Commercial Printer Expands Into Packaging With Lithrone G640 advance with Coater and UV Curing

Poland’s Print Extra has installed a six colour Komori Lithrone G40 Advance with coater and UV LED drying to accommodate its increased demand for packaging production. The company was established in 1993 in Lodz – Poland’s third largest city, noted for its extensive higher education institutions and now for its burgeoning reputation as an emerging multi-industry technologies hub.

Maciej and Robert Pospiech

Print Extra, jointly owned by Maciej and Robert Pospiech, installed its first Komori, the four colour B2 Lithrone S29 in 2015, primarily for commercial print and it was the Lithrone’s H-UV fast drying low energy technology which helped Print Extra to introduce packaging production into its portfolio.

So much so, that in 2018 the company installed another B2 Komori, this time what was Poland’s first GL29 Lithrone – with five printing units, coater and with the added flexibility of hybrid H-UVC.

Says Maciej Pospiech: “With the GL29 we made substantial inroads into the packaging market, giving us the confidence to introduce more packaging-focused equipment into our finishing lines including die-cutting and a folder-gluer.”

Adds Robert Pospiech:” The UV technologies of the five colour GL29 enabled us to add special colours and different varnish finishes and it’s what gave us a stronghold in the packaging market. Despite Covid, which adversely affected the demand for commercial print, the call for packaging production increased strongly and, as we increased our packaging client base across Poland and beyond, we knew that the packaging sector was the key to the company’s future development.”

Maciej Pospiech: “This had far-reaching consequences. To capitalize on our planned future investments, expansion and consolidation of our headquarters was needed, with an enlarged machine park to accommodate the additional press, pre-press, and packaging-specific finishing equipment. Our recently completed reconstruction has tripled the size of our production area and also created more warehousing for raw materials to ensure we are always able to deliver quick response times and to provide, if necessary, storage for part orders of bulky packaging print, to relieve the pressures on customers’ own storage facilities.”

The Packaging Specification Advance
The new six colour Lithrone Advance G40 at Print Extra has Komori’s packaging print specification with Komori’s FAPC Simultaneous Plate change, Komori PQA-S inline Print Quality Assessment system and the PDC-SX Spectral Print Density Control. The press runs at speeds up to 16,500 sheets an hour – amongst the major benefits which influenced Print Extra’s decision to add a B1 press to its machine firepower.

Explains Robert Pospiech: “ As high volumes of packaging print started to feature more prominently on our production schedule, we had no doubts that extra printing capacity was essential. Our first thoughts were to add another B2 press but when we looked at the new B1 Lithrone Advance Series and, in particular, when the Komori and Reprograf-Grafikus teams introduced us to the packaging version, its productivity and control technologies were decision changers for us.

“It had everything we considered a packaging production machine should have. The additional plinth to increase feeder and delivery pile heights, the inline optical inspection camera, the spectral density control, the automated plate change, varnishing options – and critically, every streamlined aspect of press management.

“We could see that not only would it massively increase our output but also improve our competitiveness. That has held true - now, even runs reaching hundreds of thousands integrate smoothly into our schedules. The flexibility to produce on a full range of packaging substrates and add a whole variety of hybrid and UV varnish finishes also gives our design team the opportunity to propose new added value creative ideas for our clients’ packaging. Even more so, since we added, along with B1 die-cutting and folder gluing, new high speed finishing facilities such as saddle-stitching, foil stamping, further binding options and laminating.”

Print Extra’s have maintained a growth rate of 30% before and since the installation of the Lithrone Advance and, as Maciej Pospiech reports: “Almost every week new customers provide us with the opportunity to explain to them how our investments such as the Lithrone Advance, under our philosophy - Printing for Business - are all, in reality, for the benefit of their businesses!”

Source: Swiat Poligrafii Professional

https://www.printnews.pl/poligrafia-dla-biznesu-print-extra/

About Komori America Corporation

Tokyo-based Komori Corporation, a premier manufacturer of offset and digital presses, provides world-class technology based on three tenets core to which all Komori products are delivered—product reliability, outstanding print quality and substrate flexibility. From unsurpassed print quality and impressively fast makeready to intuitive software, Komori is dedicated to helping its customers navigate the changing market landscape. With hundreds of patents, a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, and representation around the globe, Komori is laser-focused on the advancement of print. Komori America Corporation is headquartered in Rolling Meadows, IL and manages a sales and service organization throughout North America.

Visit Komori America at https://www.komori-america.us/ and follow us at:

Lance Martin
Vice President Marketing
Komori America & MBO America
630-725-8740
lance.martin@mboamerica.com

Sandy Armstrong
Director of Media & Communications
Sterling Kilgore
630-964-8500 ext. 228
sarmstrong@sterlingkilgore.com