TRESU Highlights Flexo Products at Labelexpo Americas

Henrik Kristensen, VP, TRESU Ancillary, with a chamber doctor blade for narrow-web applications at Labelexpo Americas 2016.

At Labelexpo Americas, TRESU Group’s automated flexo ancillary solutions were met with enthusiasm from the region's label and wider-web packaging printers, who saw the company's offering as an important means of improving productivity and efficiency in the print workflow.

TRESU's booth highlights included ink supply systems, chamber doctor blades and chilling units that automatically regulate ink and coating circulation, thereby boosting quality and machine uptime. TRESU's chamber doctor blades, especially when combined with the company's F10 iCon ink supply system, provide an enclosed, automatic means of controlling flow rate, pressure, viscosity, from bucket to anilox roll. Resulting benefits include reduced ink and substrate waste, uniform print quality, increased press speeds, shorter cleaning times and reduced emissions.

"A major challenge for label and packaging printers is to guard margins and drive waste out of the workflow as run lengths decrease and maintain repeatable quality," Scott Hibbs, president, TRESU Americas, said. "The answer is to control processes through automation. At TRESU, we specialize in providing turnkey solutions for controlling the entire flexo process, through upgrading the chambers, ink systems, temperature control systems and dryers, as well as making the press compatible for different ink sets, driving more money to the bottom line."

"We have strong engineering expertise, so we can offer control solutions that cover every flexo application, from labels to six-meter wide corrugated presses. Equally importantly, with our global agency network, we also have the right structure to offer retrofitting programs smoothly, bringing printing presses — that in some cases have seen more than 15 years' service — to the latest standards of productivity, process efficiency and quality."

Growing SalesNetwork and Increased Focus on Latin America

TRESU is growing its sales and agency network globally. It has strengthened its presence in the Americas in the decade since its first operation, the Dallas-based TRESU Royse facility, opened. In 2016, TRESU also opened a new office in Mexico, run by regional sales manager Juan Carlos Mejía, who will be looking to further develop TRESU's agencies across Latin America.

The TRESU chamber doctor blade program covers all converting and coating applications. It ranges from closed-cassette chambers for label presses, to corrosion-resistant carbon fiber chambers in excess of 6,000 mm wide (236˝) for corrugated board printing. The chamber's rubber seal system prevents leakage and air contamination, thereby ensuring clean, blister-free print results with fast drying characteristics, better reflection and higher gloss values. When doctor blades need replacing, TRESU’s patented clamping systems enable changeovers in less than two minutes.

At Labelexpo, there were many enquiries about wider web chambers.

"There is a trend towards diversification, in terms of both product offering and print technologies," Hibbs said. "Some offer both label and flexible packaging; others combine both flexo and offset processes. That’s why at Labelexpo we saw interest from folding carton and flexible packaging converters, as well as from the narrow web sector."

F10 iCon Ink Supply System Automates Flow and Ink Change Cycles

TRESU’s F10 iCon intelligent ink flow system provides pressure-controlled ink to the press at a consistent flow rate, according to predetermined parameters, with minimal supervision needed. This energy-efficient system also returns approximately 90% of ink remaining in the press to the bucket after the production run. It also provides fast, thorough automatic cleaning of the chamber and hoses, completing a complete ink change cycle on all printing stations simultaneously within minutes. This results in significant consumption and changeover savings.

“TRESU’s chamber doctor blade systems were featured and demonstrated on machines of several press manufacturers at the show,” Hibbs said. “This generated interest both from printers seeking new presses and those looking for upgrades of existing machines.”

Chilling and Temperature Control

Also highlighted at the show were TRESU’s new intelligent iSeries chillers that offer an efficient control platform for cooling analog and digital presses as well as ink supply systems. The chillers interface directly with TRESU’s Internal Diagnostic Monitoring System (IDMS) that instantly alerts TRESU’s service department of any warnings or control setting disturbances. Each chiller features a unique, passcode-protected IP address to allow online remote diagnostics by TRESU’s technical support team.

Source: TRESU Group.