Page 72 - Print21 July-August 2022

People in Print
the OVERflow
Ferag founder Walter Reist passes away
Walter Reist, founder
of Ferag – which became one of the biggest developers of mailroom solutions for newspapers, magazines and catalogues – has passed away, at the age of 95.
Just a few years after he founded Ferag it had become one of the world’s leading developers of mailroom technology in newspaper and magazine production. Virtually all the world’s media titans were regular visitors to the company’s Swiss HQ, including the likes of Robert Maxwell, Franz Burda and Rupert Murdoch.
His systems enabled the growth of publications in the west, in communist countries – Pravda was a customer – and in the developing world. 21
Above Vale Walter Reist: enabled the growth of publications worldwide
Kirk installs touch-free fl xo platemaking line
Leading flexo platemaking house Kirk Group
has installed a new
ThermoFlexX imager combined with a full Catena+ platemaking line from XSYS, which it says is boosting its overall equipment efficiency.
The new system offers fully automated and completely touch-free production of flexo plates, with a reduction in waste for greater sustainability in the process for the prepress specialist.
Kirk Group decided to implement a fully automatic platemaking line from XSYS, consisting of a ThermoFlexX imager combined with a Catena-E LED exposure unit,
a Catena-WDLS washer,
dryer and light-finisher and a Catena-R for rotating the plates between the exposure and wash-out units.
This modular system, known as Catena+, is an end-to-end automated solution, that removes operator intervention, and says XSYS, “greatly” reduces waste. Kirk Group is among the first companies in the world to leverage the benefits.
The company says the new Catena+ platemaking line was installed to increase
Touch-free flexo plate production: Robert Selvaggio, Kirk Group, (left) with Yves Vanryckeghem, XSYS
capacity, productivity, and quality consistency. It features dual head imaging, allowing an imaging speed of up to 12sqm an hour, and standard resolution up to 5080 dpi,
plus an "ultra-high-resolution" option, which Kirk Group is leveraging for its clients in the security printing sector.
Over the five decades since its inception in 1972, when Graeme Kirk first set up his business to produce gravure cylinders, Kirk Group has grown to become a packaging industry leader. The company is today the largest supplier
of artwork services and
image carrier solutions across Australia and New Zealand, counting global brands and major printing companies as its customers.
Headquartered in Minto,
in Sydney, Kirk Group also
has manufacturing sites in Melbourne, Brisbane, and Auckland, with a total of 120 staff, along with sales offices
in Christchurch, and more recently in Mumbai, India. As managing director, Graeme Kirk – inducted into the FPLMA Hall of Fame in 2018 – is still involved in the business. 21
72 Print21 JULY/AUGUST 2022