Upbeat Crowd for Nilpeter at Labelexpo

ROSEMONT, Ill.—Despite the global economic downturn, Labelexpo Americas 2010 held in Chicago proved a positive event for Nilpeter. It took orders for 18 presses over the show’s three days. The Danish press manufacturer introduced two new UV-flexo presses, each demonstrated with 8-color units, among a total of five Nilpeter presses displayed at the show. A prototype of a new approach to in-line diecutting also attracted much attention.

“We had a good flow of visitors, including Latin American countries. There were far more sales opportunities than two years ago,” said Jakob Landberg, sales director. He said that even before the show opened, the company was taking orders from certain converters wanting to beat the queue. “We were especially encouraged by visitors’ interest in our new FA-6 UV-flexo press. Its wider width of 22.5 inches (570 mm) is ideal for converters entering the flexible packaging market as part of a one-stop label and packaging service. It also meets the needs of converters who regularly handle extremely long runs of conventional labels, such as 120,000 meters for example."

Nilpeter also introduced the FG-4200 with a wider web width up to 16.75 inches (425 mm). Equipped with a film package it can process various label and packaging materials. Andy Colletta, CEO of Nilpeter USA, said, “The U.S. market has been waiting for a sleeve-based narrow-web flexo press—we feel a very high interest and demand already for the new FG-Line.”

New approach to diecutting
Nilpeter’s Revolver is a new approach to diecutting. At Labelexpo, visitors saw a prototype of a complete module that allows operators to load successive solid tooling, or magnetic flexible die plate cylinders, into the module and index them in just a few seconds. As a simple-to-operate in-line device, Revolver saves time and reduces start-up waste.

Flexo versus digital
A Nilpeter FB-3300S successfully represented UV-flexo printing in the series of Labelexpo Technology Workshops, introduced for the first time and held in a neutral environment. Three different self-adhesive labels were printed using four different imaging technologies: UV-flexo, UV-inkjet, dry toner, and wet toner with complementary finishing processes. Each job used the same EskoArtwork prepress tools and MIS job files/workflows from three system suppliers. Nilpeter’s contribution featured its latest High Definition (HD) flexo plates. A neutral moderator ran the well-attended workshops. The aim was to allow attendees to see how each of the competing technologies could produce the same job origination on identical substrate qualities, and so optimize label print performance and quality.