Adhetix are a flexographic printer of adhesive labels, adhesive tape, paper. Based in Monterrey, in the north of Mexico, they have accumulated more than 20 years’ experience serving these different markets.
Jorge Quintanilla is the Director at Adhetix, and he was the man responsible for driving the company’s retrofit to their Bobst, Nuova Gidue – M1/MX370 press, which they originally bought in 2014 with GEW’s E2C lamps already installed. The retrofit included the purchase of four new GEW AeroLED lampheads, allowing them to run an ArcLED hybrid system where they utilise a mixture of mercury arc UV and UV LED on the same press, depending on the application needs.
GEW recently sat down with Jorge to discuss why Adhetix decided to go down the UV LED route.
GEW: Hi Jorge. To begin, what are the main applications the new installation is being used for?
Jorge Quintanilla (JQ): “For us the main market is adhesive labels, and then we work with some other substrates, but our main focus is on flexographic printing applications, where we print, on average, 15,000m2 per day.
“The press we’re discussing here, with our AeroLED installation, is a Nuova Gidue – M1/MX370 (now Bobst), which came with GEW’s E2C lamps when we purchased it in 2014. To improve the longevity of the machine, we felt that a power supply upgrade and UV LED upgrade was the best course of action to improve the machine’s productivity and allow us to access other markets.”
GEW: So, what benefits have you seen since the system was installed?
JQ: “The biggest thing for us was the hybrid nature of the machine following the UV LED installation. Being able to print using both conventional UV and UV LED means that we are now able to print using some previously unsupported materials, due to the lower temperature of the lamps – this was important as our press has no servo drive motors and no chillers. This has allowed us to reach some new markets due to offering a wider range of printed materials.
“The other benefit, from a production perspective, is the increased speed of the UV LEDs, and the faster set-up times. This is a cost saver for us, in a market that is driven by price.”
GEW: Finally, what do you think of the support on offer from GEW, and what would you say to anyone considering purchasing a GEW system?
JQ: “The most important thing for anyone in Mexico considering GEW is to know that they offer great support in the country. We have been incredibly impressed with their support throughout our interactions with them, from the sales process all the way through to the installation and technical support, post-purchase.
“The installation itself was very professionally done, with the press running straight away on completion. The whole system comes with the purchase, right down to the cables and individual installation parts, so no improvisation was necessary.
“But they impressed me right away – from concept there were blueprints and pictures of exactly what we were getting, and this allowed for a successful final installation.”
GEW: Thank you for your time, Jorge.
Learn more about GEW’s AeroLED2, here.
Alternatively, find out more about Adhetix on their website.
