Amherst Label Increases Speed with Upgraded UV System
In May 2011, Amherst Label of Milford, New Hampshire, installed an eight-color Nilpeter FG3300, all servo driven press with water-cooled substrate cooling. The new equipment provided advanced capabilities for printing unsupported films (flexible packaging), six UV ink curing stations, cold foil applications and quick changeover sleeve technology. However, very soon the UV system was causing concern with lack of curing at speed, reliability issues and maintenance downtime.
In January of this year, Amherst decided to retrofit the press with a GEW UV system. The system consists of eight E2C high-efficiency lampheads.
Scott Vander-Heyden, vice president of manufacturing at Amherst Label, explains, “We had experienced insufficient curing at medium to higher speeds, as well as unnecessary downtime due to UV system failures. As a matter of fact, we were on the verge of losing business from some of our customers. We knew we had to correct this issue. Only GEW was able to offer a package of efficiency, reliability and safe curing at high speeds.”
In addition, the new GEW UV system based on the E2C unit brings further benefits of fast burn-in and shut-down times with savings in electricity consumption.
“We are able to cure at half the power,” Vander-Heyden adds. “We are thrilled with the GEW system. We are now experiencing increased up time, increased run speeds, overall efficiencies have improved and most importantly, our customers are happy.”
