Austria-based Stenqvist Austria GmbH begins printing with its new 8-color Primaflex® CM gearless, CI-flexo press from Windmoeller & Hoelscher Corp. (www.whcorp.com). Stenqvist Austria converts a diverse range of paper and polyethylene carrier bags for packaged goods as well as retailers, including a line of wet-proof “bio-refuse bags.”

Top priority is given to sustainable, recyclable raw materials and implementing ecologically-compatible printing inks. Stenqvist's new Primaflex CM press is specially designed to use water-based inks to aid the company's ecological standards, it says.

“While all our converting machines are equipped with 4-color printers, we needed a separate preprinting press for our top-of-the-line products, such as luxury shopping bags, which will enable us to meet the quality requirements of our customers and, at the same time, satisfy our demand for future-oriented production equipment. The 8-color Primaflex CM ideally meets these requirements,” says Helmut Tiefnig, Stenqvist Austria managing director. “An essential aspect tipping the scale in favor of the W&H press was the high print quality the machine is capable of, which we saw for ourselves while witnessing tests with our own printing plates and substrates at the W&H printing technology center.”

Capable of speeds up to 1,000 fpm, the press has a maximum printing width of 50 in. and a maximum repeat length of 31.5 in. In addition, the machine is equipped with an ink supply and washup system that notably reduces cleaning agent usage during color-deck wash-up, W&H says.

Stenqvist Austria GmbH is a member of the Swedish Stenqvist Group with annual sales of about US$200 million, making it among the largest players in the European packaging industry. The company runs production facilities in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Poland.