Spande has advanced and unique flexo lines in the industry

Rahul Kumar (RK): How does your press architecture support modular upgrades between flexo, digital and hybrid?

Akshay Kaushal (AK): Spande showcased the most automated flexo press lines currently present in the industry. It displayed three presses at the show, including the S7 model, one of the most advanced narrow-web flexo press in the industry. We are also pleased to announce that the press on display will be coming to India post-exhibition, and it will be the first Spande flexo line in India. Apart from this, Spande also displayed a hybrid (modular) press model, Falcon 450. The third press on display was a mid-web (800-mm) flexo line AC800. All the press models from Spande support modular structure and can be integrated with an inkjet engine inline, along with various other unit options. 

RK: What automation tools are integrated for make-ready, registration, and colour calibration across mixed jobs?

AK: Spande has one of the most advanced and unique flexo lines in the industry. They have earned the reputation of offering superior automation levels on their presses. At the booth, visitors saw presses with 8/9 servo motors on each printing unit of the presses, which makes these presses literally auto-pilot presses. The presses feature the unique i-pressure system, which automatically adjusts the gap between the anilox roller and the printing sleeve and between the printing sleeve and the anvil cylinder. The i-vision is Spande’s intelligent camera-based automatic registration system, which calculates absolute registration tolerance at any production speed. Additionally, automatic positioning of anilox roller, ink cassettes and doctor blades allows super-fast job changeover. Furthermore, Spande offers its own inline and offline inspection systems as well for higher job accuracy and lower wastages. 

RK: How adaptable is your press to India’s labelstock diversity — BOPP, PET, linerless, ultra-thin?

AK: These presses have been tested on all kinds of materials and are well equipped to run on Indian label stock without any trouble. The presses are equipped to perform at high speeds on different substrates without any trouble whatsoever.

RK: Are fixed palette (ECG) setups supported by default—and how do you ensure run-to-run consistency?

AK: Yes, these are supported on Spande presses and run-to-run consistency can be easily ensured with job recall setting, inline camera-based inspection systems and various other optional automations available.

RK: What software integration is standard — Esko, PrintOS, AVT, others?

AK: Spande presses offer the flexibility of integrating different types of software on their press as per customer requirement and application. 

RK: What inline embellishment options are available — and are they mode-independent?

AK: Various embellishment options such as silk screen, hot foil stamping, embossing, cold foiling, cast and cure etc can be provided on these presses. Any special customer requirement can also be developed and accommodated.

RK: How are you helping converters reduce energy use, waste, and job rejection rates?

AK: With the advancements taking place in electronics in recent times, presses are becoming increasingly ergonomic. Spande has implemented innovative automations and designed their presses to significantly reduce the overall energy consumption of their presses, paper wastage and job rejections. Spande also has its own inspection system under the brand WAZMICRO.

RK: How is high print quality maintained when running variable or multilingual data at top speeds?

AK: High print quality depends on various parameters such as transportation stability, precise pressure settings, the ability of the machine to correct deviations from set parameters and integration of presses with various quality check instruments, etc. These presses are designed to control these parameters to perfection.

RK: Do you offer real-time monitoring tools—cloud dashboards, mobile apps, press analytics?

AK: Spande has its own IOT ecosystem where it provides smart factory solutions to customers. Various tools and systems can be provided to customers on  project basis. 

RK: What does future-proofing mean on your platform — head upgrades, curing modules, AI-based controls?

AK: Future-proofing in flexo presses is defined by the degree of flexibility the presses support for upgrades and timeline. All Spande presses are completely modular presses with a variety of upgrades and addition possibility in future if required by customers. For example, AC series presses are developed on a universal base structure which supports upgrading the print stations to offset, gravure, silk screen, etc, by simply sliding out the existing unit and sliding in the new unit. 

RK: Can your press auto-calibrate based on substrate type or thickness? 

AK: Spande S7 and AC Series presses are only presses currently present in the industry which has unique iPressure system which Automatically adjusts the gap between the anilox roller to the printing sleeve and the printing sleeve to the anvil roller.  It is controlled by four individual servo drives on each printing unit; manual adjustment is no longer required.

RK: What partnerships exist with finishing OEMs for alignment, embellishment sync, or tension control?  

AK: Spande has strategic partnerships with Siemens for complete electricals and electronics on all Spande press models, BST for web guides and visions systems, SPG and others OEM’s for various specific applications.