ProPrint Group are the first UK company to invest in the FFEI Graphium hybrid flexographic and UV inkjet label press. Supplied by Edale, the Graphium will be installed at ProPrint’s Wellingborough facility later this year and will add highly flexible digital label, packaging and light carton printing capabilities to the company’s production environment. The press also features the UK’s first Xaar Print Bar for the application of inline digital special effects.

Specialising in serving the fresh food retailer market, ProPrint are a BRC-approved (British Retail Consortium) company offering a full in-house concept-design-production facility with a strong reputation for its fast-response, ‘no fail’ service. Since investing in its first FL1 flexo press in 2011, ProPrint has expanded rapidly, investing in a new Edale flexo press approximately every 12 months, including a high-performance 7-colour UV FL3 system, to meet demand and drive business growth.

‘The time is right for us to add digital printing now and the Graphium is very strategic investment for us which marks an exciting new phase for ProPrint which also sees us expanding our production space by 50%,” says founder and director James Denny. “The label market is dynamic and changes rapidly and our philosophy is to change with it and meet the evolving needs of customers. My co-director Nigel Tollman and I looked at the digital technologies currently available but were most impressed by the Graphium and the FFEI, Edale, and Xaar technologies it incorporates. The combination of conventional and digital printing capabilities gives us the power and flexibility to produce a wide range of products with the ability to add variable data and a variety of special and tactile effects all on the one press.”

ProPrint’s 420mm width, four-colour + white Graphium press combines workflow, digital and flexographic print and automated semi-rotary finishing in one complete production system. The system delivers the ultimate in 50m/min single-pass flexibility, quality and efficiency by integrating an Edale FL3 web transport with two flexo stations, an FFEI digital print engine using Xaar 1002 printheads, an inkjet Xaar Print Bar, followed by lamination and automated semi-rotary die cutting. The Xaar Print Bar System incorporates Xaar 1002 printheads with TF Technology™ giving the ability to jet a range of inks and fluids enabling the application of digital special effects using protective lacquers, high-build spot varnish and cold foil adhesives. The Graphium uses Fujifilm UVijet inkjet ink to deliver high quality results on a wide range of coated and uncoated label and light carton board substrates from 40-600 micron in thickness.

“The Graphium press is highly productive solution which is a perfect fit for ProPrint which is a highly innovative company,” says James Boughton, managing director of Edale. “We have always looked at the relationship between ProPrint and Edale as a partnership and I look forward to working with, and supporting, them with the Graphium and their long term growth plans.”