Solid base for Nilpeter’s
FA-4 UV flexo press
According to Jakob Landberg, Nilpeter’s sales and marketing director, the 13″ wide FA-3300 UV flexo press has proved to be one of the company’s best sellers in recent years. However, he has high hopes for the FA-4 modular UV flexo press in setting another company record. Apparently more than 50 have already been installed or ordered since the introduction of the four-model FA-Line series in late 2005. With an average of eight units per press, that represents 400 units. Interestingly, the FA-4 has a wider-than-normal web width of 16.5″ (420mm) and as a servo driven press can hardly be described as entry level. In fact with a top speed of 575 feet per minute (175 meters per minute), it is a high performance press with multi-substrate capability.
Landberg explains that label printers are faced with shorter runs, shorter margins and shorter lead time demands: “Our sales success with the FA-Line clearly shows that by focusing on developing a ‘Lean Production Machine’ we have hit the trend. Nowadays you can make money between printing jobs by reducing setup times and minimizing waste, but first you must make the operator’s job easier by focusing on the job changeover functions. On our presses these not only help the operator, but also the financial department too.”
Recent European sales include an eight-color version to produce shrink sleeves and PSA labels at Sutermeister, near Milan. The first UK sale was to The Label Makers Ltd. in Bradford, West Yorkshire, which now owns two of them. The RAKO Group in Witzhave, Germany, installed 10-color and eight-color versions in October and November 2006. The first press combines flexo and screen printing, while the 10-unit version has automatic unwind and rewind units from Martin Automatic to allow non-stop operation for large print runs. Flexiket a/s in Risskov, Denmark, recently installed an eight-unit FA-4 as its first UV flexo press. APE Etiquettes of Neuville de Poitou in France installed an FA-4 fitted with a dual unwind, which allows it to print double laminated labels for motor oils.
Much further afield, the Norway based Skanem Group opened a new plant 34 miles south of Bangkok with two FA-4 presses, each with nine units and one with a gravure module. Etiprak of Santiago, Chile, installed the first FA-4 in South America — an eight-color version dedicated to shrink sleeve printing. It joins three FA-3300s, also with eight units each. Syracuse Labels of Liverpool in upper New York state has the first FA-4 in the USA. Group Lelys in Montreal, Quebec, runs Nilpeter’s first Canadian FA-4 with 10 UV flexo units. Finally, Admark Visual Imaging of Hamilton, New Zealand, runs a nine-unit version for multi-substrate production.