Oregon, US-based Craftsman Label has installed a standalone hot foil unit from Grafisk Maskinfabrik (GM) to finish both digital and flexo printed work.
Craftsman Label is a full-service provider with conventional flexo and digital printing presses. The company specialises in high-quality labels and flexible packaging and is particularly well-known as a supplier to the high-end wine market.
The GM HOTFB330 is replacing an older foiling and embossing unit at Craftsman Label to improve production speeds and capabilities for the finishing of both digital and flexo work. It will be working alongside another GM converting line, a DC330, which is already processing digitally printed labels at the company’s Portland facility.
HOTFB330 features a 50-ton precision hot stamping action, and can operate both inline and offline. It can run substrates in web widths of 50-330mm, and 50-200 micron in thickness. Advanced features such as foil saver, servo register, electronic temperature control, and BST ultrasonic web guide come as standard, while a touchscreen offers easy and intuitive operation.
The unit can add gold, silver or even holographic effects combined with blind embossing. Foil stamping and embossing can be performed in one pass to save on time and waste.
GM CEO Uffe Nielsen sad, ‘We are very happy to extend our relationship with Craftsman Label and support them to meet the demand for ever more sophisticated embellishments to high-end labels. The HOTFB330 will be a great value-adding tool for Craftsman, and it will no doubt help Craftsman Label cement its reputation as a leading label printer and also attract new customers.’
Despite the challenges and restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, GM was able to successfully demonstrate the HOTFB330 using online video conferencing. This meant that the Craftsman Label team could see an identical machine live in action at GM’s North America corporate office and demonstration centre in Ohio.
