Kari Gronholm, Kariko managing director placed the order after a recent visit to the Rapid factory in Chatswood to see the development work on the press design. The order consists of a 265mm web width version of the first of the high tech Smart servo-driven flexographic machines, which were wholly designed in house at Rapids new facility in Chatswood, Sydney.
According to Bruce Mansell, Rapid Machinery engineering manager, this new press design has features not found in flexographic presses up to now including the time saving auto wash up on the fly.
Designed for printing on any substrate from 20 micron up to light board the press design is totally modular and may be extended by the addition of units without the aid of a factory technician. This is due to the fact that the press is totally electronically driven and controlled by a proprietary fibre optic network. This allows plug and play style connections by simple plug in units. A totally sealed inking system with a minimum ink mix of only 250 millilitres of ink is also featured, as is a re-register facility allowing multi passes to be performed in register.
Kariko will be the first to benefit from the new press, adding it to its exisiting fleet of machinery, much of it which was sourced from Rapid. The technology is over six years in the making, and Rapid have worked hard to emulate the quality of Rotary Letterpress with this flexo unit. The press will be shown at Labelexpo in Brussels in September for the first time.
According to Mansell, there are numerous reasons why such customers as Kariko remain impressed and loyal to his company.
“We have been able to set the pricing structure of the press at very competitive level due to the use of smart manufacturing technology, modularisation and use of common components through out the press,” says Mansell.
“We believe this machine design will find use in a number of printing industry sectors such as label printing, card manufacture, aluminium foil printing, pharmaceutical boxes and even short run packaging film printing.”
The press is available in any width up to 13″ with 20″ web available in the future. Up to 12 colours are offered, with a extensive list of options.
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