Exploring Middle Ground

Paul Schwemin, VP/Mfg./Co-owner, Duralam, Appleton, WI

Profile: Flexographic printer, 98 percent on thin films, 2 percent on paper

Duralam purchased a 29 inches mid-web, central-impression flexographic press from Paper Converting Machine at a time when we had three other 52 inches-57 inches flexo presses. With some customers requesting average run sizes of 4,000 lineal feet, our objective was to handle short runs. We needed a press that could substantially improve make-ready time. The mid-web press reduced makeready on 8-color jobs from eight hours to one hour, mainly because of quick-change features such as cylinders that can be changed by hand instead of with chain hoists.