Maximum productivity in combination with top
print quality and flexibility, plus significantly less waste / Ultimate
Packaging underlines its market leadership in flexible packaging in the UK /
Commissioning scheduled for July 2012
 |
| Nigel Tonge, Andreas Kückelmann and Chris Tonge |
Ultimate Packaging, Grimsby / UK, is buying
the Bobst F&K 20SIX drupa machine to produce flexible packaging. The company's
decision to make the investment was influenced by the high productivity,
flexibility and cost-efficiency of the innovative machine, as well as the
outstanding print quality and significantly reduced waste. Ultimate Packaging
has already installed three 8-colour flexo presses from Bobst. The company's
experience with the dependability of the technology and the service were
additional factors that encouraged the management of Ultimate Packaging to
expand the long-standing cooperation with its partner Bobst. The F&K 20SIX
– which is celebrating its world première at drupa 2012 – is scheduled for
installation in June 2012.
"With its performance and innovative
features, the F&K 20SIX is the ideal answer to the demands encountered in
the production of flexible packaging, e.g. for fresh and chilled foods. It will
help us to further expand our leading position in this market in the UK,"
says Ultimate Packaging's Managing Director Nigel Tonge, explaining the
decision to make the investment.
In addition to offering a high production
capacity of up to 600 m/min with web widths of up to 1,300 mm, the F&K
20SIX also has significantly lower makeready times. The print jobs for the
innovative central-impression (CI) flexo press with smartGPS and smartCOL can
be prepared off the press. While smartGPS sees to offline registration and
printing pres-sure setting, smartCOL likewise operates offline to check the
colour before going onto the press, adjusting it and setting the required
colour tone. "With the F&K 20SIX, we can re-duce the makeready times
from the previous two hours to about 20 minutes in the future. All in all, the
F&K 20SIX offers a substantial increase in productivity," commented
Chris Tonge, Sales and Marketing Director at Ultimate Packaging. And because
the press no longer has to print in order to set up the individual print jobs,
there is a minimum amount of waste. In addition to which, neither ink nor
energy is wasted. Moreover, no extensive machine capacity has to be blocked for
makeready. "All that decisively reduces our pro-duction costs, another
important argument in favour of the machine," says Nigel Tonge.
The F&K 20SIX is based on the FP 16
Series, but features a host of innovative components that were developed in
close collaboration with Bobst customers. These innovations permit not only the
high printing quality, but also the particular user-friendliness and
flexibility of the machine. All the modules of the F&K 20SIX are
characterised by extraordinary stability. The excellent register accuracy
achieved thanks to the high-quality servo drives makes an important
contribution to the particularly high printing quality. Says Chris Tonge:
"In our eyes, the F&K 20SIX delivers the best print quality of all
comparable CI flexo presses."
The decision to buy was preceded by tests at Bobst
Bielefeld. "Using identical production data, we aim to obtain exactly the
same colour values on both our digital printing press and the F&K
20SIX," reports Nigel Tonge, adding a further criterion in favour of
installing the machine.
Ultimate Packaging has past experience of the
reliability of the machines from Bielefeld, and the company additionally welcomes
the creation of the new Bobst Services department, which increases the
availability of Bobst machines around the globe by providing innovative
solutions, e.g. for remote maintenance. In addition, the re-organised, global
Spare Parts Logistics department is targeting a processing time of less than a
day and 95% availability for all spare parts.
"Ultimate Packaging traditionally
imposes especially high demands on its production systems. Against that
backdrop, we're all the more pleased that this particular company, the leader
in the UK, has decided to buy the first F&K 20SIX in the world,"
stated Andreas Kückelmann, Managing Director of Bobst Bielefeld GmbH, on the
occasion of signing the contract on the Bobst exhibition stand in Hall 10 at
this year's drupa on 10 May.
Ultimate Packaging is based in Grimsby,
North-East Lincolnshire, UK, and is the country's leading independent
manufacturer of flexible packaging. The company was established in 1982,
currently employs about 240 people and supplies roughly 90% of its products to
the food industry. The family-run business offers leading British manufacturers
of branded goods a complete range of products and services relating to the
production of flexible packaging from a single source, from concept design to
print. Among the company's best-known customers are Aunt Bessie's, Florette and
Young's Seafood. Ultimate are approved to supply all of the UK supermarkets.
Bobst is the world’s leading supplier of
machinery and services to packaging manufacturers in the folding carton,
corrugated board and flexible material industries.
