Alfa-Print benefits from early flexo adoption in Colombia

Bogota-based Alfa-Print, one of the earliest adopters of flexo technology in the Colombian label industry, has installed a Mark Andy Performance Series P3, the converter’s fourth press from the US-based manufacturer.

Alfa-Print, a label converter based in Bogota, Colombia, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary, has installed a Performance Series P3 press from Mark Andy. The company’s fourth machine from the US-based manufacturer, it is expected to increase production by up to 30 percent and further diversify an already-varied product line.

In a local label industry where flexo only began to make major inroads from the mid-1990s, the company’s expertise in the process is longstanding, even if it began rather impulsively. In 1979, current general manager Jorge Galofre’s father, a banana farmer, saw an opportunity to print labels for his produce locally, rather than have his customers import them from abroad. With no knowledge of the technology, he bought a 5-color Webtron flexo press – before realizing it was too sophisticated a machine to produce the simple labels economically. The press lay unused for six months.

Jorge Galofre, then working in a bank, approached supermarket chain Carulla, which had just installed a number of packaging machines for vegetables and meats, about supplying labels. With the deal in place, he added some basic pre-press and finishing equipment; otherwise, flexo plates would have to be imported from abroad.

‘It was a very difficult learning curve,’ recalls Jorge Galofre. ‘At the time, there were only two other companies in Colombia – both in Medellin – printing labels with flexo. It was hard to get hold of consumables. And of course we had to convince our clients to move away from offset suppliers and embrace flexo.

‘But the Webtron press gave us great experience. It allowed us to practice, as it could produce many different types of labels.’ Aside from the food and automobile sectors, printing labels in security and transporting of bank notes also became an important market.

Training challenge

Alfa-Print’s general manager Jorge Galofre is a five-time president of Colombian graphic arts association Andigraf, and has been a board member for more than 20 years. ‘For a long time, I was the only flexo printer in the association,’ he says.

Being such an early adopter of flexo has been a great advantage for the company, says Galofre: ‘Our learning curve happened early.’ However, it also resulted in its own challenges: a lack of local training opportunities in the process, particularly, meant that Galofre had to travel far and wide to gain the necessary expertise. He undertook Webtron courses in press operation and plant management, studied at the SENAI graphic arts school in Brazil, spent time studying in Germany and visited countless plants in Europe thanks to introductions through suppliers. Two Alfa-Print staff will be sent to the Mark Andy University in St Louis for training. ‘It is a challenge to source trained flexo operators, so we train them in-house with the support of our suppliers.’