TERRUGGIA, Italy—In February, two innovative inking and washup systems from BFT Flexo were installed on a Langston 196-in. jumbo corrugated post-print machine at Technoflex Inc. GT-Corr is a complete system, equipped with PLC, touch screen and a new manifold designed by BFT.
This BFT Flexo system is developed to give stable speed control of both the feed and return pumps during the printing process. The new BFT manifold is able to reverse the feed pump, allowing up to 100 percent recovery of all the ink present in the doctor blade system as well as the supply lines. The GT-Corr system offers various washup options for complete cleaning of the blade system, ink lines and anilox roller.
Based on tests carried out during production changeover, 90 percent of the ink typically lost during washup was recaptured by the BFT GT-Corr and washup water was reduced by 30 percent. During a simulation with different units, for a 4-color corrugated post-print machine with chamber doctor blades, 110-in. anilox length, an average of two changeovers per shift, two shifts a day, a return on investment can be observed after only 10 months. Adding savings in time/materials, the ROI is limited to eight months, according to BFT Flexo.
Additional options available for the GT-Corr system include ink temperature and viscosity control. The BFT GT-Corr system also offers on screen blade system pressure adjustment as well as blade life tracking.
Neil Livesey, president of Technoflex and official American distributor of BFT Flexo, said, ”The GT-Corr system was easily installed and our customer was very happy with the results. The system has been operational for two weeks with our customer seeing less ink usage and reduced changeover times. I would class this as a perfect compliment to any corrugated post-print machine ”