Page 28 - Packaging News Magazine July-August 2018

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FLEXIBLES UPDATE
Pressed to invest
Increased demand for high quality, eight-colour printed graphics on fresh food packaging has led to the installation of a new wide web flexographic press to expand capacity at the Integrated Packaging Group flexible packaging business formerly known as Poly Products. PKN reports.
LEFT: Presentation of fresh food on supermarket shelves has evolved from two colour generic images to colourful convenience packs, many sporting eight colour designs.
to increase output meant investing in additional 8-colour capacity.
The decision was taken to pur- chase another W&H press, this time a Miraflex II AM 8-colour, with fea- tures including increased run speed, reduced set up time and reduced waste, without compromising graph- ic reproduction.
BIG BENEFITS
The company says the technology advances made since the last model have been significant
Apart from the benefits of running gear (aniloxes, sleeves, adaptors, chamber blades and seals) being transferrable between presses, pro- cess control has been substantially enhanced, according to the company.
Additionally, auto viscosity, ink consumption monitoring, improved drying at speed and web manage- ment overall have more than met with expectation.
Importantly, the printers on the shop floor have made the transition from old to new confidently.
The company says it is now ideally placed, as part of the wider Integrat- ed Packaging/PPG group, to take ad- vantage of this install, which has been fully operational March 2018.
Opportunities emerging from re- sources and experience spread across six manufacturing plants in Austra- lia and New Zealand will mean prod- ucts will be manufactured by which- ever operation is most efficient, which can only benefit customers.
This investment, combined with capital injection undertaken in product and process development throughout the operation, confirms the long-term commitment the group has made to the flexible pack- aging industry. ■
HE Poly Products business was purchased by Pro-Pac Packaging (PPG) in 2013. PPG acquired Inte- grated Packaging (IPG) in October last year, and subsequently Poly Products has been absorbed into
IPG, fitting neatly into the flexible packaging manufacturing side of the business.
The company has recently in- stalled a new Windmöller & Hölscher (W&H) Miraflex II AM 8 (8-colour) wide web flexographic press at its Regency Park plant in Adelaide. This is the second W&H press at the facility, the first in- stalled over a decade ago.
The Regency Park facility special- ises in blown film extrusion, flexo- graphic printing and converting of flexible packaging, predominantly servicing fresh food markets.
KEEPING UP
Presentation of fresh food on super- market shelves has evolved from two colour generic images and limited packaging typical of the late 1990s to the now popular convenience packs most requiring up to eight colour de- signs, based on retailers’ self-generat- ed art files. This shift occurred in the early 2000s, and saw most flexible packaging converters investing in 8- 10 colour printing capability at that time. Poly Products was among them, and the company installed a W&H Primaflex 8-colour wide web gearless press in order to remain competitive and maintain its customer base.
The first press was running 24 x 5 days for over a decade, but demand continued to grow apace, and with lead times extending beyond market- acceptable levels, the pressing need
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY BOOSTS EFFICIENCY
THE MIRAFLEX II builds on W&H’s decades of experience in flexographic printing and takes previous technology developments to the next level. Optimised accessibility, improved ergonomics and sustainability combined with intuitive operation distinguish this new generation of machines, according to W&H. The rear frame and the tunnel – the area between the printing unit and the rewind unit – have been redesigned. The automatic cleaning of the impression cylinder along with the optional Turboclean Advanced E inking unit and wash-up system with special electric pumps for pulsation-free ink circulation are but two examples of the many innovations the new machine offers.
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July-August 2018