03.22.19
KZK, a label converter in the Czech Republic, has installed a Mark Andy P5E Performance Series press at its facility in Brno. The purchase and installation were managed by Radim Krutis of Enginne, the Mark Andy distributor for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and the new P5E joins three Mark Andy presses at the plant. The company, which was established in 1995, is owned and managed by Bronislav Kuda, and now employs 45 people in a factory that was specially extended in 2018 to house the new P5E.
“The older presses still print good quality, but we needed to invest in up to date technology that would allow us to add value,” said Kuda. “Our printers immediately felt comfortable with it and were able to run high-quality at high speed in no time at all. They said it was easy to operate and quick to change over between jobs.”
With existing 6-color capability, KZK elected to specify the new P5E as an 8-color press. It has a 13” (330mm) web width and comes equipped with water-cooled impression cylinders that allow it to run filmic substrates and an overhead rail system that permits movable turn bars and cold foil units to add production flexibility. In addition, the P5E can print on the reverse side and there is a special module for producing peel-off labels. It also has two die cutting stations. Full job changeovers take less than five minutes.
“With customer demand changing so quickly, we saw no point in buying a basic machine. As far as possible we wanted to future-proof our investment,” Kuda said.
Currently, 95% of KZK’s work is labels, with substrates varying from paper to films like PE, PVC and PE. The company’s customer portfolio spans the food, chemical, automotive, brewing and wine growing industries, with a wide variety of job lengths from a few thousand meters to jobs that take several days to run-off. For short-run jobs of 1,000-2,000 meters, KZK has both dry toner and inkjet print capacity in-house. Other offline finishing techniques include screen printing, hot foil stamping and inspection/rewinding.