Cape crusader

Constantly developing material structures and applications to give it a lead in what is a highly competitive market, the flexo operation of Alex White Holdings, Cape Wrappers, invested some Rand30M in a new press and an upgrade to its extrusion laminator last year. There is a clear connection between the two.

Passionate advocate of South African packaging Terry Kane, chief executive of Alex White and its Paarl based subsidiary, says: "When we ordered the Fischer & Krecke 16S we made sure that it was equipped with heavy duty motors to allow handling of 260g/m² toothpaste tube laminate." And the Rotomec extrusion laminator coater has been seriously retrofitted to add an additional extruder - that allows three-layer coextrusion, completely new electronics, automatic gauge measurement and control, double MacGuire feed and fully automatic dies. "In order to produce the toothpaste laminate to modern standards we had to be capable of co-extruding material," he explains. Importing the laminate in October when Converting Today visited the plant, the company was shortly to produce its own material, making it the sole South African converter capable of doing so. Trials were underway at the tube manufacturer to clear the material for use. "We also believe we are the only company in the world printing the material on a wide web press," adds Terry Kane. Usually it is the province of narrow web label presses.

The 16S is a 10 colour press, but is only equipped with eight colours. "Quite frankly we have not come across a job we have not been able to achieve so far with the eight colours," boasts Terry Kane – who is also the current president of the South African Flexographic Technical Association (FTA). "F&K have told us they are amazed at what we are able to do." The press – "the most advanced in sub Saharan Africa" - is equipped with automatic wash-out – the Autoclean, flying splice and a Print Vision/Jupiter 9000 video based colour inspection system from AVT. It is also fitted with Flexpress control, an automatic print impression setting system developed jointly by F&K and AVT that allows print and anilox impressions to be set automatically, thus minimizing waste material on makeready. The fast change-over sleeve based press is 1,300mm wide and capable of running at 460m/min.

In addition to the 16S the Rand105M turnover company has two other F&K presses – both 12DF CI six colour machines, one with the capability of printing hotmelt to register on an extra station and both with hole punch stations. Both have a maximum print width of 850mm. The press armoury is completed with two Beasley French four colour stack printing presses (750 and 900mm maximum print width and both with hole punching), which, like the rest of the facility, are as clean as a whistle, and certainly defy their 30-year age. Cape Wrappers is American Institute of Bakers (AIB) accredited with a rating of 'Excellent'.

Success

Producing high quality flexo printed materials for a wide range of applications, yet having a keen eye for niche products, is the secret of the multi award winning company's success, says Terry Kane. "You have to get a lead to secure a decent margin," he adds. Markets served include butter and margarine wraps – where converting expertise has produced consistent high quality. "We are the only people in South Africa to make margarine laminate that does not delaminate," he claims. The company is also strong in the petfood market, the wine business, which requires some tight tolerances and complex constructions, confectionery and biscuits, as well as salads and healthcare.

"We are extremely well connected to the machinery suppliers in Europe," he says. That combined with his experience and that of fellow directors of the company explains the store set on state of the art technology. "Our philosophy includes a policy of buying the best equipment and to be leaders in technology," he emphazises.

The upgraded Rotomec extrusion laminator is also equipped with two in-line gravure units, two corona treaters, a third unwind for wet glue laminations and turner bars. It is capable of laminating up to 1,000mm wide. "We only use virgin resins on this line to preserve the die life," said Terry Kane. The company also has a Nordmeccanica Simplex solventless laminator as well as a Combi (solvent/solventless) machine. Both are capable of producing laminates with widths of up to 1,300mm. The full gamut of materials is laminated, from paper to various plastics and aluminium foil. The company produces wine bag material for both national and international companies, for example.

Cape Wrappers buys PP, PET, PP and polyamide materials, but also extrusion blows LLDPE, LDPE and ULDPE for its own use on its recently upgraded Windmöller & Hölscher line capable of extruding 250kg/hour. Here again only virgin resins are used to preserve extruder life. The addition of the Multicool cooling ring has increased output by 23 per cent reports Terry Kane. Film thickness is kept within a five per cent tolerance via the Optifil control.

Special

The finishing department features Titan slitters including two SR6 machines. Slitting the toothpaste tube laminate has required special development. Reflecting the original market on which the company was founded, two sheeters and a Polar guillotine are employed for converting fruit wrapping papers.

Coates (Sun Chemical) operates the ink kitchen "24/7" and is responsible for supplying the correct specifications to the presses and removing the inks and adhesives after each run.

On the prepress front, the repro department is on-line to the two repro houses who produce the plates. "Five years ago we were the first in South Africa to go over completely to CTP through our repro houses," says Terry Kane.

And the future for this impressive operation? "On the investment front we are in the process of buying additional land to allow a much needed extension to the materials storage department." As far as materials development is concerned the hunt continues for new ideas with the current development of "a new structure for the snack foods market".