Chennai-based Multiflex Polybags, a leading flexible packaging producer of labels, pouches, and polybags (before it set up two automated paper bag lines), has installed a new 8-color Soma 880 CI flexo press in its main Chennai plant. The press is the one that was sitting in Soma’s demonstration center, and partly because of that, it is a highly automated press with all the bells and whistles for makeready, registration, and cleaning purposes without wastage of materials and time.
Multiflex’s Pratik Mehta told us, “The press was purchased for short runs and especially for use on easily recyclable PE-PE structures, and we were in a hurry because the pandemic made it difficult to travel. Our Soma 880 is equipped to print on flexible film from 12 microns to 150 microns in thickness and on paper substrates up to 240 gsm.” Mehta added, “In recent years, the runs have become very short for flexible packaging and this is why we bought this press. Also, because it is very compact, it could fit exactly in the space that was occupied by our first CI flexo press that we bought in 2002.”
He added that the press could print with both solvent and water-based inks, and Multiflex plans to use it to produce easily recyclable packaging on both films and paper. “The hot air curing systems are already in place for switching from one kind of process to the other, and the post-print and the interdeck hot air drying systems merely need to be cleaned and flushed out before the changeover.”
Multiflex is an award-winning flexo printer and converter with numerous Asian Flexo awards to its credit. Familiar with CI flexo printing and well known for producing plastic shopping bags for Chennai’s leading garment and sari shops, the company has shifted much of that business to its recently acquired paper shopping bag lines.
New product mix – recyclable, short-run, food & FMCG
When we visited Multiflex several years ago, we saw a leader in converting specialized flexible materials, and it had substantial clientele amongst agricultural seed and chemicals manufacturers. More recently, with the installation of a Windsor 5-layer blown film line about a year and a half ago, it has become a leading supplier of flexible pouch materials for edible oil, milk, and specialized medical laminates – all using polyolefin dedicated (POD) laminates.
The Optima 880, which is 880 mm wide, is a very compact CI flexo press demonstrated at exhibitions with automation features for rapid changeover and low wastage with high performance. The press runs at a speed of 300 meters a minute and can print materials with a width of 820 mm.
Highly automated CI flexo for short runs
The compact Optima CI flexo installed at Multiflex has several extraordinary features and very high automation built into it. These include a Central Drum Thermal stabilization system and a PPP plate protection system that automatically lifts the rollers away and out of any possible harm or damage in the case of a sudden stoppage.
In addition, it has Falcon II, an automated solution for register and impression setting in which the impression pressure is set utilizing kiss print detection between printing plate and substrate. Automatic registration of all print units is set using the drag and drop system on the web-viewer camera.
With the dynamic impression system and smart registration, the total waste produced in makeready is below 100 meters (328.1 ft) and takes a few minutes to set up. Notably, the Falcon II does not use any printed marks – it uses a standard microdot for plate mounting, so no waste strips on the side are needed.
The installation of the Optima at Multiflex at the end of March 2021, just before the second wave of the pandemic struck the city and country, required coping with elaborate travel permissions and safety requirements for the DKSH and Soma installation engineers. The Optima CI flexo is sold and serviced in India and most Asian markets by DKSH, the large trading conglomerate that spans several industries and geographies.
