Zer0 Waste is the result of years of experience in the field and of a commitment constantly oriented towards continuous improvement and total customer satisfaction by developing innovative technologies to simplify the use of the printing machine as much as possible and to reduce waste at start-up of production. Expert offers Zer0 Waste on all its CI machines, but a version for Stack machines is already in preparation.
The passion for flexography is the driving force behind Expert Srl located in San Martino Buon Albergo (VR), a manufacturer of flexographic printing machines founded in 2004 and led by specialists with consolidated experience in the flexo sector.
Expert produces flexo machines of various models and sizes for the flexible packaging and paper industry sectors, starting from Compact, Active, Evolution and Dynamic central drum (CI) versions, which are characterized by a great variety of print repeat length up to 1,250 mm and working widths up to 1,600 mm, and which has also specialized in Stack versions, where Sprint and Concept reach printing widths up to 3,200 mm with the possibility of front and back printing of the film both in the roll-to-roll version and in line with extruders and bagging machines, in various configurations up to 10 printing units. The company also supplies gravure, semi-flexo and flexo lines also for lacquering of paper, film and aluminum foil and for the laminating of these substrates to obtain composite or self-adhesive films, where each project is personalized according to the needs of process.
The question that arises spontaneously is about the reasons that motivated the specialization in Stack machines, “because we are genetically very flexible and each Stack project is customized, and our DNA allows us to access a very receptive portion of the market”, answers Luigi Fiorenzato, who takes care of sales and marketing at Expert.
The global network on which the company can count is remarkable, “having representatives all over the world is essential both for sales promotion and for guaranteeing good assistance, because even if our machines are very reliable thanks to excellent quality technical choices level, we work to constantly improve the user experience of our customers”, says Fiorenzato, and adds that Expert R&D team is oriented towards continuous innovation and constant improvement of performance and reliability, as well as simplification of the operations that the printer is required to carry out.
Zer0 Waste
With this vision in mind Expert conceived the dream of every printer, that is going into production without material waste, and possibly through the simplest possible operation, simply pressing a “start” button.
Traditionally, setting up a job in a flexo press requires time, the attention of an operator and in the best case the use of a few dozen meters of paper or film to achieve the optimal image setting.
R&D work by Expert has created an automation that allows immediate start-up, without the active intervention of an operator and without the use of viewing or verification equipment. “At K-2022 fair we presented Zer0 Waste, the Expert system that allows you to start printing by ‘pressing a button’ on the software supervision monitor and therefore allowing the flexographic system to activate production with practically perfect register and printing pressures” says Fiorenzato.
The operator’s attention is no longer dedicated to registering or pressure, but will be oriented towards more specialized operations such as color matching, optimization of print yields, organization of production or other, working faster and following more machines with less organizational stress for the entire work team. The number of operations and their complexity are drastically reduced and greater repeatability of serial jobs is ensured; the operator interface is simplified to the maximum and the machine performs the operations automatically.
The elements that build Zer0 Waste system
These are the elements that make up the innovative solution proposed by Expert: the very high precision ZW plate mounter, a series of programs that progressively refine the precision of data synchronization system between the plate mounter and the press and a series of software for data processing and positioning programming.
The heart of the system is a proprietary software designed to arrive at the result of printing flawlessly without having to go through viewing systems or automatic adjustment of print registers, in fact the camera systems are used only to check the printing parameters and monitor product quality.
“Zer0 Waste system can only be used on machines produced by Expert, mainly on CI machines, where the performance is impeccable on any type of substrate, while a version of Zer0 Waste is at work with higher performance to be applied on Stack machines where the potential inaccuracy is solely due to the elasticity of thin and less rigid films which, with their elasticity, could generate register movements”, explains Fiorenzato.
Environmental impact
Every detail is important to reduce the environmental impact of flexographic printing: in addition to Zer0 Waste, Expert supplies AC-System, one of the most efficient automatic ink circuit washing systems on the market, it reduces the amount of solvents and detergents used in the washing process at each ink change and an integrated system for reducing the energy required for drying the inks by automatic recirculation of the drying flows in real time.
After-sales service
After-sales service takes place with the support of senior print specialists and software programmers who deal with a large variety of topics online, with remote connections to assist operators, to diagnose any faults and to give printing advice in case of difficult processes.
Acknowledging to be a medium-small company, Expert Srl is equipped with important technological know-how and construction experience and the interest in the Zer0 Waste technology presented at this year’s open houses confirms the great potential of this new proposal.
