KOLDING, Denmark—Pollard Banknote, a global supplier of instant lottery products and services, has signed a double digit million dollar agreement to purchase a 22 station TRESU flexo printing and converting line in order to meet a significant increase in demand for gaming solutions. To be installed at Pollard Banknote’s 90,000 sq. ft. production facility in Ypsilanti, MI, the new press will provide a 35 percent net increase in the corporation’s available print capacity.
Rob Young, Pollard Banknote’s executive vice president, operations, comments: “With its high speed and fully integrated converting capabilities, the new TRESU line will be the most advanced instant ticket press in the lottery industry. The installation will enable the Ypsilanti site to transition to a flexible and efficient single pass operation, and assist us in reaching our capacity increase targets, in order to support our global customers’ sales growth.”
Features of the press include inkjet imaging towers to print variable game data, along with integrated drying and curing systems to allow easy switching between aqueous, solvent, and UV-ink sets at several printing stations. Automated colour and registration controls from BST eltromat ensure consistent quality throughout the production run.
The press will have a maximum speed of 1,400 fpm and convert foil and card between 8 point and 12 point thickness into secure instant scratch tickets. Each flexo station will include TRESU Ancillary’s IMW FlexiPrint E-Line sealed chambered doctor blade systems, to ensure a direct, uncontaminated and pressure controlled transfer of ink or coating agent to the anilox roll cells at maximum speeds. Resulting benefits are a uniform printed layer, optimized drying efficiency, and higher reflective and gloss values. Its long life doctor blades are exchangeable in one minute.
Rob Young comments: “When we began researching press options, we looked at a number of different companies. TRESU offered the best combination of technology, support, value and proven track record in offering a high volume, robust production platform to meet Pollard Banknote’s and—more importantly—our clients’ stringent printing requirements in terms of quality and security.”
Søren Maarssø, COO of TRESU Group, comments: “We are proud and honoured that TRESU has been chosen to deliver this unique, high end inline press. The combined knowledge of Pollard Banknote and TRESU has resulted in a production line that provides a new performance benchmark for the lottery and game card industry.”
The announcement of the TRESU deal follows Pollard Banknote’s announcement of an 8 percent increase in sales volumes in 2013 over the previous year.
Doug Pollard, co CEO of Pollard Banknote, comments: “We are proud of the recent expansion of our client base and—more importantly—the support we’ve been able to provide our lottery customers in order to grow their proceeds for good causes. This investment in a new press is significant evidence of our belief in the growth potential of the lottery retail space, particularly when supported by an omni channel marketing strategy.”
The commissioning of the new TRESU press is expected to occur in the second quarter of 2015. In conjunction, Pollard Banknote will relocate certain existing production presses from its operations in Ypsilanti to its manufacturing facility in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, to balance its company wide capacity and support the company’s global lottery customers.