PRINTING United Exhibitor Spotlight: Q&A With Jennifer Heathcote, Business Development Manager, GEW Inc.

What will be some of the highlights of your PRINTING United booth?

At GEW, we will be showcasing our full product range with an emphasis on our latest LeoLED UV curing systems, particularly for sheetfed offset applications. GEW is now the default UV curing solution for all RMGT presses and we are delighted to announce that our LeoLED UV system will be demonstrated live on an RMGT 9-series press at the Graphic Systems North America (GSNA) booth, right next door to GEW’s booth. This will give visitors a chance to see the impressive power and flexibility of the LeoLED curing system first-hand, and in a working environment.

We will also highlight our LED and mercury arc systems for a broad range of printing, coating, and converting applications, including interchangeable ‘ArcLED’ systems which enable the use of both arc and LED curing technologies on the same press. GEW designs and manufactures UV curing systems for commercial, packaging, and graphics printing across offset, screen, digital inkjet, and flexo. If it can be cured with UV, we have the solution, and with over 20,000 GEW systems now installed globally, we have the design and engineering expertise to handle all manner of bespoke customer requirements.

What are you most looking forward to about attending one of the first printing/packaging industry events since the pandemic?

After so many cancelled and postponed exhibitions over the past 18 months, the whole team at GEW is delighted to have a major exhibition on the horizon once more. We will be exhibiting at PRINTING United for the first time in 2021, and it is a very exciting prospect… we have so much to offer and this show will give us a perfect opportunity to reach new customers from across the USA and beyond.

What are some of your expectations for the packaging industry in the coming year?

There is tremendous activity in packaging. This is because brands and converters are striving to meet increasing consumer demand for products while simultaneously delivering package and process innovations that enable all of us to stay on pace and hopefully ahead of industry trends and sustainability objectives. As a UV system manufacturer, GEW works with brands, OEMs, formulators, and end users to develop innovative printing and packaging solutions for both new and existing presses. We also engage throughout the supply chain and with end users on longer term development projects. The latest GEW mercury and UV LED system designs offer significant improvements in energy efficiency and operating savings, and have smaller footprints compared to older systems and lines with conventional dryers. LEDs also eliminate the use of mercury, have lifetimes exceeding 40,000 hours, and enable a long list of process, aesthetic, and functional benefits. As a result, we expect the packaging industry to continue investing in environmentally friendly UV curing and foresee an increasing shift to UV LED technology.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Events such as PRINTING United offer the industry the unique opportunity to discuss projects, processes, and opportunities with all relevant parties in the supply chain to gain a better understanding of how all the various technologies fit together. Lean on us. We are happy to explain the technology and the various options, make introductions to other suppliers, and participate in UV curing discussions with end users and other exhibitors. We strive to help attendees reduce purchasing and technology adoption risk so that they can make optimal decisions for their unique printing and packaging needs. Whether it is conventional mercury or LED curing, we offer both technologies and can help end users and other suppliers decide what is best, based on the situation.