Packaging

World first 7-colour BOBST MASTERFLEX-L suits green minded inspirepac

nspirepac has installed the world’s first seven colour MASTERFLEX-L flexo press, less than a year after the group’s MBO from Mondi.

Monday 10. March 2008 - Inspirepac has installed the world’s first seven colour MASTERFLEX-L flexo press, less than a year after the group’s MBO from Mondi.

“Like any MBO, the first year was all about securing the finance,” said Mr Goodall, CEO of inspirepac. “What’s different about us is that, because of our experience and the robustness of our business plan, we have been able to secure funds for capital equipment very early on in the group’s life.”

The machine was purchased to deliver print quality and run length benefits to customers of the inspirepac plant at Wetherby, Yorkshire.

Mr Goodall said, “Our aim is to create something special at Wetherby by bringing our creativity together with that of the suppliers and products we rate as the best in the business. These range from BOBST and their MASTERFLEX-L, through to our ink, stereo and board suppliers. The intention is to become the reference in the industry for flexo-printing and, ultimately, to benefit our customers.”

Chris Marples, inspirepac’s Managing Director, said, “The fast setting and unlimited job memory of the MASTERFLEX-L are already starting to help us reduce lead times and run smaller batches more cost effectively. This means that our customers can order batches as small as 1500 or 1000 sheets and so don’t need to keep as much product in stock.”

With ‘green’ issues high on the agenda of both UK consumers and retailers, reducing inspirepac’s carbon footprint was one of the topics the company highlighted when looking for a new printer for the Wetherby site. Alongside its high quality print and its high productivity, BOBST designed the MASTERFLEX-L with an inking system that offers chambered doctor blades and an entirely automatic wash-up, making it possible to reduce both loss of ink and the amount of waste water discharged. Independent tests on the MASTERFLEX-L show that the new inking and wash-up systems can reduce ink loss by 80% and the amount of used water discharge by two thirds.

Inspirepac plans to invest £3m into the Wetherby site in the short term. Aside from the new MASTERFLEX-L and a conveyor in-feed and output to keep pace with it, the plant will gain a water treatment plant and a new M.I.S. system. The investments will help the company meet its stated aim of growing the turnover of the Wetherby site by £10m in the next three years.