Gain in Spain

The sale of a Rotaflexo Mark II Evolution 'high graphics' seven colour flexo post printer to the Daniel Aguilo Panisello (DAPSA) corrugated board production plant in Amposta, Spain, was a strategic coup, claims Cuir CCM.

"This is our entry into Spain with the Mark II printer, enthuses Marc Sabbagh, the chairman of the French company. We already have an important customer base in this country, but now the Mark II has also been recognized as the outstanding printing machine by the Spanish market. We have registered many sales contacts after this installation, because the DAPSA plant can be seen as a 'strategic-vision plant' for this country. Very often we have heard 'if DAPSA/SAICA bought it, it must be excellent, no doubt'," he reports.

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According to Cuir, there are more than 300 Rotaflexo print units in operation worldwide, with Mondi, Smurfit Cartomills and Kappa among the users.

DAPSA, part of the SAICA group, has four plants in Spain, including Amposta. The Cuir machine opens up a new dimension of high graphics printing for the company, which runs it in three shifts, seven days a week. According to general manager Domingo Fornos: "Our main objective is to offer high quality products and services to a highly competitive packaging market. Therefore we have an absolute commitment towards quality. This is the main requirement of new machinery for our plant, and this was obtained perfectly by the Cuir machine."

The two companies have set up a future collaboration contract to "constantly adapt the printer and its surroundings to the evolving market requirements". Regular follow-up meetings between the companies are scheduled to assure "an extreme quality and performance level" for each partner, making this installation a real reference machine, says Cuir.

"Many potential clients have already indicated their interest to visit the DAPSA installation during their decision process and before their own purchase of such a machine," reports Carsten Varney, Cuir's marketing manager.

The Rotaflexo Mark II Evolution in Amposta has a width of 2,200mm – claimed to be 10 per cent more than other high graphics printing machines. Features include fully automatic anilox roll change in less than a minute, simultaneously on all seven print groups. There is also a sample pick-up system and camera control for constant quality verification on the fly, and a UV dryer and infra red dryers on all groups.

Top speed is 10,000 sheets/hour, which due to the large size of the machine represents 37,000m²/hour. Register precision of within 0.1mm is claimed, using Cuir's patented Real Direct Drive technology. Tight dot gain control is also cited, together with the absence of any banding, as there is no problem with mechanical wear.