Lebanese converter installs Prati finishing machine

Lebanese printer El Yaman Group has installed a Prati Jupiter 450 inspection slitter rewinder. The sale is the Italian company’s third in Lebanon, with more than 30 machines sold in the Middle East.

El Yaman Group is a family company founded in 1987 as a pre-press house in the south of Lebanon. Thanks to the vision of owner Ali El Yaman, the business grew steadily and moved into full color offset printing along with post-press finishing. Other services were incrementally added to offer digital and silkscreen services as well as security printing. With an eye on continued expansion, his son, Mohamad Yaman, CEO, acquired flexo printing technology. Serving a varied customer base including big names in the food and cosmetics industries, its product range spans brochures and books to labels – self-adhesive, wet paper and in-mold – and packaging.

Mohamad El Yaman commented: ‘We have always upgraded and purchased our machines with the intention of continuous improvement to our quality of service. We want to put us and Lebanon on the international printing map and we believe adding solutions like this will enable us to do that.’

El Yaman Group invested in Lebanon’s first Gallus EM280 and the Middle East’s first Kodak Flexcel NX and Schober die-cutter. ‘We add investments step by step. Over the last four years we have made four different investments for full turnkey solutions in different departments from digital printing to security printing and packaging,’ said El Yaman.

For quality control, El Yaman invested in the region’s first Prati Jupiter 450 servo-driven inspection slitter rewinder with Nikka Alis L2 video camera. Running at 318mpm, the system features a graphic touch-screen interface and Proxima, the detecting system for improved operator usability and job integrity. As well as a fast set-up, it can detect opaque and clear labels, inspect reflective golden printed labels or those with a variation of surface thickness and detect broken labels and other faults at maximum speed.  

‘Every label is viewed by a different user and as such will have a key influence on the success of our customer’s brand,’ stated El Yaman. ‘This is why we chose the Prati Jupiter fully equipped with camera verification. I expect it will help with faster job turnaround, increased customer orders, the ability to complete different kinds of jobs, improved quality and consistency. But more importantly it will help us differentiate our business and increase growth. Otherwise we would have a weaker proposition and we would not be able to deliver goods up to the standards that our clients expect.

‘We saw the machine on live demonstration at Labelexpo and reviewed how it would integrate with our existing solutions. With this sophisticated well equipped Prati machine every order is digitally proved to be a conforming product and orders are automated and error free. The aim is to create reliability and consistency for our customers. The machine is really impressive but what had a big impact on my decision was the people behind Prati – the family business, the experienced people supporting it. I felt I was not buying a slitter but instead I was joining another family.’

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