Poly-Pak Industries Inc, a Melville, NY-based film extruder and converter, has been in business since 1958—that’s 60 years and six decades! Today, its 200+ employees break into two shifts and manufacture and convert polyethylene and polypropylene films for bags, envelopes and roll stock. This experienced team provides a wide array of packaging products for an extensive list of industries.
In-Plant Positioning
- Printer: Poly-Pak Industries Inc, Melville, NY
- Press: SOMA Premia
- Print Stations: 8
- Installed: November 2017
- Applications: Polyethylene and polypropylene bags, envelopes, roll stock
Challenges of remaining competitive in the marketplace require Poly-Pak Industries Inc to keep up with current technology. David Perelstein, printing manager, laments, “We’ve been looking for a long time for the right flexo press that could serve the needs of our customers and our company. Our charge put to potential suppliers: ‘It absolutely must be efficient and reliable; plus, it obviously has to meet our customers’ demanding quality standards.’”
David explains, “We decided to invest in a 59-in., 8-color Premia flexo press from SOMA.” Installed in November 2017, eight months later it is capable of printing almost everything that passes through the plant.
Three things that impressed Poly-Pak Industries Inc with the machine were:
- Ease of changeover
- Print quality
- Speed
“It takes us less than 30 minutes to get up and running, compared to two to three hours on our machines without sleeves,” David notes. He credits those benefits to, among other things, a gearless system with sleeves.
He remembers, “My first experience was as a helper on a flexo press, 35 years ago. We had five presses at the time—all roll-to-roll, all synthetic and rubber plates. Doctor blades weren’t even being used. Flexo’s come a long way since then.”
No Delays
Installation went smoothly because the new press was placed where Poly-Pak Industries Inc had previously located other presses. “SOMA provided necessary and correct information on all utilities, allowing us to prepare the area to receive the press in advance without delays,” David says. “Once it was installed, service crews from the plate and ink vendors helped to fingerprint the press.”
All photos courtesy of Poly-Pak Industries Inc
He adds that SOMA provided training for two weeks for all shifts—and returned a month later, for another week. “The first training session was to teach us how to operate the press; the second training session was to optimize use—to help answer the questions gathered after having a few weeks of experience with the press.”
Everything Runs Through It!
Poly-Pak Industries Inc’s new press has allowed it to print more sophisticated work, from narrow to wide and from one color to eight. It prints everything from the thinnest films to heavy-gauge material.
“The variety of graphics we have been able to print—line work to process printing, on different substrates—is endless. We schedule jobs as efficiently as possible,” David comments. “The machine has also been extremely reliable and fast. It likes to print at least 1,000 fpm. Automatic impression technology offers us seamless, optimal printability and output all day long.”
The Premia flexo press has a FALCON II semi-automatic registration setting system. Printing decks are moved to the drum until there is contact between the plate and substrate. The “drag and drop” registration system is used along with a video camera.
How does that work? David offers details: “The press prints enough material to locate microdots on a web video camera. A snapshot is taken, and the operator just points out where the microdots are. The press does the rest.”
“While we have always been able to print product deemed to be of high quality; up until now, it was achieved through an optical process during prepress mounting and the visual inspection of registration while the press is running,” he adds.
“With our new press, we have taken print quality to the next level. Registration is near-perfect on any job, whether we’re running two or eight colors. The press has been able to hold register on any web width, regardless of thickness of substrate.”
“Automatic impression technology offers us seamless, optimal printability and output all day long.”
Jobs Must Make Money
Of course, any way the press can increase efficiencies and reduce costs will improve profitability.
Beyond the ease of makereadies, David maintains that Poly-Pak Industries Inc’s machine is very operator friendly. Everything is easily accessible. There are no extra utility cabinets, which means the footprint is very manageable. Everything is also found directly on the press, which even has a push/pull system for sleeves, so the operator can easily remove them.
Always Up & Running
Anyone who makes an investment knows the equipment or software system is only as good as the company that stands behind it.
“Service is critical! A machine that is down doesn’t produce any revenue!” David exclaims. When a press sits idle, he confesses, “The amount of cost and revenue that is lost every hour can be insurmountable. There’s such high volume in a plant like this that there’s no time to make it up. There’s not another shift or another day. So, quick response is crucial to get these machines back up and running.
“As with any complicated, large machine, during installation and commissioning there is a learning curve,” he admits. “However, since the first day, communication between Poly-Pak Industries Inc and SOMA has been seamless. In case of any important need, we have immediate support from SOMA’s service crew, located nearby on Long Island. They do a great job.”
It was also important to Poly-Pak Industries Inc that there is an internet connection where the manufacturer could interact with the press to proactively anticipate and troubleshoot problems, eliminating downtime.
Increasing Output
Poly-Pak Industries Inc is able to run the new press at almost maximum speed. “We have experienced a tremendous increase in output,” David assesses.
Poly-Pak Industries Inc is currently running eight presses. It scrapped an older machine a while ago and with the installation of the new SOMA press, it has removed two additional presses and is considering removing a third. “We have proven that at least two older presses can be replaced with this one machine,” David relays.
“Our new Premia press has been a sturdy, high-quality, well-engineered machine. Its printing ability seems to be almost unlimited,” he concludes. “We expect many, many years of reliable service from this press, and I am hopeful that it will print as well 10 years from now as it does today.”