Gauging Success
Fujifilm North America
If you want to gauge the success of the equipment you use on the floor, ask your press operators. They’re the ones who can tell what works, what doesn’t and what must be done to keep jobs moving forward and customers happy.
Just ask Tim Keegan, production manager, flexo, for Atlantic Packaging in Tabor City, NC. That means having equipment you can count on. So when Atlantic Packaging’s team was looking to increase the overall efficiency of its UV and water-based presses, it wanted a solution that hit all the marks.
Fujifilm’s Illumina LED Retrofit System was the ideal solution. The Atlantic team converted three stations of a 13-station press that was UV and water-based, and eight stations of a UV press. The printer converted a UV coating station on another press to Illumina and all eight stations of a fourth all-UV press.
Curing dosage of Illumina at the 50 percent power setting, being equal to 100 percent of conventional UV LED systems, was a key factor in Atlantic’s decision. The retrofit allowed Atlantic Packaging to remove multiple pieces of equipment from its operations space (pictured) replacing it all with just a 3-ft. x 6-ft. requirement for power and water circulation units. The entire chilling system was removed, due to COLDCURE technology.
Atlantic Packaging experienced 132 hours of reduced maintenance and 92 percent energy savings yearly from the retrofit, with 205,000 total annual kwh reduced to 17,400 kwh, eliminating more than $25,000 in costs.
“Our press operators are loving the simplicity of the unit and being able to increase and decrease power to each station using the touchscreen,” Keegan says. “They also like the fact they can come right in and fire the press up and not have to wait for the lamps to warm up.” Press speed increased by about 50 fpm. Both presses have shown much tighter registration.
Atlantic, now with more than 900 employees, continues to thrive, adding a $10 million packaging solution center in Charlotte in 2017 and recently moving into a 17,300 sq. ft. addition to its Wilmington headquarters.
Communicating Color
GMG Americas
Color consistently plays a significant role in package print production and remains an ever-present concern in the world of flexography. GMG Americas explores how colors are specified, matched and communicated across the supply chain, as well as how colors can sometimes lose their way and how to keep them on track. The critical concerns: the digital and visual exchange of color; print feasibility, spectral data, colorimetry and metamerism.
- GMG ColorCard:A 2020 InterTech Technology Award recipient and a 2020 Label Industry Global Award for Innovation winner, ColorCard produces digital ink drawdowns—accurate color samples on specific substrates, but shown digitally, rather than from a traditional process. It allows users to create drawdowns in less than three minutes, saving up to 90 percent of the time that is currently required for conventional production. Reliable, color accurate results can be reproduced with one click
- GMG ColorServer Multicolor:In packaging, digital printing has become increasingly important. Instead of using spot colors, brand colors must be displayed with a fixed ink set. To achieve consistent results across all processes—digitally and conventionally—jobs can print on any press available, delivering welcome flexibility in the pressroom. GMG ColorServer Multicolor achieves increased vibrancy in images while accurately matching brand colors and saving time and money
- GMG ColorProof GOoffers remote proofing, delivering consistent, reliable print results, independent of location. Data handling via a browser assures easy administration and distribution of data. All proofing systems and printers can be monitored and managed at any time and any place
- GMG OpenColorsoftware, a 2013 recipient of an FTA Technical Innovation Award, is always a GMG highlight. With the increasing use of multi-color printing and different combinations of inks, substrates, screening and other variables, package printing involves many color fingerprints and profile tweaking
Multiple Uses
Richard Jackson, Director of Sales, K Laser Technology
As the print market becomes more competitive, printers are seeking innovative ways to diversify their portfolio, while simultaneously cutting costs and saving money. Offset and flexographic printers are increasingly investing in digital technology to take advantage of the opportunities in variable print, short runs and more. However, as these converters move into new press technologies, they often acquire the burden of a second or third set of consumables inventory.
As the industry knows, consumables can occupy a large part of your facility. Space is valuable and printers working with multiple print technologies have to double their inventory for consumables that fit only one type of print process, such as substrates, ink, cold foil, adhesives and more.
In the past, if a client wanted unique holographic accents printed digitally, a printer would need to purchase a roll of digital-compatible cold foil for the job. Unless another customer came along that requested the same cold foil roll and printed digitally, that beautiful roll may end up collecting dust or be thrown away to create space for more common cold foil rolls.
KOLDfoil ONE is the only cold foil solution in the market with the ability to perform on three different printing applications: flexography, digital and offset. Converters can save money in inventory space and costs. Rather than storing two or three cold foil rolls to use on their compatible technologies, printers only need to store one roll of cold foil. KOLDfoil ONE rolls can be interchanged among machines in no time. Printers save money in inventory management, while simultaneously maximizing their roll usability. One roll. One space. Multiple uses.
The K Laser Cold Foil Business Unit (CFBU) is the only supplier of KOLDfoil ONE. With two locations on each American coast, K Laser CFBU is your one-stop.