Germany - News

Lemo zips things up

In response to an increase in requests from customers to offer equipment to produce quality zipper bags, Lemo has designed the Intermat CT 850 Z.

The company's engineers used the Intermat Computronic version as a basic model, adding the necessary new components to the equipment, which produces zipper bags and bags with sliders.

The servo drive and control concept of the CT generation allows independent dwell and draw cycle adjustment and thus provides for ideal sealing conditions of film and profile, it is claimed. All the relevant drives are actuated by the industrial pc of the bag maker. Drives for the web allow for accurate tension control and prevent distortions of the bags after sealing and cutting by the side weld system with hot wedge and counter pressure roller, says Lemo.

Printed flat film is folded by the folding board to a half tube (eventually a bottom fold is added) and then fed to the longitudinal sealer before entering the main part of the bag maker. Alongside the machine, the zipper profile is unwound, tension controlled and guided in between the two layers of the web in such a way that its shoulders fit in the correct longitudinal position for subsequent sealing to the bag film on both sides.

All rollers along the path through to the sealing bar are shaped to let the thicker zipper profile pass through the line without problems, explains Lemo. Constantly heated seal bars covered by Teflon bands rotate and guide the film and zipper profile through the longitudinal sealing unit.

The zippered web then enters the main converting area of the bag maker where, for example, a slider may be applied. Each bag is opened at the zipper profile and the slider fed and positioned so that it does not interfere with the hot wedge sealing operation.

Bags can be produced either as a shingled loose chain on a lateral delivery flat belt conveyor or on stacker pins in wicketted format.

Lemo Tel: +49 228 4591-0 www.lemo-maschinenbau.com

On their metal

Metallics inks and pigments producer Eckart has opted for a FlexiProof 100 from UK manufacturer RK Print Coat Instruments.

The FlexiProof100 enables users to simulate flexo printing accurately for all prepress applications, says the company, from computer colour matching to customer presentation samples, and from quality control evaluation to R & D and printability testing. The bench-top system, a scaled down version of a full sized flexo press, can also be used to conduct pilot runs, thus freeing up a commercial press for income generating output.

RK Print Coat Tel: +44 (0)1763 852187 www.rkprint.com

S+E on site

Silicone paper specialist Schleipen & Erkens has launched its website. Visitors to www.schleipen-erkens.de. will find the latest information on S+E products, applications and company developments in German, English and Italian.

Digital film silicone problem transferred

Frantschach Release Liner claims to have developed an answer to the challenge of dealing with 'silicone transfer' - a problem for makers of self adhesive digital printing films. Traces of silicone on the surface of the films were interfering with the water soluble inks and toners used in modern digital printing technology. Printing problems, such as voids or improper ink bonds, are all too often the unwelcome outcome.

  The unwanted presence of silicone is easy to explain, says the Raubling based company. "Self adhesive films have to have release liners coated on one side with silicone as a supporting base. The silicone is applied to the substrate in liquid form and then solidified through a chemical reaction and heat. The current state of silicone chemistry, however, cannot produce a 100 per cent cure of the silicone layer. Some microscopic traces of the liquid remain on its surface. When the liner is immediately wound into a roll, some of this residue can be transferred to the reverse side.

During converting, the liner is laminated with adhesive and a paper or film (the label) to form a self adhesive material. When this is rolled up, the label side lies against the reverse side of the liner, "perfectly positioned to receive another silicone transfer".

However, Frantschach's new Digital Liner is coated on the back with a patented lacquer that absorbs and locks the silicone traces into its body, thus stopping the cycle of residue transfer from the start, it claims.

Produced in one pass on special in-line coating machines, the liner enables customers to deliver "perfectly printable" self adhesive films, it adds. It is said to work with every silicone system on the market.

Frantschach Release Liner Tel. +49 8035 901 470 www.frantschach.com

Olé for profile control

A new Varex three-layer system delivered by Windmöller & Hölscher to Aspla - Plásticos Españoles, of Torrelavega, Spain early this year is equipped with automatic gauge profile control. The installation marks the 555th Optifil P system delivered.

A leading manufacturer of films for industrial, sanitary and food applications, Aspla - Plásticos Españoles is part of Grupo Armando Alvarez, which already boasts numerous W&H blown film lines as well as a number of the company's flexo presses at its various operations.

W&H's automatic gauge profile concept is based on the reciprocal effect of the temperature of the melt as well as of the cooling down of film delivered from the die and the resulting film gauge tolerances. It was found that 90 per cent of gauge variations are attributable to inconsistent temperatures. The obvious conclusion was to counteract this phenomenon by thermal means - Optifil P. "Thermal gauge profile control has definitely proved its superiority to the conventional mechanical concept or air volume control systems," says W&H.

The system can be incorporated into new extrusion lines or retrofitted.

Windmöller & Hölscher Tel: +49 5481 14 3669 www.wuh-lengerich.de

Drupa 2004: "preaching to the converted"

"Drupa is the flagship fair for print media, publishing and converting, and has been for over half a century," boasts Horst Klosterkemper, managing director of organizer Messe Düsseldorf. "Everyone who knows drupa also knows that it sets the course for print finishing and paper converting, package production, paper and printing inks."

The 13th drupa, of which Converting Today is a media partner, is scheduled for May 6–19. "Spelling out what drupa means for the printing and media sector worldwide would be like preaching to the converted. Drupa is to this industry what the Olympic Games are to sport. And will still be next year," enthuses Horst Klosterkemper.

"This fair underscores on a global scale the innovative strength and consequently the competitive edge of the sectors concerned. It will also offer a sure guide and sound basis for upcoming investments geared to accessing the multifaceted markets of tomorrow."

At the jubilee fair three years ago 1,950 exhibitors came from 50 countries one in every two of the total of over 428,000 visitors was based outside Germany, and around 78,400 of these had made the trip to Düsseldorf from overseas. Drupa still attracts more visitors than all other print fairs put together, he reports. "When it comes to trade visitors, it's a fine line between headcount and hierarchy — or decision making calibre and standing on the company ladder.

"In this regard, drupa has never drawn less than the best: 81 per cent of the 428,428 visitors at drupa 2000 boasted either sole or joint status in their company's investment decision making.

"The 13th drupa will add a new chapter to the success story. It is anticipated that around 1,800 exhibitors from countries around the world will occupy the Trade Fair Centre waal to wall. All 17 halls, translating into a net exhibition area of around 160,000m², will be called into play. There will be no standby Hall 18, as at the last staging. However, Hall 13 is being expanded by 3,500m² to meet demand for space.

"As competition gets fiercer, it's innovations that count. Of course, it would be an overstatement to claim that drupa, with its four-year cycle, is the sole platform for new technologies," comments Horst Klosterkemper. "But it is without doubt the fair that boasts the most."

Messe Düsseldorf Tel: +49 211 4560 543 www.drupa.com

E&B takes on major German agencies

The Kroenert group and WT Wickeltechnik are to be represented in the UK and Ireland by Engelmann & Buckham.

Maschinenfabrik Max Kroenert has reappointed the agency to cover sales of all equipment from Kroenert's own factory in Hamburg, Bachofen + Meier in Bülach, Switzerland, and Drytec, of Hamburg-Norderstedt.

Says E & B's sales director, Bob Westlake: "This will renew a partnership greatly valued for many years in the UK and Irish converting industries".

Rodney Myers, who was previously employed for 27 years with Engelmann & Buckham, will continue to play a major role in the co-operation as a consultant to the company. He comments: "The combination of Kroenert and Bachofen + Meier technologies, together with the drying technology through Drytec, put the Kroenert group in a peerless position".

Since its formation, WT Wickeltechnik, of Wiehl-Marienhagen, founded by Heinz Schmidt, has "developed remarkably to become well known worldwide for its range and outstanding quality of slitting and rewinding machines for the paper, film and aluminium foil industries," says E&B.

Engelmann & Buckham Tel: +44 (0)1420 82421www.buckham.co.uk