Sprint Print & Packaging, based in
Kathmandu, Nepal have experienced rapid growth and as part of their expansion
plans the company installed a seven colour Edale combination UV/IR Scratch Card
line with a wide range of additional options.
Sprint, who are from a printing background,
were previously in commercial printing for the production of newspaper and
magazines. More recently, with the introduction of the new Edale press, the
company have expanded into scratch card and label production.
The 510mm wide press is configured with seven
UV/IR flexo units, an Edale CR80 card stacker; which takes multiple streams of
standard format CR80 cards from a die cut unit and transports them in a
continuous stack in discreet lanes, in sequence, and a complete personalisation
system including digital variable data printing, data verification , void
product logging and tracking.
The Edale system offers a highly productive
single pass telephone card production; this latest installation is based on
Edale’s Gamma printing and converting line. The Gamma SC-510 is fully servo
driven and comes in web widths of 430mm or 510mm with the ability to handle
substrates from 12-600 micron. Servo drives on each print head provide
pre-register, auto-register and print length control features. This, combined
with the revolutionary print head designs, ensures job change times and set up
wastage are kept to a minimum with the ability to perform a full station colour
change in under 70 seconds.
The Gamma SC-510 can be customised to suit
the exact requirements of the customer and this specific machine was designed
to combine the multiple processes normally associated with scratch card
production, in a single pass. This rationalises the production process,
eliminates work in progress and increases the security and traceability of the
cards. This single machine has been designed to produce up to 1.5million pins
per hour.
“This new press allows us to better serve our
customers by utilizing new capabilities and services that go beyond what we
could previously offer” stated Shishir Nahata, Director of Sprint. “It also
allows us to expand our reach further and be more flexible to our customers
changing needs”.
As well as running the scratch card
production, Sprint also customised the press with additional special options to
allow them to also run ‘normal’ production, so they can also adapt it for the
printing and converting of various kinds of labels and cartons.
“The installation of this scratch card line
illustrates the high security of the Edale personalisation lines and the latest
flexo technology available, eliminating outsourcing and providing our customers
with turnkey service, shortened cycle time, and enhanced quality levels on
specialized packaging,” said James Boughton, Edale’s Managing Director.
Shishir Nahata says “We decided on an Edale
as we were highly impressed with Edale’s engineering skills, and there are no
installations in Nepal which can incorporate such a wide range of substrates,
this machine seemed infinitely flexible being able to print on 12 – 600 micron
substrate and also add additional options to the press at a later date – to us,
this makes our equipment completely future proof”.
Flexo press technology is typically used for
printing high-quality labels and packaging.
The Edale Personalisation line at Sprint
delivers superior productivity and efficiency and is designed to handle very
thin film substrates, helping to expand capabilities to include overwraps on
collectible trading cards using fin seals, specialized packaging applications,
prime labels and unsupported films for bottle wraps.
The newly installed flexo press offers
several advantages over traditional presses, including minimal ink usage and
reduced waste to support environmental considerations, while the fast
make-ready times enhance productivity rates, especially for very large
projects.
