TQL Packaging Solutions (TQL), based in Dallas, TX, USA, has invested in Nilpeter’s new inline FA-26 flexo press. With 10 color stations, UV LED curing lamps, and both UV and E-Beam lamination capability, the press will provide TQL with increased flexibility.

This installation is the first of any in Nilpeter’s press series to include inline E-Beam lamination. The press has been designed to maximize the profitability of short-run conversion of film structures for pouches, sachets, stick packs and shrink sleeves. The FA-26 boasts wider throughput and a new a printhead design – all supported by comprehensive and advanced automation systems.

“It is rare for a piece of equipment to exceed my expectations,“ says Scott Smith, TQL Packaging Solutions founder. “I knew the Nilpeter FA-26 would be a great press, but it has delivered beyond what I expected in performance.“

Already realizing growth in flexible packaging and shrink sleeve label markets using narrow web films presses, it made sense to advance into a wider format press. “We’ve done well to jump to 26",“ says Smith. “At this width, we’re able to address a piece of the market that we had not been wide enough to service previously.”

The increased width has improved the converter’s hourly throughput. Additionally, the wider web brings greater opportunity to capture new business in several popular formats and designs that require a printing web greater than 20".

The FA-26 features eight motor drive and control, and each printhead offers closed loop feed back to the PLC.

Smith explains, “Nilpeter’s technology in the FA-26 has jumped from previous film presses. The landscape design of the printhead is awesome. It greatly minimizes the bounce that some images produce on our traditional film presses, and it allows us to increase speed.”

TQL is effectively running jobs at or below 25,000 feet, setting up faster than its narrower equipment with setup automation, and doubling the speeds it regularly runs on 16” presses. With job memory and auto-register, TQL operators are able to efficiently web the press and dial-in settings to produce saleable product quickly with less waste and higher quality.

Adds Smith, “We are noticing far better efficiencies in setup and less waste, even with a much wider web than we’re used to running.”

TQL targets business with complex graphics that require photo image quality and soft edges. Traditionally, flexible packaging and other printed films markets have demanded offset and gravure printing to produce the crisp, fade-to-zero images that catch a shopper’s eye on pouches and sachets, enticing them to purchase.

Smith explains, “There’s a huge number of buyers out there that want the super high quality and consistency that they’re used to getting from gravure. This new press allows us to deliver on that expectation with quicker turnaround and lower cost.”

Jakob Landberg, global sales director at Nilpeter, explains, “All our presses are manufactured to the highest accuracy in-house. The frames are welded together and powder coated, with all drilling, grinding and threading processes completed in one step. In this way, when our customers store positions in the job files, jobs can be recalled to the tightest tolerance with the presses holding ultra-tight register over the run length, and consistency from job to job.”

TQL’s FA-26 is equipped to cure UV and E-Beam lamination adhesives to produce a wide variety of flexible packaging. E-Beam lamination has proven film-bonding properties with multiple substrates, including BOPP, PET and LDPE based sealant films, aluminum foil, and papers. EB laminated structures exhibit good water, and food resistance, are suitable for food packaging with FDA compliance, and are odorless.

Smith admits, “Nilpeter’s ability to integrate E-Beam lamination into the press, achieving the smooth level of communication required to meet the quality and speed we need to service our customers has been impressive.”