Flex-n-Roll Pro installs two Mark Andy presses

Belarus-based label converter Flex-n-Roll Pro has installed Mark Andy Digital Series HD and Mark Andy Evolution Series E5 at its production facility in Minsk to increase production capacity and improve print quality.

Boris Sterin, owner of Flex-n-Roll Pro with the newly installed Mark Andy Digital Series HD

Flex-n-Roll Pro is one of the largest label converters in Eastern Europe and one of the market leaders in Belarus. The company had previously relied on a mix of UV and solvent-based flexo technology and a digital press to serve its portfolio of customers in a market that demands longer runs with variations SKUs to reduce the need for expensive stockholding and warehousing.

‘We knew we were not meeting our customers’ quality requirements with our existing digital press and that we needed to improve our shrink sleeve capability,’ commented Galina Zinevich, CEO of Flex-n-Roll Pro. ‘In conversation with Paritet System, the local agent, we discovered that we could solve both problems with Mark Andy technology and began negotiations.’

Key to the new investments was the ability to handle short and long-run work, both labels and shrink sleeves, with a print quality that met the standards of the company’s growing list of customers, which since 2019 included a select group of German companies. Flex-n-Roll Pro needed an efficient digital technology that would cater for high-quality short and medium-run work, with maximum flexibility for variations and personalization, and a modern flexo press that would bring quality and production efficiency to longer runs.

‘The Mark Andy Digital Series HD press was the perfect choice for us,’ said Zinevich. ‘It has solved our problems and attracted more work because of its efficiency and flexibility.’ 

The hybrid design of the Digital Series HD offers a wide color gamut with the inkjet engine, supplemented by additional flexo colors and the full finishing and converting options of Mark Andy’s Performance Series P7 servo platform. 

‘The E5 has modernized our flexo department and increased both capacity and quality. It’s a full hot air drier press with a 430mm web width capable of 230m/min on substrates from 12- to 305-micron. This makes it ideal for the variety of work we do from bottle wraps to IML and shrink sleeves,’ added Zinevich.

Although both machines and much of their technology are new to Flex-n-Roll Pro, Galina Zinevich is quick to praise the support her company has received from both Paritet System and Mark Andy’s European technical team, based in Poland. 

‘The pandemic has made things difficult, but we have always had great support by email and video call, and more recently, with travel restrictions easing, they have been able to arrange site visits at short notice, which we really appreciate,’ she said. 

Speaking for Paritet System, director Kiryl Zubrytski stated: ‘Flex-n-Roll Pro is a great example of a fast-growing label converter that has seen the benefits of switching to Mark Andy technology – it has improved their quality and production efficiency and opened new markets for them. This gives them a competitive edge over other narrow web converters.’

One of the surprising factors with the Digital Series HD press is its production speed, which according to Flex-n-Roll Pro, is very close to the flexo speeds it was achieving with its previous equipment. This makes the press suitable for medium to longer runs, too. The Digital Series also means the company can cost-effectively undertake short-run shrink sleeve work and add cold foil stamping, with each sleeve personalized, if required.

‘When negotiating the contract, Flex-n-Roll Pro paid special attention to our overall package that included full technical and service support in addition to cutting-edge technology. Modern machines are complex, and it is vital that manufacturers support their customers at every stage before and after the installation. We are delighted to be playing a leading part in the development and success of this ambitious company,’ concluded Phil Baldwin, Mark Andy’s sales manager.