“The launch of our new Optima presses presented a good opportunity to look around at what the market had to offer. Straightaway we realised that Vetaphone was the company to work with. Both companies commit heavily to R&D to make sure they stay ahead of the competition, and we now promote Vetaphone as one of our preferred suppliers on our Optima press, which has enjoyed more than 100 sales worldwide since its launch”, said Peter Kusy SOMA Head of Purchasing.
What especially impressed Kusy was the rapid response of Vetaphone to new ideas and requests. “What we are looking to do going forward is design and build-in a greater degree of integration between our technology and Vetaphone’s that will have a significant impact on the success and profitability of our customers. You can do this only if you trust each other and commit to an open relationship,” he added.
Both parties know that converters today are looking to optimise their production processes for maximum profit and are demanding more in the way of performance guarantees from their suppliers. “To be successful you need to have complete trust in your own technology and that of your co-suppliers,” he said.
The latest Optima range of CI flexo presses is aimed at the short run market and offers a high degree of investment flexibility. Available in four web widths from 620 to 1450mm and in 8 or 10 colours depending on the model, the Optima presses use sleeve technology to print solvent, water-based, or UV/LED cured inks on a variety of substrates including LDPE, HDPE/PP, CPP, BOPP, PET and OPA, as well as paper and laminate, at speeds up to 600m/min (model dependent).
Designed to be user-friendly and heavily engineered for durability in arduous working environments, the Optima presses come with a number of unique features that improve customers’ productivity. Examples of these include zero set-up waste using the ARUN system for register and impression settings, advanced bounce control to improve overall print quality, online press supervision, reduced ink consumption using a cartridge system, and the flexibility to add technology upstream or downstream after installation.
It was this desire to be different and offer something extra that attracted Vetaphone CEO Frank Eisby, who commented: “We are very proud of our own heritage in surface treatment and our ongoing quest for refinement and improvement that benefits our customers. We see in SOMA the same business philosophy and burning ambition to be better. We are delighted and proud to be their preferred supplier of surface treatment systems, and look forward to developing our working partnership with them to achieve an even greater integration of technology”.
