Litografía D’Ortega is a leading producer of printed packaging, based in Guadalajara, Mexico. With over 55 years’ experience in the sector and around 280 employees, the company is a major supplier to many renowned brands, such as Nissin, Nestlé, Henkel, PINSA, Brown Forman, Omnilife, and more.
D’Ortega was established by brothers Ricardo and Daniel Delgado Ortega, with the aim to satisfy the packaging needs of the local textile and folding carton market. The company has developed substantially since then and now produces packaging for a wide range of sectors including food and beverage, health and beauty, electronics and games.
In this interview, D’Ortega’s Plant Mgr., Guillermo Pacheco discusses the five-lamp LeoLED installation on their RMGT 790, with GEW’s International Sales Manager for Sheetfed, Gary Doman.
Gary Doman (GD): Guillermo, please describe your company’s activities, and your role.
Guillermo Pacheco (GP): “Yes, Gary… Litografía D’Ortega is a company that offers a range of packaging solutions. We make a huge range of folded and litho-laminated boxes for secondary packaging.
“My role as Plant Manager means that I am responsible for leading the company’s ongoing drive for optimum productivity and efficiency, in order to ensure the strategic operational objectives of the business as a whole.”
GD: Thank you. And how long has your GEW LeoLED system been installed?
GP: “It was installed and began operation in June 2023. We have had five LeoLED Standard lamps retrofitted to our RMGT 790 press. There are three 80cm lamps, one in each of the units 1, 6 and 7, and we have a further two 80cm lamps in the press delivery.”
GD: That’s a big installation… what are all the lamps being used for?
GP: “We offer many different types of UV LED finishes applied to both regular and metallic sheets, such as matte UV, glossy UV, 3D or contrast finish, and rub-resistant acrylic.
“In addition to this, our RMGT team creates finishes for conventional inks, such as acrylic, glossy, matte, soft touch and semi-matte – in these instances we varnish on to dried conventional ink in a second pass.
“So we use the UV LED for a wide range of our applications, and it enables us to easily achieve these specialist finishes, and to add value to the finished products.”
GD: What benefits has the GEW system brought to your business?
GP: “The UV LED lamps have brought us three major benefits… firstly, we are able to attract new clients now that we have the UV LED technology, because we can offer the high-end materials and finishes that these leading brands demand.
“Secondly, we are enjoying a significant electric energy saving compared to our previous drying systems, which were a mix of conventional UV and IR.
“And finally, we have the much lower maintenance and longer life of the UV LED arrays when compared to our old system, which will also substantially reduce our costs over time.”
GD: What can you do now, that you could not do before you had the UV LED system?
GP: “In terms of the system itself, there are a number of productivity benefits that we’ve enjoyed. We can maximise our energy savings during breaks and in between jobs, by being able to instantly switch the lamps off, and then instantly on again when necessary. We also enjoy shorter job set-up times, meaning there’s faster throughput and better production efficiency.
“The switch to UV LED hasn’t directly led to a greater variety of customers yet, because customers in Mexico are not that aware of the differences between LED and conventional UV. But we are exploring new markets like the cosmetic market, specifically dyes, that will utilise the technology in new ways.”
GD: How has your experience been with GEW?
GP: “It has all been good. GEW have given us great service with highly trained personnel, without major problems in the start-up and throughout the process. They have been precise in their work and have an excellent and responsive attitude. To add to this, the UV system itself is efficient, reliable and highly recommended.”
GD: Thank you, Guillermo… is there anything more you would like to add?
GP: “I should mention that another important aspect for us, and one that helped us to choose GEW as our preferred supplier, is that they have a strong local network for sales and service. We are very well supported here by Danvav, who are GEW’s representative for Mexico. This is a great advantage to us, because they can provide a timely response in case of any eventuality.
“Our experience has been so positive that we have already decided to acquire further GEW UV LED equipment, but this time on a larger scale.”
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If you would like to know more about retrofitting your offset press with GEW UV LED, visit our LeoLED2 webpage.
To find out more about Litografía D’Ortega, visit their website: https://www.dortega.mx/en
