Permapack was formed in 1958. It’s a successful, family-owned manufacturing and trade company based in Rorschach, eastern Switzerland. Around 8 million labels and over 100,000 printed laminate tubes leave their production facility every day.
Permapack serves numerous industries, including non-food, food, cosmetics, construction, industry and retail. They specialise in manufacturing a wide range of products such as adhesive tapes, self-adhesive labels, laminate tubes, packaging films, sealants, DIY and garden products.
Bernd Prattl, CEO of GEW DACH GmbH, took some time to discuss Permapack’s recent LED upgrade with Roger Wick, COO of the company’s Labels & Flexible Packaging Division.
Bernd Prattl (BP): Please describe your company’s printing activities.
Roger Wick (RW): “Our printing works with prepress is one of the most prominent in Europe and guarantees efficient production of labels and composite films with consistently high quality. Demanding orders are produced using flexographic, screen and digital printing in up to 10 colours alongside simultaneous finishing with varnishes and embossing foils.”
BP: Tell us more about the latest UV curing installations.
RW: “In total, we did three installations this time, with the focus on upgrading from mercury arc to UV LED. In total, we upgraded 24 UV cassettes to 24 AeroLED cassettes.
“The first 8 AeroLEDs were installed on a Gallus RCS in September 2023. A further 8 AeroLEDs followed on a Gallus ECS in December, and the third Gallus, another RCS, was equipped with a further 8 AeroLEDs in January 2024.
“The lamps were replaced hand in hand with a changeover from UV inks to LED inks from Flint Group.”
BP: What applications are the AeroLEDs being used for?
RW: “We mainly use the LED lamps in our flexographic processes for label production, which is the majority of our business. We still use the mercury lamps for varnishes and special inks, but GEW’s ArcLED system allows us to easily change between LED and UV, so this doesn’t cause any issues.”
BP: What benefits has the GEW system brought to your business?
RW: “There are multiple benefits of upgrading to LED, even with the initial outlay. The most obvious of these is lower energy consumption. Whilst we don’t wish to share exact figures, the savings on energy alone make the acquisition worthwhile.
“However, there are other benefits such as being able to run at higher speeds, which increases the output of our production department. We have reduced downtime because the lamps are immediately on/off, which also saves additional energy.
“We also have reduced maintenance costs. Mercury arc lamps require replacements every 1000-2000 hours – LED lamp life far outstrips this, making them a better value system over the long run.”
BP: What can you do now, that you could not do before you had the GEW UV system?
RW: “We still produce the same products we were producing before, we just have the opportunity to do it in greater volume, at greater speed, with reduced energy costs.”
BP: What would you say to anyone considering purchasing a GEW system?
RW: “We highly recommend the GEW system. The decision to upgrade to LED has been a real benefit for Permapack, with the reduced energy costs and better productivity being particular highlights.”
BP: Describe your overall experience with GEW.
RW: “The co-operation and communication from the sales team was very good. We received all the necessary information, and also on-site support with the installation of the cassettes. The installation went off without a hitch. We can’t recommend GEW enough, from start to finish.”
You can learn more about Permapack on their website.
To learn more about AeroLED2, GEW’s latest air-cooled UV LED curing system, go here.
