THE THREE CHALLENGING TRENDS OF THE FLEXOGRAPHIC INDUSTRY

Industry trends without automatic mounting

Nowadays, the flexographic industry is on the rise. The higher quality demands and the more frequent-shorter job runs, mean increasing relative costs of the pre-press.

relative costs

Moreover, challenges such as the press-downtime due to mounting mistakes and the operator dependence are demanding highly effective solutions. The problems in register as well as the lack of capacity and the low quality, make the mounting department the bottleneck.

HOW TO OVERCOME THESE CHALLENGES?

The solution to all these problems mentioned above, is the digitalization of the traditional workflow by using Automatic mounting equipment, based on the latest technological advances.

WHAT IS AUTOMATIC FLEXO MOUNTING?

Automatic mounting machines use Image Recognition technology. The machine knows where the mounting marks are and compares that position with the position of where the marks should be. Subsequently the machine moves the plate to achieve a position accuracy of 5 to 20 microns.

ADVANTAGES

  • No press downtime due to mounting mistakes
  • Operator efficiency
  • Constant quality
  • Great repeatability

WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF AUTOMATIC FLEXO MOUNTING?

There are two ways to mount automatically. The Fully Automatic Mounting, where the operator places the plate in the conveyor belt and selects a job. The rest of the process is done automatically. The other way to mount automatically is the Semi-Automatic Mounting, where the operator roughly positions the plate and the machine takes over with the assistance of the pressure roller.

Automatic Mounting Machines

BUSINESS CASE

One of the leading flexo printing plants with 6 printing presses recently purchased a Fully Automatic Mounting Machine FAMM. The business case  shows how the company, which  handles  22.000 – 24.000 sleeves annually, benefited from purchasing the FAMM.

By replacing 3 manual mounting machines with only one Fully Automatic Mounting Machine, the company not only reduced the amount of operators needed per shift but also eliminated the press-downtime and maximized their annual savings. The most important,the company had a Return on Investment in the first 6 months and increased the printing quality.

SUPPORTING EQUIPMENT TO OPTIMIZE THE PRE-PRESS FLOW

Besides the Automatic Mounting, the pre-press flow can be optimized by a Tape Applicator and a Demounter, in order to easily apply and remove tapes, plate making equipment and the TIR Measurement System, which measures the condition of the sleeve’s surface and roundness.

AV Flexologic offers a wide range of machines with different levels of automation. If you need any more information regarding our equipment, please visit our product page. If you have any questions regarding the machines, please contact us.