heir acquisition in June of the Merseyside-based flexible packaging printer, Arteb, UK & Europe based flexible packaging group, UNI Packaging, are set to increase their digital print capability with the arrival of a HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press. The press, which provides a 30-inch (750mm) wide-web solution for flexible packaging and sleeves, will be located at UNI Packaging’sICPACK facility in Périgny, France and will be operational in September 2014.UNI Packaging launched their digital print offering under their Digiflex® brand two years ago. Their initial investment in an HP Indigo WS6600 Digital Press provides the ideal solution for short run, multiple product SKUs, as well as extended marketing and traceability activities through its variable data printing capabilities. Alongside increasing demand for shorter run lengths, shorter lead times and higher print quality, UNI Packaging’s HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press purchase forms part of the group’s longer term investment strategy to ensure that they continue to develop a unique and specialised offering for their customers’ stringent colour and quality requirements.
Capable of gravure-matching print in high definition up to seven colours (including white ink) on a wide range of substrates, including: Film (PET, BOPP, BOPA, PE), shrink film (PETG, PVC, OPS), paper, aluminium and biodegradable materials, in thicknesses from 10 to 250 microns, this new solution provides consistent quality and flexibility for diverse packaging jobs.
Using Enhanced Productivity Mode (EPM), with no make-ready required and quick changeovers, the press is not limited by the number of jobs it can produce per day.
“The increased pressure on packaging converters in producing multiple SKU’s, has resulted in more jobs, shorter runs, shorter lead times and faster turnarounds, but with the same high quality requirements. With the new press we will soon be able to offer more digital printing capabilities to our customers, helping them improve cycle time and speed to market, lower inventory and obsolescence and produce just-in-time, cost-effective short-runs more cost-effectively,” said UNI Packaging’s CEO, Franck Caresmel.
“With our ongoing digital investment we are opening a lot of doors to new, larger customers. Last year our overall output volumes grew by 12 per cent, in large part thanks to our digital packaging line. We aim to double our turnover by 2020.”
