A Gallus ECS 340, known as the ‘granite press’, has been installed at Kimoha Entrepreneurs as the 23rd Gallus narrow web label press to start operating in the Middle East, where the Swiss manufacturer is represented by Heidelberg ME.
The new flexo line is the first of its type in the region but Kimoha‘s third Gallus press, said managing director Vinesh Bhimani.
In 2006, the company installed an 8-colour water-based Gallus EM 510 with a setup including corona treater and web cleaning, chill drums, three die cutting stations (including the sheeter), laminating, web tension control and automatic registration.
Then, in 2008, Kimoha installed an eight-colour water-based Gallus EM 280 with a cold foil unit and two die-cutting stations, which Bhimani describes as “the ideal press to cater for falling run lengths, because it cut makeready times by half”.
The new Gallus ECS 340 offers a fresh web width along with a shorter web path for reduced waste and the use of sleeve technology, which automates makeready and speeds up job changes.
Specified with eight UV-flexo print stations, the Gallus ECS 340 has cold foil facility and two die stations, and runs typically at about 100m/min on most work.
As an early production machine, it was not without start-up issues, but Bhimani said his good personal relationship with Gallus in Switzerland helped clear these: “and the pride we felt in being the first label converter in the region to install the ‘granite press’ was worth the startup problems!”
“Our three Gallus presses give us a broad range of capabilities, and this is proving to be a real bonus in handling the variety of work we undertake,” he said.