Flex Pack chooses Flexo Wash to improve print quality

Founded in 2001 and still owned and managed by Carlos Alberto González and his wife Maribel Jácome, the company is vertically integrated offering a variety of services in-house from extrusion to rolling, printing and valve inserting. Currently around 90 percent of all output is printed on two flexo presses, and then supplied to markets as diverse as food and beverage, household goods and medical supplies.

It was with the advent of its second printing press in 2018 that Flex Pack realized the need to improve its overall production efficiency. Following a visit to Labelexpo Americas 2018 and a meeting with the Flexo Wash team, the decision was made to invest in a PW82WR plate washer and an FW992XL anilox washer. Since installation, they have helped reduce cleaning times and brought a degree of automation to the printer’s production process.

Carlos Alberto González commented: ‘Not only are we saving time, but we are enjoying the benefits of completely clean plates and anilox rolls that have not suffered any of the customary damage that manual cleaning can bring.’

Further to improvements in print quality and production efficiency, Flex Pack has been able to re-deploy the staff who previously were dedicated to cleaning plates and anilox rolls to more productive tasks. ‘This makes for an improved situation all round – better quality cleaning means better quality print – machine washing gives the plates and aniloxes a longer working life – and the staff enjoy more fulfilling opportunities than performing manual wash-ups,’ said González.

Speaking for Flexo Wash, Wilson Ramos, area sales manager for South. America, commented: ‘Flex Pack was quick to recognize how a relatively small investment in automated cleaning would make a big improvement to the performance of their major investment in a new printing press.’