ROTOCON has further expanded its international reach with the official registration of its subsidiary, ROTOCON Asia. The company has been set up to provide local after-sales service for ROTOCON’s ECOLINE range of finishing equipment to printers and converters throughout the region.

‘Our entry into Asia is an exciting milestone for ROTOCON. We are actively recruiting local distributors to represent the ECOLINE brand – they need to embody ROTOCON’s commitment to providing exceptional customer service and after-sales support – and expand our presence in this growing and dynamic market,’ enthuses Michael Aengenvoort, founder of this family-run specialist equipment supplier to the narrow-web industry.

This latest geographical expansion follows the 2018 establishment of ROTOCON Europe, which represents the ECOLINE range – launched in South Africa in 2017 – across the EU. ECOLINE is also available to the North American market through ROTOCONTROL, led by co-founder Michael Aengenvoort’s eldest son, Marco.

The ECOLINE economy range of finishing equipment meets the technology investment needs of smaller labelling operations and start-up ventures, which must carefully balance the highest possible specifications with competitive pricing, comments director, Patrick Aengenvoort. Various models provide roll-to-roll inspection and slitting (vertical and horizontal designs), offline die-cutting, booklet inspection, in-mould labelling, and digital finishing with embellishments.

Plate mounter

The latest additions to the range are the ECOLINE Pro Mount platemounter and ECOLINE Pro Clean anilox roller cleaner.

The ECOLINE Pro Mount platemounter is an entry-level machine designed to tick three boxes: price ratio, ease of operation, plus maximum precision and highly repeatable accuracy for operators manually mounting printing plates.

The 650-line camera reaches a 70 times amplification ratio – presenting clear, bright images that substantially improve plate mounting precision – via a 482.6mm high-resolution display screen.

Ravi Pillay, one of Durban-based GTV Labels’ directors, explains that the company’s new ECOLINE RFP 340 flexographic printing press required a different way of mounting plates and instead of making brackets to use on its existing models of plate mounters (a time-consuming process), the management team decided to invest in the ECOLINE Pro Mount because it enables mounting of flexo plates on any type of cylinder, without changing brackets. He reports that after setting up quite a few jobs, the operators prefer to work with the ECOLINE Pro Mount because of its simplicity.

Pro Clean

The ultrasonic ECOLINE Pro Clean anilox roller cleaner efficiently and quickly removes all types of inks and dirt from any line count anilox cells. It’s equipped with a roller swivelling wheel and constant temperature heating system, which reduces any ‘hot spots’ in the liquid that can create high intensity power levels and potentially damage components.

Ultrasonic cleaning converts electric energy into kinetic energy, without generating dust and sewage, making it a more environmentally-friendly method that requires a cleaning fluid for easier dirt removal from micro holes.

According to director, Pascal Aengenvoort, the cleaning process is simple – after inserting the anilox roller into the cleaning tank with cleaning fluid, the operator presses the cleaning button. Depending on the anilox cells, the operator can choose from different sizes of customised cleansers, and switch between single and double frequency cleaning. At 40kHz, single-frequency cleaning is stable, reliable and thorough. After removing inks or stubborn dirt with low frequency, multiple frequencies enable highly-precise cleaning of the anilox cells.

Colin Roux, GM of Spec Systems, confirms that the Pro Clean unit is simple to use and that its small footprint is beneficial in terms of the Johannesburg facility’s limited floor space. ‘It is also substantially more affordable than other models and suits our purposes of obtaining well-cleaned anilox rollers for our recently-installed flexo press.’

Daniel McCrae, MD of Mac Weighing Solutions, adds that when it was time for the Cape Town-based labelling operation to bring anilox cleaning in-house, to speed up turnaround times and ensure consistent quality control, he trusted Pascal Aengenvoort’s recommendation. ‘We are happy with this decision because the ECOLINE Pro Clean unit has proven very reliable and easy to use over the past four months,’ Daniel reports.

Each model in the ECOLINE range has a compact footprint, easy-to-use control panel and open machine design to maximise operator friendliness. Over 100 of these customisable models have been commissioned in South Africa, Mauritius, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Australia, and the US.

To reflect ROTOCON’s global reach, the company’s email and website domain has been updated to rotocon.world.

Partnership promotes platemaking precision

AS reported in the previous issue, ROTOCON has been appointed as the new South African distributor of DuPont’s Cyrel® flexo plates, EASY technology platform, FAST thermal workflow, and associated equipment.

This means that ROTOCON’s three branches can deliver the plates promptly, and its engineers are well placed to service the platemaking equipment and systems – after collaborating with customers and advising them on the optimum type of Cyrel plates required.

The appointment also enables ROTOCON to offer the newly-available Cyrel 500 equipment, designed to process smaller flexo plates of up to 66 x 86cm, to its traditional narrow-web customer base.

Cyrel EASY technology platform

The EASY platform is for customers wanting to process a plate in a simplified workflow, while enabling print on a wide variety of substrates, with optimum speed and high-quality highlights on printed packages.

The platform simplifies the prepress process by building the flat-top dot directly into the plate, resulting in increased productivity and consistency.

Cyrel EASY plates utilise the latest polymers to produce higher ink transfer and resolution. Customer testing has also shown significantly higher SID without compromising on highlights. Cyrel EASY plates are available in engineered and smooth surfaces for Cyrel FAST thermal and solvent processing.

Productivity

Simplified workflow – no additional steps or equipment
Consistency
Comes up to colour quickly
Reduces errors and rework
Higher impression latitude
Improved plate‐to‐plate consistency

Cost savings

No need to invest in a nitrogen exposure unit, special exposure technology or lamination equipment to get flat-top dots

Quality

High ink transfer and colour saturation
Improved mid-tones and highlights
Print quality consistent throughout a run and from run to run

Press performance

Print consistency across multiple press locations
Improved solid ink density with excellent fade to zero
Higher press speeds
High durability on press

Cyrel FAST thermal workflow

The thermal workflow brings together the best in colour quality and processing technology to deliver high-volume, high-quality results that give packaging the attention it deserves.

Using solvent-free thermal processing to produce a press-ready plate in less than an hour, Cyrel FAST is a complete system supported by complementary Cyrel equipment. It’s the ideal workflow solution for a variety of printing applications, enabling faster processing, lower costs, as well as improved sustainability and press performance.

Faster processing

Cyrel FAST thermal workflow is a complete hardware and consumable solution, which enables improved process control, product quality and consistency. It reduces plate production time by up to 75%.

Smaller footprint

Featuring a reduced environmental footprint, VOC emissions are cut by more than 98% when using the Cyrel FAST 2000 TD compared to a solvent process.

Lower costs

Helps save money and materials by reducing plate consumption by up to 15% compared to conventional methods . The solvent-free process also reduces waste treatment and disposal costs.