Diversify & Stand Out
“Equipment needs to help you stand out of the crowd, providing abilities and advantages that set you apart from converters with standardized machines,” notes Kurt Flathmann, North American sales manager, Allstein GmbH. He encourages buyers to, “focus on the serviceability of the equipment, Specifically, how easy is it to take care of—on site, utilizing in-plant personnel.
Flexibility, speed, control and performance all rank prominently on Kurt’s “10 Essential Considerations” list, with, in his mind, each impacting the other. The rational is spelled out in each point:
- Corporate flexibility—the ability of your supplier to custom-tailor equipment solutions to address your needs is extremely important
- Press stability—over the years, many of flexo’s issues have been dealt with and addressed, but it remains an out-of-balance, kiss contact process. Bounce is the No. 1 quality and speed restrictor. New designs must address this concern effectively
- Speed of job change—are the everyday items the press operator has to deal with made as simple and convenient as possible? Sleeve change, doctor blade changes, ink changes—each of these contributes to shorter changeovers
- Electronic operational system—it needs to be as simple as possible and as convenient, too, so operators don’t need to constantly handle repetitive tasks that can be easily taken care of electronically
- Automated systems—automatic impression and register systems, regardless of their speed, should not be designed to inherently take up machine time in their analysis of impression and register. Even if they function faster than an operator, they still take time and use material, both of which cost money. When calculated over the course of a year, that can add up
- Accuracy—automated systems can also contribute to changeover times. When the systems aren’t consistently accurate, operators are forced to step in and reset either register or impression, and this adds to the changeover time and material waste
- Registration—mechanics contributing toward it are critical
- Dryer performance—a factor that is critical to achieving productive speeds and critical to minimizing retained solvents that continue to be an issue with customers. Both between color and postpress dryers play major roles in achieving desired results
- Serviceability—as presses become more electronically sophisticated, more and more printers are simply concerned with the number of service people available from the supplier. And, as the equipment becomes more complicated, some suppliers don’t allow printers to service the equipment, as parts and service have become 50 percent or more of manufacturers’ incomes
- Parts access—make sure the supplier has the parts required for your press. Many manufacturers purchase parts on the outside, rather than manufacturing them. If these parts are not inventoried, it can take weeks to get them
“Gearless presses have significantly improved registration,” Kurt observes. “The movement toward expanded gamut (EG) printing requires the best register possible in order to achieve and maintain the desired color, as well as the consistency of the color demanded by clients,” he adds, crediting continued advancements in press technology with assisting printers in expanding offerings. Kurt also insists printers abide by best practices and always keep the press optimized to be certain they do everything possible to refrain from restricting production capability and costing money.
Standing in Unison
Fast-change, quick-set, operator-friendly, quality-minded machinery is what every OEM FLEXO talked to says converters expect of their press. Material-minded and considerably equipped with automated features is translating to faster, cheaper, better, more efficient print production.
The advent, arrival and acceptance of the integrated and optimized press is driving the principle of “control without compromise” with continuous improvement evident with each passing year.