Xeikon continues on pathway to full digitization of print manufacturing

Xeikon takes another strategic step forward with the announcement of new areas of innovation. The Xeikon vision has always been to offer printers and converters a clear and viable pathway to digital transformation. With its comprehensive portfolio and raft of new and innovative digital printing solutions, Xeikon is now ready to move to the next level. Printers and converters are searching for solutions that will enable them to achieve business growth, provide the highest quality and offer creative products to meet today’s ever-evolving consumer demand. Online ordering has increased the need for automation, high -quality color controls and faster production speeds. Xeikon’s extensive and innovative digital portfolio, in-depth knowledge of digital technology and long -standing experience working with companies that move to digital has positioned them as the world’s go-to advisor for businesses looking to safeguard the future of their print production and manufacturing operations.

Filip Weymans, Vice President of Marketing states: “In the last year, Xeikon has launched several new innovations and products. Now, printers and converters are truly able to see our vision materializing and what that can mean for them. The careful build and structure of our portfolio is about to bear fruit, and we are now ready to present even more exciting innovations that will open up a way toward a digital future and ‘lights out’ production and manufacturing.”

Xeikon Cheetah 2.0 dry toner technology: Now cloud-connected with man/machine and machine/machine interfaces where the machines are in constant communication with each other , driving and monitoring print jobs with full automation. Earlier this year, Xeikon introduced two new models: the CX30 and the CX50 entry level dry-toner presses. Important to note that with each cloud-connected solution, operators can monitor print manufacturing from anywhere on the shop floor by viewing the interfaces/dashboards 24/7 on a smartphone or any other device.

A fundamental and key component of the workflow is Xeikon’s X-800 Digital Front End (DFE). The X-800 unifies every facet of Xeikon’s digital portfolio. Xeikon is now extending the capabilities of its X-800 workflow even further to expand and enhance the range of possible applications. The label version of the X-800 will now include Xeikon VARI ONE variable data workflow – a true differentiator – and combine it with Panther durable haptic printing and with Xeikon’s FEU (Fusion Embellishment Unit). This truly unique development is set to offer the highest levels of variable imagery available today. With this unique capability, the X-800 will drive both the Panther and the Cheetah series of presses towards digital transformation.

Filip Weymans concludes, “With our latest innovations, printers and converters will be able to address the current and future needs of print buyers and brand owners. Having clear insight into their production environments means they can monitor progress and make quick and flexible decisions on the fly. This is why digitization can be a game changer. When we install the first digital press at a company’s site, we are with that company every step of their growth journey. They quickly realize the productivity, growth and profit benefits of implementing a fully automated digital print manufacturing process. Everyone knows that making changes in a company’s strategy and operations can be difficult. Xeikon stands as the go-to advisor for printers and converters looking to the future for their growth and sustainable profitability.”

For more details: www.xeikon.com

Emsur Saymopack optimizes longevity of sleeve-mounting adapter with rotec Eco Xtra rings

Spanish flexible packaging producer Emsur Saymopack has increased their productivity and the lifetime of their adapters with the new rotec Eco Xtra ring from XSYS. This next-generation Eco Bridge technology further improves the durability of the adapters by reducing wear from mounting sleeves.

The rotec line of Sleeves & Adapters from XSYS is under constant development with new innovations introduced to help converters improve press performance and print quality. The Eco Bridge adapter is a patented technology that enables significantly easier sleeve mounting, as well as more efficient compressed air usage. The next evolution of the rotec Eco Bridge maintains these advantages while taking sustainability to the next level. The Eco Xtra is a modified stainless-steel ring that incorporates the revolutionary air supply system of the Eco Bridge, and additionally guards against wear by strengthening the operator-side of the adapter.

The first customer to take advantage of this innovation is Emsur in Spain, who has been testing the Eco Xtra adapter at its Saymopack plant, in Valencia.

“During rough production processes, our adapters were becoming damaged very fast, so we needed to reinforce the operator side. The new ring with the innovative air supply protects the adapter from wear and improves the mounting characteristics quite significantly, as well as the overall lifetime,” says Marcos Gaspar Calatayud, who is responsible for process improvement at Emsur Saymopack.

A division of the Spanish multinational Grupo Lantero, Emsur has more than 900 staff across its nine production plants located in the following eight countries: Spain, France, Poland, Russia, the US, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. With over 30 years of experience, its packaging solutions are exported worldwide to customers primarily in the food sector, but also in the industrial, agrochemical and pharmaceutical sectors, in more than 60 countries.

The Emsur Saymopack plant is located in Algemesí, just south of Valencia, and specializes in flexible packaging production, with both rotogravure and flexographic printing presses in-house. Like all Emsur facilities, it has obtained the ISO 9001 and 14001 certifications and is committed to sustainability based on food preservation, waste reduction and the development of eco-friendly products. An ambitious investment plan undertaken over the past few years has seen the company expand its printing and converting capabilities to fulfil a large portfolio of products for its customers.

Through the XSYS regional agent, LR Flexo, Emsur Saymopack has enjoyed the benefits of rotec sleeves and adapters for plate-mounting on its wide web flexo presses for more than 10 years. “We have had a great relationship with LR Flexo for many years and we always get the best service,” says Gaspar. “And now with the new Eco Xtra ring, they even developed something designed specifically for our needs. We can now mount our sleeves much faster and speed up the whole process”.

For more details: www.xsysglobal.com

Toyo Ink Group Issues Its First Integrated Report

Toyo Ink SC Holdings Co., Ltd., the Tokyo-based parent company of the specialty chemicals manufacturing conglomerate Toyo Ink Group, has released the “Toyo Ink Group Integrated Report 2021,” the first report of its kind for the company. Up to now, the Group had disclosed its financial information through securities reports, financial statements, fact books and financial results briefings, while issuing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports for highlighting its environmental and CSR-related initiatives. To help all stakeholders gain a deeper understanding of the Group, the company has now combined details on its management plans and business strategy, CSR and value creation initiatives, and other factors in an integrated report. The CSR Report and Fact Book will continue to be issued, although in a slightly altered format.

This transition reflects Toyo Ink Group’s commitment to promoting corporate reporting that more clearly shows the correlations between the financial and non-financial aspects of the Group’s operations. To help achieve this end, the content of the Report is based on the framework developed by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines, and the Guidance for Collaborative Value Creation of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

 Kazuhito Nakano, Managing Director overseeing CSR initiatives of Toyo Ink SC Holdings remarked: “The shift to integrated reporting was a natural step in this, the first year of our new mid-term management plan called the Scientific Innovation Chain II. We hope the Report helps to provide a clearer picture on how the Group’s management strategy and business activities generate social value, while sustainably driving our corporate value. Through the publication of such reports and proactive corporate disclosure, the Toyo Ink Group is committed to improving communication with all our stakeholders.”

For more details: www.schd.toyoinkgroup.com/en/

Teknor Apex Monprene Serves the Pet Toy Market with TPE Series Offering a Broad Range of Performance and Aesthetic Characteristics

Teknor Apex Company, a privately held firm founded in 1924, is one of the world’s leading custom compounders of plastics. Teknor Apex produces flexible and rigid vinyl, thermoplastic elastomers, nylons, color masterbatches, specialty chemicals, and hoses. The company is headquartered in Pawtucket, RI, U.S.A. and operates thirteen manufacturing facilities worldwide in the United States, Belgium, Germany, China, and Singapore.

The latest series is now specifically designed for use in the manufacture of pet products. Monprene CP-16500 series of thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) are durable and sustainable alternatives to thermoset rubber for dog toys, with a broad range of performance and aesthetic characteristics. This series includes clear, translucent and opaque grades with low, medium and high gloss. All grades exhibit excellent colorability and are easily moldable. This extensive portfolio includes specialty grades that offer improved durability with superior resistance to puncture and tear—ideal for the demanding applications of dog chew toys. In order to help compare the durability of different materials, Teknor Apex designed a “bite resistance” laboratory test to simulate the forceful action of a dog biting a toy. Based on the ASTM test method F1306 for flexible films, the Teknor Apex Bite Resistance test measures the puncture resistance or the force required to penetrate an injection molded specimen. A “Puncture Rating” is assigned to each material based on this force, and uses a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 having the greatest resistance.

While the general purpose grades offer an excellent balance of cost and performance, the specialty grades offer superior resistance to puncture, tear, and tear propagation. All materials in this series mold with ease, with excellent flow characteristics. In the case that a pet product manufacturer has unique requirements, Teknor Apex will work with them to customize a Monprene TPE solution.

The Monprene CP-16500 series is formulated with only FDA listed ingredients and is not formulated to contain PVC, BPA, latex, phthalates or metals, nor REACH SVHC or Prop 65 listed substances. These grades are also classified and suitable for use in Children’s Toys per the following regulatory standards: Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), European Product Safety Standard EN 71, and the ASTM International’s Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Toy Safety (F963).

Monprene is also recyclable, offering a sustainable alternative to thermoset rubber dog toys. Scrap recovered from any step in the manufacturing process can be re-introduced into the process or used in the production of new parts. Additionally, used chew toys can be recovered, shredded, and recycled into new ones.

“The pet industry has been growing for years, especially recently with the rise in pet ownership during the pandemic. As a pet owner, I know what an important part of the family they are. We are excited to be integral parts of creating products that are safe, fulfill the durability promise, and help our partners succeed,” said Hilarie Rubin, Senior Market Manager for Consumer Products. “Made in the USA” Monprene CP-16500 Series are manufactured in several ISO-9001 certified facilities in the USA, but are also manufactured in Singapore and Germany to serve local markets all with strict formulation control and traceability.

For more details: www.teknorapex.com

Songwon announces global price increases for its phosphorous based polymer stabilizers

Songwon Industrial Co., Ltd. today announced global price increases for its phosphorous based polymer stabilizer products to reflect the sudden rise in raw materials costs. The price increases are effective immediately for SONGWON’s phosphites antioxidants: SONGNOX 1680, SONGNOX 6260 and SONGNOX PQ (including subsequent blends) as well as SONGSORB 7120.

The price adjustments are aimed at offsetting the higher cost of yellow phosphorous raw materials and their limited availability caused by decree 2021-792 made by provincial authorities of Yunnan, China in September, which restricted the high energy consuming production of yellow phosphorous. Phosphorous trichloride and phosphorus oxychloride (yellow phosphorous derivatives) are key raw materials in SONGWON production and the price for these materials continues to escalate. SONGWON anticipates the global availability of these raw materials to be substantially reduced and is working with high priority to minimize the effects of these exceptional circumstances. It will also be continually monitoring the cost developments and reviewing its prices accordingly.

For more details: www.songwon.com

Lanxess Launches Hollow-Profile Hybrid Technology

• First customer projects at the prototype stage
• Innovative tolerance management for profiles with varying dimensions
• No internal support required for the hollow profiles in the production process
• Manufacturing process and component properties can be simulated precisely

Lanxess is currently in the process of launching its hollow-profile hybrid technology on the market. With this new lightweight design technology, metallic hollow profiles can be functionalized on conventional injection molding machines with plastic compounds. The result is plastic-metal composite components that boast far greater torsional stiffness and strength than could previously be achieved with other technologies for functionalizing hollow profiles. “Hollow-profile hybrid technology has now progressed to such an advanced level that we have embarked on a variety of development projects with customers and have already reached the prototype stage with some of them,” says Dr. Matthias Theunissen, an expert in lightweight design at Lanxess. The potential applications in the automotive industry include cross car beams, coupling rods, stabilizers and seat elements. In addition, the new lightweight technology could be used to produce skiing and hiking poles and components for furniture and the construction industry, for example.

The hollow-profile hybrid technology is a further development of the “traditional” plastic-metal composite technology (hybrid technology) using sheet metal. The general strength of the new technology is that processors can manufacture with short cycle times, as is typical for injection molding in high-volume production. As a result, the manufacturing process is efficient and economical. There is no need for auxiliary units or tooling technology, which keeps investment costs low. The fact that reasonably priced hollow profiles with relatively large dimensional variations can be used helps to make the process cost-effective, too. As Theunissen explains, “With the aid of innovative tolerance management, we can prevent profiles of that type from damaging the mold or stop leaks occurring in the injection molding cavity.” When the thin-walled hollow profiles are overmolded with the molten plastic, high pressures often exceeding 400 to 500 bar occur in the cavity. As a result, there is a high risk of the profiles deforming or collapsing. “We have optimized the process such that the profiles withstand the pressures that occur and do not need to be supported from inside,” says Theunissen.

For the hollow-profile hybrid technology, Lanxess offers highly reinforced polyamide 6 types such as the easy-flowing Durethan BKV60H2.0EF DUS060, which has a short glass fiber content of 60 percent by weight. With their high strength and stiffness, these compounds further enhance the performance of the corresponding components. In a simulation study, Lanxess examined how using the compounds pays off in the design of an automotive cross car beam. “The component can be designed with around 30 percent less weight than an all-steel structure while offering better mechanical performance in some respects,” says Theunissen. Typical load cases and component properties were calculated, such as vibration behavior and the stiffness of the steering wheel in the direction of gravitational forces. “The component also underlines the huge potential of the technology in implementing cost-saving functional integration. For example, connections for the A-pillar as well as mountings for the steering column, dashboard, climate control units and airbags were directly injected.

Lanxess has developed new calculation models for the hollow-profile hybrid technology based on simulation tools that have proven successful for years in conjunction with the “traditional” hybrid technology. These allow precise prediction of the production process and the quality of the connection between the metal and plastic. “With these tools, we can, for example, accurately predict the maximum stresses hollow-profile hybrids will withstand and at what point they will fail. We apply this expertise in working with our customers,” explains Theunissen. A newly developed test specimen was used to validate the simulation. Extensive component testing for static and dynamic load cases underpinning the simulation results was carried out on real components.

For more details: www.lightweight.lanxess.com