Packaging Solutions
Ultragraph has confirmed the purchase of a Promatrix 106 CSB (cutting, stripping, blanking) die cutter following a visit to the Heidelberg factory in Germany last month. It is making this investment to increase the speed and flexibility of its die cutting. A Bograma rotary die cutter and a Heidelberg Cylinder are being replaced.
The company started a move into packaging about seven years ago but it has expanded rapidly in the last 18 months and it plans to grow this side of the business further. E-Liquid packaging products account for about 40% of its packaging work but it also handles cartons and packaging for automotive, household products, non contact food, telecoms and banking. This can include cartons, wraps, card carriers, wallets and loyalty or gift card packaging.
‘The Bograma took us in to professional packaging but we have been limited by the thickness of material we could cut (500 microns) and taking heavier stocks to the Cylinder was old fashioned and involved lots of guillotining and hand stripping,’ said Nick Jones, managing director. ‘Now we will have cutting, stripping and blanking in one pass for a much wider range of stocks and with a higher output. The Promatrix will at least double our die cutting capacity and will eliminate a proportion of the expensive tooling costs associated with rotary die cutting.’
Ultragraph, which is based in Ormskirk, reviewed die cutters from a number of different manufacturers before coming down in favour of the Heidelberg model.
Mark Quinn of Bespoke Asset Finance has been supportive of the investment which opens up the opportunity for the company to move from B2 to B1 production in the future. Currently the company operates a Speedmaster XL 75-10-P. Ultragraph also handles commercial work and has a design facility including sample making capability.
It is on track to achieve its ISO 9001 quality and ISO 14001 environmental certification and this will be followed by the BRC standard to allow it to handle more food work.
