Wide-Web Presses: At Your Service

pP: What major trends do you see in wide-web printing?
Wolf—From an industry standpoint, there is a lot of continued excitement in a number of market areas. One is the stand-up and re-sealable zipper bags and pouches. This market continues to see 6-8 percent growth rates with even higher growth rates in special market segments as more and more rigid packaging is being replaced by flexible packaging. The healthcare and pharmaceutical markets will continue to grow at similar rates due to the aging of us “baby boomers.” What this means to a supplier of converting machinery such as Comexi is that we must remain current with our product lines to meet the demands of the converters by offering wider and faster CI presses, solvent-less laminators and slitter rewinders. Research and development and market understanding plays an ever-increasing roll in the type of machines that we manufacture. To prosper and excel in this industry as a machine supplier, you must be and remain flexible in your approach. To do otherwise would be render you stiff and rigid.
Flathmann—The trend that is most obvious to us is the movement toward wider widths, larger repeats, and higher press speeds. That’s not something that is going to be custom made for everyone’s market, it will depend on the individual client and their customers. Traditional gearless sleeve based presses can take you far beyond the through put of older geared presses, and make you much more profitable. It is, however, the proactive dynamic companies that take the next step into addressing their customers needs that will be driving the market for the foreseeable future to wider widths and higher speeds.
Jacques—The continued drive for high-quality, consistent printing has driven machines ever wider and faster, in order to provide better economics. Long repeat presses are in demand for overwrap and bundling applications, driven by club store volume growth. Changeover efficiency is paramount to prospering in the age of short runs. More and more functions in the press operating platform are computer-based and are being networked into front office software applications.
Multi-color process systems like Opaltone provide better consistency and improved economics, and the number of 10-color presses is increasing.