Aquaflex Press Sales Strong in 2006

DUNCANSVILLE, Pa.—Aquaflex, owned by F.L. Smithe Machinery, announced that it significantly exceeded 2006 sales projections nearly doubling sales over the previous year.

Mac Rosenbaum, vice president of F. L. Smithe said, “We nearly doubled the number of presses sold in 2006 over 2005. And, in 2005 we virtually doubled the number of presses delivered in 2004. It’s very gratifying to see the industry respond so positively to our new Aquaflex product line. We’ve all worked very hard to make the line relevant to the printer’s present and future needs.”

While company officials declined to reveal specific sales data, they report that production lines have been booked for months in advance, and that capacity in the 200,000 square foot manufacturing plant is full.

Aquaflex was acquired by F. L. Smithe in 2004. Immediately the company began to make sweeping improvements to the product line incorporating their extensive experience in servo-driven machinery. At Labelexpo that year, they introduced a new concept press prototype of the FPC Servo. This revolutionary new press design featured a robust inline print head and advanced sleeve technology. Soon after Labelexpo sales began to grow and the brand started its climb back to a leadership position in the package printing industry.

In September of 2006, Aquaflex demonstrated the new FPC Servo along with another new product—the ELS Servo for tag, labels, and flexible packaging. The ELS prints on traditional label substrates as well as film, providing an affordable upgrade path for tag and label printers to diversify into flexible packaging.

In just under two years Aquaflex has successfully launched two new industry-changing printing presses. Paul Teachout, product development manager for Aquaflex, said, “The FPC and ELS products could not have been developed in under two years without F.L. Smithe’s extensive experience in servo technology. Our engineers knew where and how to apply servos effectively—this saved us months of experimentation and design adjustments.”