Offset Printing
New Lithrone G40 boosts production for packaging printer
Tuesday 25. January 2022 - Due mainly to their passion to provide the best possible products for their clients and their dedication to constantly improving their capabilities, supplying packaging products for food and other products both locally and in other countries as well.
Williams Commercial has been operating older vintage offset printing presses, but since growth and the demand for packaging products are constantly increasing, their 15-20 year old machines (two six-color Lithrone 40s with coater and two other Japanese presses) could not cope with the rigorous 24 hours a day, 6 days a week schedule. The non-automated machines take an average of 1.5 hours for every job changeover and have a maximum production speed of 7,500 sph, dragging down the company’s production rates and proving to be non-competitive in the market. Anticipating the increasing demands of their customers, Williams Commercial decided to invest in a new offset press with the latest automation technology.
Pandemic drives food packaging demand
“Packaging for food products and other consumer products is among the jobs that are constantly increasing, most notably since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. We noticed that some of our clients’ orders were becoming smaller and requiring shorter delivery times. This is one of the reasons we invested in a brand-new Komori press,” says Tristan Limchesing, Manager of Plant 1.
Owing to their experience on their current Japanese machines, they decided to go to Japan to check out the latest model of Komori. They joined the Packaging Open House held at the Komori Tsukuba Plant in 2019.
The visit to Tsukuba turned out to be an enlightenment as they saw the latest Lithrone G40 model with all the automated features that are lacking on their old machines. They were impressed by the performance of the highly automated press and amazed by the short changeover time between jobs. Right then and there, they were convinced that their next machine would be a Komori.
When they returned home from the Japan trip, they started preparing for the anticipated new investment. And after a little more than a year, they signed the contract for the new six-color Lithrone G40 plus coater (IR) with Full-APC.
After its installation in early 2021, their excitement was rewarded with an increase of 35 percent in total plant production. They expect it to increase by another 15 percent by year end as new jobs keep coming in.
Printing speed and set-up time big factors
“With the new machine, our production has significantly increased, and backlog issues were addressed. Production before the new investment was much slower in terms of output capacity. The superior print speed and considerably shorter set-up time of our new machine significantly improved production,” says Daniel Ching, Manager of Plant 2.
“We have several years of experience with Komori presses, and we are impressed with their high print quality, ease of operation, and low maintenance cost. The new press with the latest automation drastically shortens makereadies and minimizes waste. The operator was totally overwhelmed with the exceptional print quality, the ease of operation and the short makeready time with minimal downtime. With this press, we have no reason to look anywhere else.”
The owners are now inclined to continue to replace the older fleet of machines and will begin the process of acquiring their next Lithrone G40 advance. “We are at the stage of looking at how far this new machine can take us in terms of profitability, efficiency and flexibility, after which we will decide on how we will go forward,” concludes Ching.