Italian wine label printer makes short work of press start-up

Grafiche Federighi, a printer of self-adhesive wine labels in central Italy, has completed an order on its new Nilpeter MO-4 offset-based combination press just three weeks after the machine was delivered. This short commissioning period included full operator training and production tests of the press and its components.  

The MO-4’s first job comprised an order for 160,000 labels placed by one of Italy’s leading wine producers. The job was printed five colors offset with a flexo-printed gold effect and a matt varnish. The labels were destined for a special edition of a premium-quality wine exported to the UK and US.  

Grafiche Federighi is located in Camerata Picena, 14 km southwest of Ancona. The Federighi brothers are thought to be the youngest owners of an MO-4: Massimo is 38 years old and Alessandro is 32. The new press is expected to boost production of high-quality wine labels to allow further expansion in this sector. In September it will be upgraded with a new type of flatbed foiling and embossing unit developed by Nilpeter.

The fourth-generation MO-4 is an offset-based combination press with a maximum web width of 406 mm (16 inches). The flexible platform technology allows many bespoke configurations for day-to-day operations, giving quick switches between a choice of UV flexo, rotary screen and gravure printing processes, plus hot and cold foil. It can also run with Nilpeter's new HoloPrint module for printing holographic images in register directly onto any web-fed paper or film substrate using a special UV-cured varnish. 

Instead of conventional all-metal three-cylinder cassettes or inserts, the MO-4 features a patented sleeve system for the plate and blanket cylinders. Their lightweight polycarbon construction gives fast changes of repeat lengths in a range from 18 to 25 inches with reduced tooling costs. Precise bearer-to-bearer contact and a fixed all-metal impression cylinder allow the sleeve system to produce high offset quality with minimal dot gain. The same sleeving technology is also used for the plate cylinders and anilox rolls when running with optional flexo modules. 

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