Pragati Pack gets India’s first Miyakoshi press

Pragati Pack got India’s first Miyakoshi press, MLP 16C, installed at its factory in Hyderabad in 2017.

Hemant Paruchuri, director, Pragati Pack with Miyakoshi and Provin Technos team at its factory in Hyderabad

Provin Technos, the exclusive distributor of Miyakoshi in the country, hosted an open house at Pragati’s factory on June 14, 2018 which was attended by printers interested in this technology. The event was focused on introducing the press for printing high quality short and middle run jobs ranging between 500m to 30,000m.

The MLP 16C, installed at Pragati Pack, is a semi rotary offset press with one flexo unit, five offset units, high speed hot foil system, two offset units, one flexo unit, and a die-cutting unit. With the maximum web width of 420mm, the press runs at a speed of 200m/min and can handle substrates from 70 to 300 microns. Some of its other advantages include gapless printing, accurate print-to-print register under fast running conditions, fast changeovers and less material wastage, lower plate cost than flexo and no change in tools.

Hemant Paruchuri, director, Pragati Pack, said: ‘We now have a good mix of printing technologies for label production which includes four narrow web flexo printing machines, one digital press and now one intermittent offset press. As a company with proficiency in offset technology, we can say the print quality is superior to other technologies. This, coupled with inline finishing options such as hot foil and overprinting on hot foil, provides us with the benefit of producing high-end labels with embellishments in one pass.’

During the demonstration, Pragati team ran two print jobs. The first print job comprised printing on clear film with white and 4-colors in addition to gold printing followed by coating and die-cutting. This job was produced at 160 impressions per minute. The second was a 4-color print job with hot foil stamping and coating. Switching from the first job to the second took about 20 minutes, excluding hot foil makeready.

Vinay Kaushal, director at Provin Technos, ‘Miyakoshi’s intermittent offset technology and the speeds that the machine is capable of achieving are the main highlighting points which shows the robustness of the machine and its strong design. In the second job at the open house, the machine printing speed reached 210 impressions per minute. The machine can be taken to speed as high as 250 impressions per minute depending upon the job and the substrate. The main idea of the open house was to showcase these features along with the print results that can be achieved.’

‘The visit was well received by Indian customers and has created quite a buzz in the label industry. With Pragati Pack as its first installation base, the product is sure to make a mark in the high-quality label market,’ concluded Kaushal.