From September 17-20, Faenza (Italy) has been the focus of worldwide label converters where PRATI held a very successful Open House event under the theme "Experience the Automation".
PRATI's modern and spacious show rooms bustled with activity when delegations of printers from South America, Australia, Japan, Southeast Asia, Russia as well as North and Central Europe and the Middle East came together. Many of those visited Faenza and the site for the first time. The label converters were given a technical introduction and tour around PRATI's demonstration center where at different stations the most innovative machines were showcased. All of them designed by PRATI to meet the demands and requirements of label and flexible packaging printers thus helping them to solve their production issues.
Quite a number of the machines in the company's vast product portfolio have been designed in collaboration with PRATI's loyal customers. Listening to client company's problems, studying and designing the best solutions for their issues results in PRATI's customers being taking care of in terms of all their production requirements.
The whole event focused around automation in all its practical aspects: from control of printed reels and finishing to maximising productivity involving drastic reduction of human errors and standardising quality, service and reliability thus enhancing ROI with PRATI machines.
Many visitors were impressed and expressed their positive opinion about the event. The presented technical solutions were conceived as the most modern and advanced in the industry.
The new finish line ALHENA IML in mold-labeling (IML) was introduced. This very versatile line can accommodate monolayer and cardboard, as well as multi-laminated lamitubes and plastics, aluminium, thermoformed packaging and labels. In order to demonstrate its versatility, two machines were allocated to produce different jobs. ALHENA is a fast, reliable, flexible and easy-to-operate machine. It is ideal for converters who want to achieve fast ROI while approaching new market challenges in this rapidly growing sector (in comparison to conventional labels employing water-based adhesives).
The queen of the machines presented, as Chiara Prati, sales manager at PRATI called it, was the OMNIA SATURN. This preview of the upcoming new solution was a pleasant surprise for all visitors. As the name implies, this is an "all in one" solution for finishing of SA labels, IML, unsupported films, paper glues, etc.. It can be employed as reel-to-reel or reel-to-sheet as well as reel-to-label. PRATI demonstrated this up to date most versatile solution for the industry that is particularly suited for short runs and digital samples. A single investment enables the printer to run complex jobs, achieve high productivity and even produce short runs cost-efficiently. The interest in OMNIA SATURN was correspondingly high and is an indicator of one of the strengths of PRATI company. As a truly universal machine it is designed to grow according to the requirements of evolving markets.
The NON-STOP glueless rewinder STARPLUS was much appreciated. This machine is designed for companies that do not require particular inspection systems but need high productivity for jobs such as printing blank labels. The visitors could see fast job changes in just 3 minutes. Changeover times for complex jobs on the STARPLUS can be significantly lowered from an average of 60 minutes to 15 minutes. The fact of not having to fit and glue at the end of the reel has proved essential in providing labels for supermarkets as thermal printing material is cleaner and does not create print head balance problems. To date, 15 STARPLUS machines have been installed worldwide. STARPLUS can also operate inline with control machinery. At PRATI's showroom the STARPLUS has been combined with JUPITER, the long-term PRATI solution for reel controlling.
Known to many since Labelexpo 2009, the VEGAPLUS BOOKLET is very popular in the industry due to its high degree of modularity. The client can basically "build" the machine according to his requirements. Over 20 machines installations with various applications like producing booklet labels with hot melt or lamination using both leaflets with glue or with staples. In addition, the unique VEGAPLUS BOOKLET enables lamination via its patented lamination station that enables correct curls so that labels and sandwich coupons can be produced. Flexo printing, die-cutting and a second rewinder shaft can be implemented depending upon the type and complexity of the label. One of the special features of the machine is its accurate tension and register control.
After production of booklet labels finishing is the next step. This was demonstrated on the SATURN BIDI, a simpler but equally effective and reliable machine for processing of PS and BKL labels as PHARMACHECK. Thanks to the large diameter idler reels and smooth web path this compact and straight machine enables accurate faults placement for label replacement or waste editing. It is currently the best on international markets and provides owners with the optimum quality/price ratio. The particular detection system with speed compensation on the SATURN BIDI offers 100% security and allows the operator to replace defective labels without stopping the flow of the web. The camera employs a special signalling system with LED screens for displaying the precise point where the defect was found. It allows for fast and safe operation.
The tour around the demonstration center closed with the presentation of the automatic cutting system FastCut that is also available for all new PRATI products and answers the calls from the market for automating tasks and avoiding downtime during cutting.
A very pleased Pietro, Chiara and Annalisa Prati hailed the event a sounding success and not only in terms of sales and the many discussions with printers from all over the world. Customers from Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, UK and other European countries, Indonesia, UAE, Palestine and even Tanzania consider PRATI the best company on the market for designing and manufacturing reliable and versatile machines for control and label finishing.
Many customers attended the evening events that PRATI held. The evening at the International Museum of Ceramics was the highlight and particularly appreciated.
