When your company operates one of the highest-rated gravure printing facilities in the world for flexible packaging, the search for your next gravure press takes on a certain weight.

Dennis Couture, American Packaging Corp.'s vp of operations, conducted a thorough search for the right press to be installed in the converter's Columbus, WI plant. This facility is rated one of the top rotogravure printers of paper, foil and film based flexible packaging specifications in the world. In addition to superior rotogravure reproduction, its capabilities include the manufacture of multi-ply adhesive laminations of film, paper and foil substrates; embossing, hot-melt coating, registered cold seal, and pattern-applied heat-seal coatings. The facility is ISO 9001:2000 registered and AIB (American Institute of Baking) “Superior” rated.

Multiple gravure presses in the Columbus plant represent a “march through the decades” in terms of sophistication, changeover speeds and ease of operation. Three Bobst Champlains, a Bobst Rotomec and a Cerutti 950 have been installed over the 30-plus years of the plant's operation, and are well-suited for the high-quality rollstock printing and complicated in-line laminations that are APC's stock in trade.

Couture had a specific wish list for the next press, however. “We wanted it to be operator friendly, designed for streamlined processing, with smaller, more efficient dryers with a specific focus on laminated film structures. This would include the capability of post-printing after lamination, using either dry bond or solventless adhesive technology.”

Aided by a team that included Columbus operations manager Jeff Koch, Couture evaluated four different press manufacturers' models in great detail. The attributes of each press (such as printing decks, doctor-blade assemblies, dryer configuration, tension control, unwinds, rewinds, etc.) were broken down and scored by the team on a scale from 1 to 10 so that an overall comparison could be made.

Surprising some even within the APC organization, Couture's exhaustive search ended with the contract going to Comexi's ACOM division (www.acompc.it), and the ultimate purchase of an ACOM RG Platinum gravure press. The machine was ordered in the spring of 2005 and delivered in two phases beginning early in 2006. APC managers were very impressed when the target date for commercialization was actually realized.

Judging by the pleasure with which Couture shows off the new addition, the ACOM press has not only met, but rather exceeded his expectations.

“On top of its performance, this press has an aesthetic appeal that suggests a clean, modern and fast environment,” he says.

“When customers see it, they immediately suggest their product should be run on the ACOM press. This comment is generally made before they know the machine capabilities!”

Among the attributes of the ACOM press that most impressed APC: electronic line shaft with short-stroke compensators; both of which contribute to tight register control according to Koch; and configuration of the dryers for easy access by operators.

“The way the dryers open on this press allows operators easy access for webbing and cleaning,” he says. The ACOM's speed of 1450 ft/min and efficient changeover times are also important advantages.

Indeed, the new press has had a trickle-down effect on the rest of the plant. “The basic concepts of gravure printing have not changed in hundreds of years,” says Koch. “That said, the clean look of the new ACOM, and the lighting in that pressroom, have made such a positive impression on new customers it has led us to upgrade the rest of the plant.”

A “typical” job for the ACOM system consists of an eight- or nine-color printed film-to-film lamination utilizing cold seal for a confectionery customer—precisely the sort of application for which the press was specified.

When asked to predict where the Columbus operation will focus its capabilities in five years, to look down the road if you will, Koch sees…a road. Or rather, the moving of a road. “To put in another gravure press, which we anticipate doing as soon as two years from now, we will probably have to move a wall out of one side of the plant, and that means moving a side road that divides two sections of property we own,” he says.

Koch predicts continued emphasis at the Columbus facility on film-to-film cold-seal laminations for confectionery customers, as well as continuing the mission of diversifying APC's product portfolio. This plant may have a more diverse customer base than any other in the industry, according to Couture.

And the choice of the next gravure press? APC will use the same exhaustive procedure it used last time, and there will be no automatic assumption that ACOM will come out the winner. “We must ask ourselves if anything's changed in the market since we bought the last press,” Koch says.

While Koch focuses on the practical, Couture takes a broad view of printing technologies. APC uses both flexography and gravure across its nationwide operations, and Couture is in a unique position to observe where each printing method makes the most sense depending on the end-use product and the application, and where the two may intersect.

While high-end flexography becomes more sophisticated, with more expensive plate technology, APC is looking into engraving methods that would allow it to make its own gravure cylinders, as most European printers do. When that happens, the operating costs for the two printing methods would approach parity—and American Packaging may be in a position to offer customers a true unbiased choice. That's a few years away, but right now the updated gravure capability provided by the ACOM press is keeping them ahead of the pack.