Flint Group, the global leading manufacturer of printing equipment and consumables, inaugurated its regional technology centre Asia Pacific (ATC), located at the Shanghai Publishing and Printing College (SPPC).
It allows continued expansion of technical support, services and provides a location for state-of-the-art development, plate manufacturing, training, and education. The company has invested about €2 million in the technology centre, where Flint Group technicians cooperate with SPPC members in a 400sq m space.
“The ATC is an important milestone within our global innovation network to help our customers capturing the growth in the packaging market. We can not only showcase what can be done within the flexographic printing space, but more importantly provide a platform to develop solutions with and for our customers and the entire value chain,” said Friedrich von Rechteren, global commercial vice-president, Flint Group.
The technology centre features a complete solution of nyloflex, nyloprint, rotec and ThermoFlexX plate processing equipment, as well as facilities for training, education, and in-depth evaluation.
It offers an inspiring environment for Flint Group customers to develop future packaging solutions and to unlock the keystones of innovation: creativity, productivity and collaboration.
“SPPC in Shanghai is a strategic choice for our technology centre in Asia Pacific, where we are committed to grow. Flint Group has now another unique facility for teaching and testing excellence, incorporating a concept for the development of all kinds of future printing plates and plate processing solutions,” said von Rechteren.
Roy Schoettle, vice-president, Flexographic Asia Pacific, emphasised, “Asia has the confluence of large and fast-growing markets. As it is Flint Group’s ambition to become the innovation leader in flexographic plates and sleeves solutions, we are addressing this challenge through continuous innovation for our customers as well as offering space for developing our employees, as they are our important guarantors for the success of our company.”
One pillar of Flint Group’s customer-centric approach is creating global and regional innovation centres, such as the Global Innovation Centre for Paper and Board in Malmö, Sweden; the Global Colour Centre in Lodz, Poland, as well as the Flexographic Technical Centres in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, and Stuttgart, Germany.