Ultimate Packaging buys Bobst F&K 20SIX

Grimsby, UK-based Ultimate Packaging has purchased a Bobst Fischer & Krecke (F&K) 20SIX to produce flexible packaging.
 
Ultimate Packaging is buying the Bobst F&K 20SIX flexo press, which made its world premiere at Drupa 2012, after tests at Bobst’s facility in Bielefeld, Germany. Commissioning of the press is scheduled for July this year.
 
Bobst said Ultimate Packaging chose to invest in the FF&K 20SIX due to high productivity, flexibility and cost-efficiency benefits, as well as the “outstanding print quality” and significantly reduced waste. Ultimate Packaging has already installed three eight-color flexo presses from Bobst. The company's experience with the dependability of the technology and the service were additional factors that encouraged the management of Ultimate Packaging to expand the long-standing cooperation, Bobst said.
 
‘With its performance and innovative features, the F&K 20SIX is the ideal answer to the demands encountered in the production of flexible packaging, e.g. for fresh and chilled foods. It will help us to further expand our leading position in this market in the UK,’ said Ultimate Packaging's managing director Nigel Tonge.
 
The Bobst F&K 20SIX offer a capacity of up to 600m/min with web widths of up to 1,300mm. Print jobs for the central impression (CI) flexo press with smartGPS and smartCOL can be prepared off the press. While smartGPS sees to off-line registration and printing pressure setting, smartCOL likewise operates off-line to check the color before going onto the press, adjusting it and setting the required colour tone. The F&K 20SIX is based on the FP 16 Series, but features a host of innovative components that were developed in close collaboration with Bobst customers.
 
‘With the F&K 20SIX, we can reduce the make-ready times from the previous two hours to about 20 minutes in the future,’ said Chris Tonge, sales and marketing director at Ultimate Packaging. ‘All in all, the F&K 20SIX offers a substantial increase in productivity.’
 
Nigel Tonge added: ‘All that decisively reduces our production costs, another important argument in favor of the machine.’
 
Andreas Kückelmann, managing director of Bobst Bielefeld, said: ‘Ultimate Packaging traditionally imposes especially high demands on its production systems. Against that backdrop, we're all the more pleased that this particular company, the leader in the UK, has decided to buy the first F&K 20SIX in the world.’
 
Pictured (from left to right): Chris Tonge, sales and marketing director at Ultimate Packaging; Andreas Kückelmann, managing director of Bobst Bielefeld; and Nigel Tonge, managing director of Ultimate Packaging,

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