Appealing Savings
A case study of Wilkri-Etiketten in Reutlingen using the energy-saving MBS-5 UV system from IST Metz
In the area of UV technology attention is currently focused on the development of systems, which are as energy-efficient as possible. For example, IST Metz GmbH has launched a new design of UV system, which provides highly efficient energy usage. Wilkri-Etiketten in Reutlingen-Betzingen has been using the system on a pilot application since May 2005. This article describes the experience of the label printer so far.
It was known from the outset that the GiDue Combat 370S UV printing press, which came into operation at Wilkri-Etiketten in May last year, would be equipped with a UV system from IST Metz. When company boss Anselm Hoss was then offered the opportunity of acting as the test user for the new MBS-5 system, he didn’t hesitate for long. From previous experience he knew that the UV company was a reliable supplier and he thought that the usual “teething troubles“ for a field test would be kept to a minimum. Looking back, says Anselm Hoss, the system proved to be even better made than expected and the few minor points for improvement were dealt with quickly by IST service engineers.
Energy consumption offers considerable savings potential
A strong incentive for testing the new UV system came from the possibility of reducing energy consumption. The company faces the usual challenges of the printing industry: profit margins are falling year on year, whilst at the same time costs continue to increase, for example, for energy. This forces print companies to take every opportunity for improvement, explains Jörg Hoss, the son of the company owner, who is a qualified management expert. “Lower energy consumption in practice has a considerable impact on the calculation” he continues.
The most recently installed eight-colour GiDue press has two generations of UV systems operating in parallel so the difference in energy consumption between standard technology and the new MBS-5 system can be clearly seen in the control cabinet. The first four print units are each fitted with an IST MBS-3 unit with 200 W/cm lamps. From the fifth print unit onwards, four of the new MBS-5 units are installed, each with 140 W/cm lamps. Although the new technology operates with only 70% of the previous energy consumption, the new system produces the same production output. In practice the same print speeds are achieved and the control instruments in the control cabinets show clearly that the MBS-5 lamps are using almost a third less energy. (See the cost comparison calculation below).
Previous experience with new UV technology
A few years ago Wilkri was involved with the installation of another successful innovation from IST Metz. At that time the company had developed a solution to enable printing on heat-sensitive substrates in UV letterpress printing, remembers Joachim Hildebrandt, Narrow Web Sales Manager. Wilkri chose a Gallus R200 with an IST UV system. Anselm Hoss was one of the first printers to choose the newly launched chill-roller technology.
Looking back this was certainly the right choice in view of the increasing number of applications using adhesive foils. The share of synthetic substrates also continues to grow and will soon overtake the share of paper-based adhesive materials. For example, the printing company in Reutlingen produces special foil labels, on which the adhesive layer is printed. To enable this, the adhesive bond is delaminated before printing. So the printing and UV curing are carried out on a monosubstrate, which will finally be laminated again. In order to cut out any risk of web distortion, a UV system is needed that can guarantee accurate heat-management in order to avoid excessive heat on the substrate.
Less energy also means less heat
For applications where it is important to minimise the heat on the substrate, the MBS-5 produces very good results. As the UV lamps used are only 140 W/cm instead of the usual 200 W/cm, there is a corresponding reduction in the heat generated. In addition to the energy savings, there are a number of other benefits from this, as the pilot installation at Wilkri-Etiketten has shown in the first few months. There is also a reduction in the exhaust air and less contamination of the individual components of the UV system. A further benefit is longer durability of lamps and reflectors.
As soon as the test phase is completed, Wilkri-Etiketten will regularly measure and write down the UV measurements, in line with ISO certification requirements, in order to provide continuous documentation of the output of the UV system. The MBS-5 units are prepared for this. This will also ensure that the UV lamps are only changed when it is really necessary. In contrast, it is common practice in this sector to change the lamps as a precautionary measure. As the MBS-5 lamps use the cable-free FLC UV lamp system (Fast Lamp Change) the lamps can be changed quickly and easily when necessary. With the quick change unit the production line can be operating again in a few minutes, so that press downtime is minimised.
The experiences of Wilkri-Etiketten provide valuable information for IST Metz. Ultimately they confirm the results obtained by the manufacturer during extensive test trials for the new MBS-5 system in the Technology Center in Nürtingen. These measurements already indicated that the new generation of UV units can sometimes achieve a higher UV yield onto the surface of the substrate with 140W/cm lamps than an MBS-3 system with 200W/cm lamps. However, the required product characteristics can actually only be proven in real production conditions at a printers’. For example, one essential question was the print speeds that can realistically be achieved with different ink coverages.
Same performance as well as energy savings
In order to test the limits of the system a test print sheet was designed with the production managers of Wilkri-Etiketten, which contained specific elements with high ink coverage. The print trials were carried out on the GiDue Combat 370S, which is equipped with the different types of UV system, with press speeds up to 150m/min – the usual production speed for everyday production at Wilkri-Etiketten is in the range of 70 to 80m/min, according to Anselm Hoss. But even at the high press speeds there were no differences at all in the curing results achieved by the different generations of UV system. In actual production the MBS-5 system achieved the same results as in the laboratory trials with 140 W/cm lamps and used only 70% of the energy usually used by the conventional MBS-3 units. This efficient use of energy is made possible by different technical developments, according to information from IST Metz, which include, for example, the new URS reflector technology.
IST Metz has also carried out comparable tests in co-operation with the press manufacturer Gallus. These were carried out on the Gallus EM280 model with integrated UV screen print unit and produced similar results. Regardless of the high ink depths (sometimes over 10 µm) speeds of up to 100m/min were achieved depending on the ink manufacturer for UV curing screen print black.
Career changer with sustained Growth
In 1969 Anselm Hoss bought two old stamping presses from the sale of the estate of Wilhelm Krieg in Bad Urach, which had operated at a label printers’ trading under the name of Wilkri-Etiketten. This marked a career change for the couple Gretel and Anselm Hoss, who carried on operating the company under the same name. Since then Anselm Hoss has been mainly self-taught in gaining the knowledge necessary to manufacture tag labels and self-adhesive labels. Five years later, in 1974, the company rented larger premises in Kusterdingen so that it could invest in new letterpresses. At the same time the family-owned company took on its first employees in production and then also for administration.
The company continued to grow successfully and in 1984 bought a plot of land in Reutlingen-Betzingen to build its own production premises. The company is still on this site today but capacity has been increased regularly with numerous extensions and new buildings as well as investments in modernisation of the stock of machinery. The company doubled its production and storage area in 2004 with a further extension. In the same year the company was awarded DIN EN ISO9001/2000 quality management certification. Today Wilkri-Etiketten has around 55 employees, who look after a large customer base mainly in the manufacturing sector. The broad customer base, which ranges from the food sector to the chemical industry to manufacturers of plastic parts, has proven to be an advantage, particularly in times of economic difficulties as the company was not heavily dependent on any individual sector.
In order to cover as wide a range of different applications as possible in the label market, the company has all the appropriate technical equipment. In addition to traditional UV letterpresses Wilkri-Etiketten has invested heavily in UV flexo printing since the mid-1990s, once this process became a serious alternative thanks to developments in the areas of plates, rollers and print technology. The company has also responded to the continued trend for shorter print runs and in February 2006 stared running an HP Indigo ws4050 digital printing system.
