Page 24 - Machines Italia Vol. XIII Next Generation Manufacturing

COVID-19
As Zani sees it, “there are any number of problems related to COVID-19 or other production problems, or supply chain problems, that are solved by the ability to just print something locally with your own printer. With 3D printing, you can design and produce a part at the same time.”
Bobst Firenze has advanced flexographic printing technology to meet tough standards for the pharmaceutical and food packaging industries.
In Zani’s opinion, the COVID-19 crisis will cause many companies to embrace some degree of 3D printing as a back-up, if nothing else. “If I’m waiting for a part from China and China is closed, I can produce nothing.” Conversely, with 3D printing you don’t even need a ware- house, he argued.
But Mark One has also seen success in cases well beyond the current emergency. A maker of motorcycles offers a good exam- ple. Their headquarters team and development center are on dif- ferent continents as they company developed a new motorcycle gear box. The two teams were sending material back and forth around the world, wasting time and money. With the installation of a Mark One printer, design changes could be printed and used directly on the motorcycle right away, vastly speeding develop- ment. “Here, we’ve totally changed the supply chain and probably the whole traditional process,” said Zani.
He also pointed out that by redesigning parts to take advantage of 3D printing’s geometric flexibility, and by embedding carbon fiber
in the polymer, it’s possible to produce parts that are roughly equal to the performance of metal alloys.
Mark One is also helping improve healthcare beyond masks. The company’s printers are being used to create realistic pre-operative bone models. Because these models are based on a CAT scan of the patient’s bone, and because they can “perfectly reproduce not only the extreme- ly resistant shape and external structure, but also the internal composi- tion of the bone characterized by a more spongy and porous tissue,” the surgeon is able to test a variety of milling and drilling approaches before the actual operation, said Zani. “So they arrive for the surgery better pre- pared to carry out the operation more quickly and accurately.”
Printing the perfect drug label
Between a renewed urgency for reshoring vital operations coupled with the fight against COVID-19, companies have been swamped, and that includes Alco High Tech Plastic Inc., (Corozal, Puerto Rico, USA, www.alcopr.com/). As Operations Manager Gil- bert Nieves explained, with a new flexographic press from Bobst Fi- renze Srl (Capalle-Campi Bisenzio, Italy, www.bobst.com/usen/), Alco has focused on printing labels for the pharmaceutical industry. “Typically, the pharmaceutical industry uses different technology, digital and rotogravure, for their labels,” said Nieves. “But the Bobst machine uses flexographic technology that has developed to a point that it competes favorably with these other technologies.” And it does so at lower cost and with more flexibility, for as Nieves added, “roto- gravure requires a steel cylinder for each job. So it’s more expensive and less flexible in terms of changeovers.”
Among other features, the Bobst machine is equipped with a sys- tem that dries the ink with UV light (produced by an LED), instead of traditional gas or electric resistance, said Nieves. And it uses the ex- tended color gamut printing system, a new seven-color process that produces a wider range of vibrant colors than is possible with a tradi- tional four-color process. In fact, Nieves said it can produce “90% or 95% of the possible printing colors. The machine uses seven stations for printing, and we can have two stations for glue, coating, or other inks.” The machine also comes with a delam/relam system for print in the glue side of the substrate, an upper web-turn bar, plus lamination and cold foil with an unwind and rewind system for a coupon label. What’s more, he added, the machine comes with a computerized vi- sion system that inspects 100% of the printed output by comparing it with a stored digital image. The system confirms that both the color and any wording is correct, and that the label has no scratches or changes in dimension—required by both the pharmaceutical and the food industry (which Alco also serves).
In another testament to its versatility, the company is using the 26-inch Bobst flexographic printer for shrink sleeves, self-adhesive la- bels, and wraparound labels. In the future they’ll add stacking labels, which are printed as a single unit and stacked, and typically used in the beverage industry. Alco also has a 52-inch Bobst press they’re using mostly on boxes for food products, especially special packaging
24 Volume XIII | www.machinesitalia.org