particularly evident in thermal sensitive plastic films. An effective system keeps the substrate temperature constant as well as its dimensional features.
Omet, in 1984, introduced on the model ET 255 flexo and letterpress label machines with separated, small and cooled rolls with the intention of reducing the deformation of the knife on the flat bed die cutting as a result of an increase of the temperature on the self adhesive material generated by UV lamps. In 1995, the company unveiled the Multiflex, which had a separate cooled drum, dedicated to ensuring printability of flexible packaging material. The Varyflex was introduced in 2001 with a chill roll for different materials (it was also the first press on the market to use the sleeve concept).
From this experience was born the new X-Flex that, with innovative hydraulic and electronic concepts, which allows the combination of the chill roll with impression cylinder. A really beautiful R&D team allowed Omet to develop this innovation, which is unique to the X-Flex press.
The Magic Button
Amerigo Manzini, R&D manager at Omet, insisted that while the shortened web path is the most dazzling aspect of the X-Flex, it is certainly not the most important variable, particularly as it relates to performance. The real secrets are not so visible and tangible, since they are the outcome of the work, determination, and intuition of a team and a company that has believed in this project since the beginning. The waste reduction in starting up a new job on the printing machine is determined only in small part by the length of the paper path.
Other more significant variables that make it unique the X-Flex press are:
- The same register stability as the machine at the start-up and production speed, whatever it is.
- Web-tension control stability in the various areas of the machine.
- Operator's skill in starting a new job.
- Automated follow-up links to reduce the operator's variable influence in starting a new job.
Time and waste for getting a new job into register do not depend on the operator's skill and training on X-Flex, but one of the most significant indications gathered from the customer has been the difficulty that companies have today in training qualified print staff. This report has encouraged Omet to develop an automatic system allowing this operation. It is enough to press a button and here you are. To give you an idea of how it is effective, some customers who are using it are already calling it "the magic button."
Part of this is attributable to the Vision-1 automatic register control system, which adjusts both machine and lateral web directions on each station. Each printed image is recorded immediately. The system does not require any data input, and plates can be mounted anywhere on the sleeve.
Besides the exceptional register stability and the material-waste breaking-down when starting a new job, other aspects about the X-Flex are highlighted, that has made it stand out from other presses:
- Absolutely unique print quality.
- Reduction of ink wastes. The inking system allows starting print with the same amount of ink as the content of a glass of water.
- Automatic cleaning of the anilox roll in the machine before replacement.
- Aniloxes without gears, which are easily removable.
- Basin removal, aided doctor blade, without dripping risks.
- Various other automations designed to make the machine performance not depend on the operator's skill.
Complex Origins
The result of new X-Flex performances is due to the harmonious blend between the most sophisticated mechanics and the principles of the modern electronic automation. This innovative concept, called mechatronic, is the future development drive of Omet presses.
The design phase for the X-Flex started only after carrying out several important steps:
- Analyzing ideas collected throughout the past few years and temporarily put into cold storage.
- Interviewing production managers and owners of flexographic label printers/converters to collect their indications, expectations, choice criteria for future machines.
- Supporting lateral thinking as a method to develop creativity.
- Submitting international patent applications concerning new adopted initiatives.
- Creating new ideas, aimed at designing a new-generation narrow-web press.
But the most important thing is Omet environment, which allows team work to develop creativity. The Varyflex represented the first milestone on the road toward the X-Flex. It was the first narrow-web press to have independent motors and pneumatic-lock sleeves instead of the traditional plate cylinder with gear. The machine set a standard on the market for its absolute register performances on the entire range of printable materials. It was the first press to adopt Omet's patented system to control the print pressure of anilox/plate/impression cylinder with an automatic clearance recovery device.
Fast forward to today, the X-Flex has inherited the system to control the impression from Varyflex as well as its tension controls, and independent motorizations in the various machine units. Moreover, X-Flex and Varyflex share the same system, patented by Omet, to automatically get into register with the aid of a single key.
Getting to this point required overcoming several challenges:
- Time. Only 13 months passed from the start of the project to the presentation of the machine at Labelexpo.
- Methodology. The whole project was developed using 3-D CAD (computer-assisted design) modeling software-both the mechanical parts and the electronic, pneumatic, hydraulic ones. That enabled studying and optimizing the machine detail and ensemble in the drawing stage.
- Culture. This came into play in two areas: 1. Letting the mechanical and electronic parts constructively coexist. 2. Being able to give up something partial to keep an eye on the final result.
- Ergonomics. Particular care was given to this concept. Making the printer's job easier and more comfortable was one of the targets we pursued. A printer who is happy with the machine makes it give the best performances.
- Design. Looks also play their part. Among so many values of this machine, we can also say that it has a nice appearance.
Cost Comparison
With registration and control this precise, the X-Flex begs a comparison to digital presses. According to Steve Leibin, agent of Omet, "The initial investment, compared to digital, is very similar. If you were to buy an hp Indigo and a finishing machine, the cost is close to $1 million. A fully-equipped X-Flex is about the same."
Leibin professed that X-Flex's greatest strengths far outshine those of any digital press: namely, ease of use, less waste, cost-effective short runs. "For starters, your pressmen don't have to learn digital printing, which some have said is a real problem. Printers have taken up to a year or more to become profitable with digital presses. But X-Flex can run jobs as low as a few hundred feet and still be profitable."
On a short run the waste generated by the X-Flex is even less than on larger jobs. You wouldn't even need to run the press that fast on a short run, which means your waste would be even less. A lot of printers struggle to be profitable at less than 10,000ft. Older presses won't even make money on an order of that size. And as jobs get shorter and shorter, people are asking for only 5,000ft., or sometimes just the proverbial 500 labels. The X-Flex can run that length and still be profitable.
Grand Reception
The global flexographic printing/converting community was first introduced to the X-Flex just a few short months ago at Labelexpo Europe 2007 in Brussels, Belgium. And during the exhibition the press demonstrated ability to startup with minimal waste and hold perfect register throughout the run.
All the visitors of Labelexpo and the other people that have had the opportunity to visit our demo center were good impressed.
Our team work showed a complete job change passing from a shrink-film product to a self-adhesive one that included die-cut and a silk-screen, with live waste removal and collection. All that, with the print register cross enlarged 30 times, always framed/displayed on a monitor. Continuous accelerations and decelerations from 20 to 200m/min, keeping the register quality, completed the demo.
The responses to the demonstration and the X-Flex itself was overwhelmingly positive. These are the comments: "I can't believe it," "I have never seen anything of the kind," "It's what we need," "It's not possible to do anything better," and "This is the machine we were waiting for!"
Angelo Bartesaghi, president of Omet, declared that he was really excited and proud. "We appreciate this award. Because this is a technical award, with points given solely for technological achievement, it is that much more of an honor and I want to thank my collaborators for their efforts. Together we have attained one's goal."
"I remember in 1994 attending the Labelexpo show," reminisced Manzini. "During the show, I visited the FTA booth. I received some information and picked up a small pin that read, 'Ask me about flexo.' Since then I have kept the pin. It is now discolored, but after 14 years, we can say that we have made good use of all the information I received. One of the first things I thought of when I heard we won the award was the memory of that pin, the meaning of those words."
"Obviously, the result has been possible thanks to the effort of the entire R&D team and Omet staff, who believed from the beginning in the validity of the X-Flex project," added Manzini. "In particular, I would like to thank Mr. Bartesaghi, who financed this project and supported us in the hardest moments."
