The self-adhesive label industry is one of the most innovative industries in the graphic arts. Press manufacturers and label converters have developed a wide range of printing and converting technologies which make of the label industry a “graphic university” to perform the most superb graphic effects. But if creativity of the selfadhesive label industry is nearly unlimited, the traditional bottleneck in production is still the ability to remove the waste around the die-cut labels. A thin matrix of waste which has the tendency to break obliges to reduce the press speeds. Various solutions have been developed during the years, but the most innovative systems could not overcome the waste rewinding limitations, which have settled a “comfortable production speed” between 60 and 100 meters per minute for most of the label presses in the market. The risk of press stops due to possible waste breaks convince most of the press operators worldwide not to “dare” higher production speeds.
Based on these experiences Nuova GIDUE S.r.l., the Italian manufacturer of printing and converting machines for the labels and packaging industry, has developed (and applied for patents) an integrated waste rewinding system which claims to change the scenario of productivity of the self-adhesive industry.
The SnowBall system is based on a tight interaction between servo assisted operations and a rewind architecture which obliges the waste to rewind on a fixed point, to creates a stable and reliable build-up of a “snow-ball” of waste matrix. The system is integrated by a completely automatic waste “threading” system (the QuickCut) which eliminates the traditional manual operations of separating the waste from the die-cut label.
As a result of the integrated 2 systems, all the operations related to the waste matrix rewind are fully automated, as well as all the adjustments to achieve the highest possible speeds, which are also automated and servo controlled. By using the combination of SnowBall and QuickCut devices the press production speeds and handling operations are rarely limited by the waste matrix rewind. And finally press operators gain confidence in handling the presses at high speeds with substantial improvements in label productivity.
Federico d’Annunzio adds: ”the tradition of our Flower flexo “revolutionary” concepts apply also to our new SnowBall and QuickCut devices: no adjustments, simplicity, easiness of operation, independency from the skills of the operators. And high quality at high speeds. We have delivered a new MASTER Combat flexo press equipped with both the new systems to a major European label producer; just after one week of production he could run most of his jobs at almost the double speed he is currently producing on his existing (twentyseven) label presses. They could reach production speeds of one hundred and seventy five meters per minute. And probably the true limits of the system are still unknown. The new flexographic MASTER Combat is designed for high productivity, so it can take full advantage of the new matrix rewind improved speeds. We believe that the new GIDUE technology “package” (Flexo MASTER Combat, SnowBall and QuickCut) is setting new rules in the production of self-adhesive labels, breaking limits which were established since many years, setting new objectives of profitability for label converters.”
Nuova GIDUE informs also that several MASTER Combat presses have been delivered and are under construction since the initial launch in April. MASTER Combat, SnowBall and QuickCut are trademarks of Nuova GIDUE S.r.l.
