Dragon Printing in Sydney is taking on a SCREEN PlateRite FX870II Flexo CtP system, with the new plate making system set to be installed immediately following the PacPrint13 trade show in Melbourne, where the machine will be on display at supplier Jet Technologies' stand.
The Mascot-based label and narrow web printer settled on the new PlateRite machine from local supplier, Jet Technologies, as part of its aim to bring its photopolymer plate-making duties in-house. The sale represents Jet Technologies' first PacPrint13-related sale this year.
Although the purchase of the machine has been completed, Dragon Printing will have to wait until after PacPrint13 is over to install the PlateRite unit, as Jet technologies will be featuring the machine at its PacPrint stand.
While it waits for the machine to be installed, Dragon Print is getting its plates made on the device at Jet Technologies’ nearby technical centre.
The PlateRite joins Dragon Printing’s Gallus ECS 340 label press, which was installed last year at the Sydney site. Paul McCullum (pictured), Dragon Printing director and co-owner, says the new installations are part of a move to improve the business’s quality and productivity.
“We are moving up-market in both quality and productivity,” says McCullum, “the addition of the ECS 340 – our fifth Gallus – has increased both aspects but we needed to be in control of our platemaking. Jet Technologies’ sales director, David Reece, introduced us to the SCREEN FX870II; we ran tests with their photopolymer plates and could see that this was the way forward for us.
“It is critical to get the photopolymer plates just right,” he says; “and with today’s shorter runs and more frequent plate changes, making them in-house considerably improves our service to customers.”
Peter Scott, SCREEN managing director, says the PlateRite sale to Dragon Printing is reflective of a larger trend in CtP uptake from the offset market.
“We are experiencing a surge in CtP sales for the offset market at the moment, so adding this Flexo installation through our channel partner Jet Technologies, is the icing on the cake,” says Scott. “SCREEN will provide local technical support and work with Jet Technologies to ensure maximum uptime.”
For Jack Malki, Jet Technologies’ managing director, the sale of the PlateRite system to Dragon Printing can be considered as the company’s first official PacPrint13 sale, even though the trade show is still weeks away.
“You could say this is PacPrint’s first exhibition sale – four weeks before opening, he says. “Dragon Printing has kindly agreed to our exhibiting their SCREEN FX870II at the show and we expect to gain more orders on this basis.”