Flexible packaging converter Bemis has invested £3M in a Windmoller & Holscher Astraflex eight colour CI flexo press for its plant at Elsham, in the UK. It joins the company's existing eight colour W&H Olympia Stellaflex and two other presses, and will increase capacity by 50-75 per cent to meet increased demand.

“This substantial investment is indicative of our commitment to quality and excellence,” says Bemis sales and marketing manager David Watchman. “Bemis is rapidly establishing itself as one of Europe’s premier flexo printers, and we have built up an excellent reputation in this sector. By investing in one of the leading edge flexo presses on the market, we are placing ourselves in an even stronger position.”

The new Astraflex has a 1,620mm web width and a top speed of 460m/min. To cope with the wide range of substrates used at Bemis, including highly extensible PE films, it has four separate web tension zones for precise control of the individual AC drives at the winders, draws and drum. It also features shaftless unwind and rewind technology, and W&H’s Portalift robotic plate cylinder and roller exchange, and Turboclean automatic ink supply and wash-up systems.