Nigel Tollman, co-director (left) and James Denny, founder and director, ProPrint Group
Wellingborough-based ProPrint Group is venturing into digital by investing in the UK’s first FFEI Graphium label press. The flexo and UV inkjet hybrid machine also features a Xaar Print Bar – another UK first – for the application of inline digital special effects. It will be supplied by Edale and installed at ProPrint’s facility later this year.
Specialising in serving the fresh food retail sector, ProPrint is a BRC-approved company. Since investing in its first FL1 flexo press in 2011, it has expanded rapidly, investing in a new Edale flexo press approximately every 12 months.
‘The time is right for us to add digital printing now and the Graphium is very strategic investment for us which marks an exciting new phase for ProPrint which also sees us expanding our production space by 50%,’ said founder and director James Denny. ‘The label market is dynamic and changes rapidly and our philosophy is to change with it and meet the evolving needs of customers. My co-director Nigel Tollman and I looked at the digital technologies currently available but were most impressed by the Graphium and the FFEI, Edale and Xaar technologies it incorporates. The combination of conventional and digital printing capabilities gives us the power and flexibility to produce a wide range of products with the ability to add variable data and a variety of special and tactile effects all on the one press.’
ProPrint’s 420 mm wide Graphium prints at 50 m/min, integrating an Edale FL3 web transport with two flexo stations, an FFEI digital print engine using Xaar 1002 printheads, an inkjet Xaar Print Bar, followed by lamination and automated semi-rotary die-cutting. The Print Bar System offers the ability to add digital special effects using protective lacquers, high-build spot varnish and cold foil adhesives.
