OFT Technology claims foil application system first

OFT Technology, the British manufacturers of the Foiltone litho cold foil application system, is claiming a world first with a system application on a 6-color KBA 162 press in Italy.

John Hopkinson, OFT sales director, commented: ‘There were significant technical challenges which had to be overcome to produce a system which would operate at normal press speed with a foil width of over 1600mm (63"). OFT is now the only company in the world who can offer systems on all sizes of press, irrespective of the manufacturer.’

OFT has now retrofitted several makes of lithographic presses including KBA, Komori, Mitsubishi, Heidelberg and Man Roland and have systems operating in Europe, the USA and Japan. ‘Since introducing litho cold foil application to the market several years ago there have been significant developments in foils, adhesives, inks, including UV inks and coatings as the manufacturers of those products have seen their market opportunities multiply,’ said Hopkinson. ‘This in turn has lead to significant advances to cold foil application techniques which have now become of interest to print sectors not previously associated with foil stamping. Our principle growth area is in commercial print market where previously foil had been rarely used.’

Further developments at OFT include systems to allow several rolls of foil to be run across the width of the press and ‘Foilstop’ which only allows foil to run when the foil pressing section of the press is in impression. Both of these systems save significant amounts of foil over other applications.