Three shows in one

Organiser HA Bruno boasts that this year¹s CPP Expo event will have “the largest collection of printing press manufacturers at a trade event in decades, crossing related industries of labelling, flexible packaging and folding carton, and processes of flexo, gravure, digital and offset”. Thirteen printing press manufacturers will participate in the show on November 9-13, at Chicago’s McCormick Place. They include Bielloni, Cerutti, Comexi, Mark Andy, PCMC and Uteco.

CPP Expo 2008 will again be co-located with PackExpo and Process Expo in Chicago. The first CPP Expo Chicago, in 2006, was attended by 6,140 converters and packaging printers.

“The show is really blossoming into the vision we had at the very beginning of an event that creates the efficiencies for attendees and exhibitors alike,“ says Leo Nadolske, president of CPP Expo Events. “The concept of the full supply chain event just makes sense. In 2006, CPP Chicago had two press manufacturers represented and today we have 13. I would say the concept of being where your customers are along with your suppliers is catching on.”

More information about the event can be obtained by visiting www.cppexpo.com, but the following selection gives a taste of what the exhibiting companies will be offering.

Along the aisles

Ashe Converting Equipment will feature its Diamond slitter, “ergonomically designed” and with a small footprint, configured for ease of installation and ease of use – with all of the components and controls in a single unit. Launched at K2007, the machine is available in standard widths of 1,100, 1,300 and 1,650mm

The all-electric Diamond is provided with an integral shaftless unwind with reel lift. Designed for speeds of up to 500 m/min, it can accommodate unwind diameter reels of 1,000 mm and rewind diameters of 600 mm. Ashe says the machine is priced between its Onyx ‘entry level’ slitter and the Sapphire S2 model, for converters with demanding workflow practices and challenging materials to process such as thin films and laminates.

Slitting possibilities include wrap and tangential, with a swing-out female knife bar providing for easy slit width changes. Additional features include flange mounted interchangeable rewind shafts and a pneumatic lay-on system. Two or three-motor drive systems are available.

Bielloni Converting is to introduce “the fastest CI flexo machine in the world” - the Telia 8 FSC. The new CI machine will be demonstrating the “superior quality” of the Italian company’s latest development of its FSC (Fast Sleeve Change) system applied to gearless technology.

The Telia 8 FSC is said to be capable of printing up to 600 m/min, with an 8-colour job change taking less then three minutes – and it is claimed to be “the fastest in the world” when going back into production. When recalling the job, the machine only produces 7 m of scrap material, according to Bielloni.

Main features of the press are: totally interchangeable printing decks with identical mechanical components for each to simplify maintenance; step-by-step Berger-Lahr motors to repeat every position previously recorded; a new self-cleaning pneumatic doctor blade chamber; the FSC system for sleeve change and rapid deck opening with horizontal movement; an integrated automatic deck wash-up system; and automatic pressure and register control.

Headlining Davis-Standard’s equipment showing of coaters and coating heads, cast stretchwrap lines and blown film technology will be the new Synergy extrusion coating line. The company’s full range of capabilities includes the Black Clawson Converting Machinery, Egan and ER-WE-PA ranges.

The Synergy range, introduced earlier this year, is available in 300, 450 and 750 models - the numbers reflecting approximate line speed capabilities in metres per minute. The Synergy 300 is engineered for customers who wish to enter new markets or grow their business with a modest investment. The Synergy 450 provides greater output and automation, whilst the Synergy 750 offers the fastest line speeds and most options for large scale production applications.

All three can be tailored for customer specific flexible packaging applications and are said to combine the very best technologies of each brand within Davis-Standard’s Converting Systems Group.

Other highlights will include the Series 4000 coater with patented pressurised gravure head (PGH) technology, and high speed cast stretchwrap lines that can be engineered in four-up, six-up and eight-up configurations. This includes winders with 25 cycle times and winders capable of winding 500 mm diameter rolls as well as short hand-wrap rolls.

Blown film technology for industrial films and bags, agricultural and construction films, barrier films, stretch films, PVC cling films, high barrier small tube systems, can liners and laminating films will also be shown.

Patch coating versions of the Liberty slot die system will be introduced by Extrusion Dies Industries.

According to EDI, slot die patch coating systems have emerged as a more controllable and reliable alternative to conventional coating methods for applications where precision, uniformity and optical clarity are critical.

“Slot die systems are well suited for patch coating because material is pre-metered and then applied by being drawn down in thickness as it passes from the die exit to the substrate,” says product manager Tom Johns. “Optically clear coatings as thin as one micron are possible, and edges at the ‘start’ and ‘stop’ positions are clean and well defined. In comparison with roll, spray, dip, and spin coating systems that dominate patch coating applications, slot dies provide greater control over coating weight and distribution, and allow thinner coatings.

“Since material in the conventional systems is exposed to the atmosphere prior to being applied, slot dies also present less risk of contamination and reduce emissions into the workplace.” 

EDI acquired the Liberty slot die product range in 2007. Liberty patch coaters have been used for diverse applications including medical transdermal patches, flat panel displays, solar cells and rechargeable batteries.

UK based GEW will launch the IsoCure UV curing system for wide web converting applications. IsoCure is designed for high performance UV curing of inks, varnishes, coatings, silicone release and hotmelt pressure sensitive adhesives. The system can be supplied with the company’s inert atmosphere technology for higher operating speeds and certain applications, including food packaging, where there is a need to displace oxygen from the curing zone.

IsoCure is a versatile, fully water cooled UV curing system designed for medium and wide formats in arc lengths from 50 cm up to two metres.

It can be fitted to existing machines or OEM specified on central impression, in-line and sheet-fed presses, as well as laminators and bridge units over conveyors. A compact, reduced cross-section footprint is said to facilitate installation.

GEW has replaced conventional power supplies with its energy efficient electronic e-Brick system, said to achieve a 30 per cent reduction in electricity costs and reduced carbon emissions.

The company says that, unlike conventional UV systems, exhaust fans and ducting are not required to cool the lamps on the IsoCure, so there is less demand on the heating and air conditioning source in the plant with associated energy savings.

AB Kelva, who will be exhibiting at the show together with Kroenert, will feature the new AF-24 automatic filter for use on its new and existing non-contact web cleaners. The unit includes up to 12 filter cartridges with a total filter area of 24 m2 – “optimised for the best possible performance and manufactured according to the latest standards”.

The filter is automatically cleaned with pressurised air exhausted through multi-jet nozzles that push the contamination back into a dust trap, where it is collected in an exchangeable plastics bag. The cleaning sequence is said to be easily programmed through the operation panel on the filter side for removal of any type of dust and contamination.

The filter is designed to fit a standard K30, K55, K75 or K110 Filter/Fan unit from Kelva, allowing users to upgrade an existing manual filter. As an option the new AF24 automatic model can also work as a stand-alone unit with any type of web cleaner.

German surface treatment specialist Softal will emphasise how its latest developments have led to a high gain in efficiency and significant risk reduction for stressing treated material – “a major goal of corona electrode developments”. In addition to further refined heat management, the company’s Intelliblade is said to successfully tackle the issue of surface streamers and “set a new standard” for high power, small size, low material stress corona electrodes.

Plasma P is a new plasma technology that combines the advantages of flame treatment and corona treatment. According to Softal, it requires as little as 20 per cent of the power required by conventional corona treatment, providing higher surface treatment levels, and significant improvements in storage stability.

Developed with Air Liquide, Aldyne is an advanced surface treatment system said to offer “guaranteed adhesion at minimised costs”. Based on an atmospheric pressure plasma discharge in carefully controlled gaseous atmospheres, it is said to achieve extremely high level, long lasting adhesion on various polymer films and many other materials.

Swiss manufacturer Waterline will present examples from its extensive range of automatic machines for the production of bags and pouches in different sizes and materials for the packaging of food and non-food products. The company recently introduced a 600mm width machine for the high speed production of double-lane stand-up pouches bottom folded with or without zipper. The Ritebag 600-II-Z is promoted as “the ideal answer for competing with form fill seal machines. It is said to offer the same mother reel as used in FFS, higher performances, higher pouch quality, wider production range, no need of trimming and slitting, less waste of material, better ROI and increased sales opportunities.

As usual with Waterline equipment, machine configuration is customisable by starting from a simple entry level simple machine (upgradable later) or by purchasing a tailor-made configuration to satisfy present needs and market demand. A patented synchronization system for the production of 3-side seal pouches from two printed reels can also be installed.