The market today is really pushing us to become a very low-cost producer,” says William Weernink, vice president of operations for Smyth Companies, Inc., recounting the converter's history of adopting ISO certification, a Six Sigma program and numerous waste-reduction efforts. “We really focused on the press, and to get to the next level, we needed to become servo-driven.”

The Minneapolis-based labelmaker did just that with the first US installation last fall of an OMET Varyflex UV-flexo, rotary-screen press at its headquarters facility. The 20.5-in.-wide, 10-color system “is the next step up in technology for narrow- and mid-web presses,” Weernink says. “It allows us to print high-quality graphics, quickly and efficiently, using servo drives.” [OMET is represented in the US by Matik North America (www.matik.com).]

Celebrating 130 years in business in 2007, Smyth Cos. operates plants in Minnesota, Virginia and Colorado. Along with glue-applied and pressure-sensitive primary labels, it also prints and converts promotional in-pack and on-pack coupon and booklet labels and point-of-purchase displays. End-use markets include food and beverage, personal-care, household-product and beer, wine and spirits.

While servo technology has been available for several years, how well the servos communicate with each other on the press in the last five years has risen dramatically, Weernink explains. European pressmakers' longer experience with servos also drove Smyth to consider a foreign manufacturer, despite it being primarily a Mark Andy/Comco operator.

“In the case of OMET, they had a lot of background in tissue and napkin machinery,” he says. “They weren't necessarily your narrow-web expert but they were experts in tension control via servos. We felt they would continue to innovate.”

“They're able to run nonwovens at high speeds,” adds Scott Farkas, director of new product development for Smyth. “That says they understand tension control extremely well because they're printing on those substrates as well.”

The precise, infinite tension control that the Omet Varyflex provides via servos throughout the press benefits the kind of complex, multilayer booklet labels that are a staple of Smyth's business. In older line-shaft systems, tension control is limited to the unwind and rewind. “Now with the servo press, as we start running multiple webs and changing the thickness of the material as we go along, all of those adjustabilities make a difference,” Farkas explains.

Smyth managers first investigated OMET presses closely at Labelexpo Brussels 2005. Trials were performed at the supplier's Lecco, Italy, demonstration center last spring, and after delivery, Smyth's first commercial production came off the press last November.

In addition to GEW UV-curing units (www.gewuv.com) at each print station, two portable IR air-drying units can be placed into any print deck. Other major components include a Vetaphone Corona-Plus surface treater (www.vetaphone.com); a BST Pro Mark ekr 1000 unwind web guide (www.bstpromark.com); and an Erhardt+Leimer ELscan video web-inspection system (www.erhardt-leimer-us.com).

By presstime, Smyth had planned to add a Martin Automatic butt splicer and turret rewinder (www.martinautomatic.com). “Again, all because of our becoming a low-cost producer and controlling our waste,” says Weernink.

During Converting's visit in January, the Varyflex was printing various shrink-sleeves used as container labels. Smyth spent about 18 months developing UV-flexo inks for shrink labels with its primary ink suppliers XSYS Print Solutions (www.xsys-printsolutions.com) and Zeller+Gmelin Corp. (www.zeller-gmelin.com). It also employs an unusual digital, thin-plate technology to achieve its consistent 175-line-screen print quality. The plates, from DuPont Cyrel® Packaging Graphics Products (www.cyrel.com) and Anderson & Vreeland (www.andersonvreeland.com), are a 0.030-in. thickness versus traditional 0.067 in.

“We took the business from a very large shrink-label producer that had been printing it gravure,” Weernink explains. “This is something you're not going to be able to do with water-based inks or without digital plates. We're pretty proud of that fact.”

Smyth has brought the Varyflex press up to speeds of 450 fpm, reportedly a 50-percent gain over typical speeds on its other systems, while maintaining register and tension control throughout the press. “But we found the sweet spot is closer to 400 fpm,” Farkas says. “Part of our limiting factor has been how fast we can dry the adhesives we may be putting down.”

All other things considered, with the new OMET system about to see six months in production, it appears to be full steam ahead for servo-driven, gearless printing at Smyth.