Reduce Material Waste when Printing Polystyrene Labels on a Flexo Press

Oct. 15, 2010 - PRLog -- Reducing material waste increases flexo press profits. Using the easily attached Servo 3000 Digital Infeed + Re-register system made by Rotary Technologies a printer can upgrade the capabilities of a standard flexo press and cut down on material waste. A standard press fitted with the Servo 3000 will bring the job in register in one press length. This is the absolute minimum for any press. Thus, with every start and stop of the press the printer saves on material waste. When printing labels on expensive material such as printable grade polystyrene every foot of saved material counts towards profit. Because the Servo 3000 infeed system will keep the job in register despite the shrinking and stretching that normally occurs with this substrate it will be able to save as much as a quarter of each roll.

Polystyrene Label Films

Polystyrene films have excellent gloss and a smooth finish. They are grease and moisture resistant making them an excellent choice, and FDA approved, for food packaging. Printing grade polystyrene is easy to die cut and is printable by rotogravure, rotary letterpress, and flexography. In this case we look at the use of this material in printing labels and the savings that can ensue by using a Servo 3000 infeed and re-register system for improving press performance and, specifically, reducing wasted substrate. A current price for 2.5 mil white polystyrene TC is 0.465 per MSI. A 13.5 inch roll 9,675 feet long sells for $728.82, shipping and handling not included.

An Example of Possible Savings with the Servo 3000

We will assume a twelve color press with 200 feet of material. After starting the press there will be two rewinds to remove printed product. The standard press not fitted with the Servo 3000 will be halted twice for adjustments. Also the press will stop twice for the operator to remove waste matrix. This will come down to 1 + 2 + 2+ 2 = 7 times that the press will be started for the print run. The Servo 3000 assisted press may only require 5 starts.

If the press takes two lengths to get in register it will produce 400 feet of wasted polystyrene on each start. That will be 400 x 7 = 2,800 feet of waste for a roll 9,675 feet long. The material waste on roll of this substrate will then amount to 28.94% of the roll which will be $210.94 cents worth of material.

In comparison the Servo 3000 addition to a standard flexo press will bring the press into register in one press length, or 200 feet in this example. First let us assume the same number of press starts, 7. The material waste will be 7 starts x 200 feet = 1,400 feet. This is 14.47% or $105.46 on a roll of 2.5 mil white polystyrene TC 13.5 inches wide by 9,675 feet long.

The next consideration is that the servo infeed on the Servo 3000 follows the press with 0.0025” resolution even at full press speed. This commonly results in fewer press stops. Thus we take out two press stops for adjustments from the equation and we have 1 + 2 + 2 = 5 press stops with 200 feet of waste per stop. This calculates to 1000 feet of substrate waste or 10.33% waste for $75.33 because the Servo 3000 will allow a press to do a job with fewer adjustment stops as well as reduce material waste per start and stop.

A realistic projection of waste reduction for a twelve color press shows us that when printing polystyrene labels on a flexo press the printer can potentially save as around (210.94-75.33) = $135.61 on a $728.82 roll of material. That is a roughly 18% savings on material cost for each roll of expensive polystyrene substrate.

The Rotary Technologies Savings Calculator

Here we only look at savings on substrate. Whenever a press stops it is not making money even while overhead goes on. To truly see what a Servo 3000 will save the printer should look at the Rotary Technologies web site and the savings calculator. Using this handy tool will demonstrate the savings on both substrate and overhead when using the Servo 3000 Digital Infeed + Re-register system.

# # #

Rotary Technologies produces the Servo 3000 Infeed and Re-register System. This servo and re-register system is an easily attached upgrade for rotary presses that reduces material waste and allows a press to run a wider range of substrates than normally.