Ukrpol invests in Flexcel NX 4260 system

One of the leading Ukrainian printers Ukrpol Printing Company has taken the flexographic platemaking in-house by installing a Flexcel NX 4260 system from Miraclon.

The platemaking system supplied by Uniprint, the Miraclon representative in Ukraine, is part of a significant investment in flexo production at Ukrpol.

The company recently installed a 670mm-wide press, and an even wider 1300mm press is due to be installed soon. The Flexcel NX system and presses are located in a new dedicated flexo facility at Ukrpol’s plant in Stryi, in the Lviv region of Western Ukraine.

Ukrpol offers packaging customers all four production options with gravure and offset collectively making up 70 percent of production, flexo 25 percent and digital 5 percent.

However, technical director Andriy Boichuk says the company has identified an opportunity to increase flexo’s proportion: ‘There are applications suited to each process, but the conditions are right for flexo to take a bigger share. Shorter run-lengths and tighter delivery deadlines play to its strengths and give it an edge over a process like gravure. It’s also a more sustainable process.

‘We are seeing cost, time and sustainability-conscious customers shifting packaging to flexo from gravure. I expect this trend to continue, and the Flexcel NX technology makes a major contribution to our transformation into a modern production process for high-quality packaging.’

Ukrpol conducted its due diligence but was drawn to Miraclon because of the heritage of the Flexcel NX System and believes that it is the superior technology option that delivers the best on-press efficiency.

Founded in 1997, Ukrpol produces packaging for leading brands in a wide range of sectors, incuding food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and household products. The company employs almost 600 people at two factories in Stryi, with over 23,000sqm of production space. Almost 30 percent of its output is exported, to Germany, Belgium, Poland, Sweden, the Czech Republic and the Dominican Republic.