Swedish converter chooses Stork’s Helios laser engraver

The Swedish dkra (Helsingborg)-based label and flexible packaging converter Laritryck is turning to Stork Prints’ direct laser engraving technology, in order to boost productivity, responsiveness and quality at the company.

The company, which specializes in flexo printing, has placed an order for Stork’s Helios engraving system – a multi-process unit for creating not just flexo, but letterpress, dry-offset and rotary screen printing formes, too.

‘The Stork Helios system gives us high printing quality at a low price, and with very low consumable costs. Its user friendliness enables us to significantly speed up the plate-production workflow and boost responsiveness,’ said Mr Johan Ripa, Laritryck’s managing director.

Laritryck’s key markets are the food and beverages. Its foray into flexible packaging began in order to meet the growing demand for shrink-wrapped packages. Lead-times are notoriously tight and are often measured in a matter of days.

Until now, the company has been buying plates which are produced by the Digital LAMS process. This process requires many production steps, such as exposure, chemical washing and drying. The complexity of the process meant that, if a problem occurred with a printing plate, it can be many hours before a replacement is ready and printing could resume. Stork’s direct laser engraving system eliminates such problems, taking as little as 20 minutes to make the plate, enabling production ‘on-demand’.” 

‘Laritryck also chose the Helios press because it offered superior quality,’ a spokesman for Stork said in a statement. ‘The system, with its high-powered raster image processing software, gives superior dot shaping control compared with exposure systems. This enables sharper contrast, better results in the solid areas and halftones to be achieved. In addition, no eco-harmful or costly consumables, such as chemicals, film or UV light, are needed. Also, because the process is purely digital, plate images can be repeated pixel-perfect, by simply uploading the relevant file.’

The installation is set to take place in the early Autumn of 2006. Laritryck intends to install an eight-color Mark Andy XP 5000, which has been specially designed to convert flexible package materials as well as labels. While Laritryck is specifically a flexo business, both the new press and engraver enable the printer to adopt other high value processes, such as rotary screen, relatively easily.

‘We are convinced that installing the Helios – the cutting edge in pre-production technology – represents a landmark in our 30-year history. We will be even better placed to deliver highest quality and consistency, and remain extremely flexible when faced with the tightest of order deadlines,’ added Mr Ripa.