Top Print installs Omet XFlex X4

The Chengdu-based company already offers digital, gravure, screen and offset printing. Top Print has now added narrow web flexo in the form of an 8-color Omet XFlex X4 line. The 8-color Omet XFlex X4 includes cold foil, twin die-cutting stations, web turnbars and delam/relam. The printer had looked at investing in a 10-color press but was unable to accommodate it in its current 1200sqm facility that is split over four floors. The new press is expected to work to full capacity in the company’s new 6,000sqm factory that is planned.

Wang DaXun, general manager at the Chengdu facility, said: ‘Of all the leading brands, both Western and Chinese, we found that Omet performed the best on filmic substrates, which together with its 440mm web width, gives it clear advantage over the other presses and us over our competitors.’

Currently enjoying a high level of demand for its thermal transfer labels, which it is in the process of switching from gravure to flexo, Top Print is also growing its business in shrink sleeves for the liquor and food market sectors, and recently won an award in the APJ region for this work. With the complex nature of many of its jobs, Top Print’s new Omet is often limited to running speeds of around 70m/min, but on easier work Mr Wang noted that the press holds ‘brilliant register’ at 190m/min.

‘Two or three days was all it took for our operators to learn how to run it commercially,’ said Mr Wang. ‘It is a very functional machine with a high degree of efficiency with its in-line capabilities.’

He added: ‘The local Chengdu market needs more investment in new technology to satisfy the needs of the brand owners who are requesting ever more complex labels.’