The Austrian digital print specialist has been a name to reckon with the direct laser engraving market, and though its CTP technology for the flexo market is new, it has many plusses, Michael Tschol of SPG Print tells Benjamin Daniel
UAE : SPG Prints aligned with Vinsak, a packaging print equipment specialist in the Middle East, to forge a partnership by which Vinsak will represent SPG in the region. It did so in India too. However, while the India territory deal kicked off in February, the UAE officially started at the start of April 2019.
Austria-based SPG is a digital print equipment manufacturer, but the company also manufactures pre-press systems for textile as well and graphics markets. The company has been manufacturing direct laser engraving (DLE) for more than three decades. It all began when it brought its first DLE to the market in 1986. “In the last six years we have also been manufacturing CTP systems for flexo, dry offset and letter press.
And while the company has been manufacturing DLE for long, the CTP is still a nascent technology. “However, given our reputation in the DLE technology, we have a good chance of stamping our mark in the CTP segment too,” says Michael Tschol, business sales manager at SPG Prints.
And to do that the company needs a good distribution partner, which it has in Vinsak, says Tschol. “Any success is heavily depended on the local partner. That’s the reason we have decided to align with Vinsak here in the Emirates as well parts of Africa and Middle East and in India. Vinsak has a very good reputation on consumable goods selling; mid-press, post-press and with our pre-press portfolio, we fit perfectly into their portfolio.”
SPG is excited about a new product that it’s about to launch, the Kronos. The digital laser engraving kit comes in two versions – fiber laser as well as CO2 laser in a width of up to 2000 mm or 3200mm.
The Kronos will be introduced during a Demo Day at SPG’s factory in Austria. The first Kronos will be out for delivery to a customer in Germany, a day after the Demo Day. “The exact date, either the end of May or beginning June, will be announced soon,” says Tschol.
The new kit is aimed at customers with wide-web sleeves and rollers. However, the Kronos can also be equipped with a vehicle drum as well as a magnetic drum, for metal back plate for dry-offset industry. Tschol says, “So it’s a versatile unit, for endless printing.”
The ROI factor
The DLE kit by itself is a high investment equipment, and so will the SPG Kronos DLE be. It’s not just the investment, but the periphery required around the kit – like space, manpower, maintenance and input material. So the main target group for the DLE investment are the repro houses. At present there are none in the Middle East, and just one in India.
Of course the return on investment on the machine is one thing, but there a demand in the market for different applications, says Tschol. “We see that there are many different applications coming to dry offset and flexo, because gravure market is going down. The gravure players are looking at alternatives and getting into flexo is one of them. So there we see many opportunities for a return on the DLE equipment.”
That said, according to Tschol, volumes are required and that’s where he thinks the Kronos is a versatile machine. “It covers multiple applications, and in here the payback will be much better and quicker than looking for one application in DLE.”
The CTP foray
SPG developed the CTP with an aim of targeting the metal decoration industry. Tschol says, SPG, looked very carefully into the textile market demands and requirements, and developed some specific solutions especially for them. “But once we did that, we diversified into other industry as well, like flexo, dry offset and letterpress, since from the technology side it is the same digital printing plates. We call it Varilex.”
The Verilex is available in two sizes – a 2,530-mm type of machine and the other is 4,835-mm machine. The highlight feature is the inline UV, and there’s only one other company who make the CTPs for flexo, dry offset and letter press with UV. “We believe we do it even better. This is one of our USP’s, based on this machine compared to others in the market,” says Tschol.
The kit is driven by a software named Best Image. It’s a modular software. Tschol explains, “We have the DLE and CTP solutions for both textile and graphics industry, and depending on what machine you are running, you can use the different modules of Best Image software. It can work with tiff files, ATP files, pdf, or .exe files. It’s very flexible and can integrate into existing workflow solutions.”
“We see that there are many different applications coming to dry offset and flexo, because gravure market is going down. The gravure players are looking at alternatives and getting into flexo is one of them. So there we see many opportunities for a return on the DLE equipment.”
Michael Tschol, business sales manager, SPG Prints