Without disclosing the customer names, the GUK managing director Friedrich Faulhaber confirmed that few machines booked at Drupa 2016 will come to India.

 

The German manufacturer sold four folding lines, in the biggest of the 12 deals, to pharma packaging specialist Essentra. The deal includes FA53 and FA74 series machines.

 

The GUK managing director Friedrich Faulhaber said: “We have sold more machines more this time compared to the last edition.”

 

At the show, the manufacturer is showcasing “world’s first” 24 pocket FA53 folding line with round pile feeder and inline inspection system. Faulhaber said it is the only machine that can make 24 accordian folds in only one station.

 

“This machine will serve the increasing demand of larger sheet sizes and higher number of folds from the pharma companies. The 24 pocket machine features nano folding, the final products of compact sizes as low as 16x16 mm.”

 

The GUK stand features five system comprising of 17 machines at the show. These include FA54 commercial folder that can handle 60 to 300gsm paper with eight pockets each at station one and station two, and “world’s smallest cross fold” machine FA21. Also, there is GluePac pick and place system, which can glue together multiple variable-size folded leaflets and outserts to make piggy packs.

 

Welbound Worldwide, which represents GUK in India, completes 10 years of partnership with the German manufacturer in 2016. Welbound sales and marketing director, P Sajith said, “It’s been a long a fruitful journey of 10 long years since we first met at Ipex 2006 and inked an agreement to bring sophisticated folding machines to India. Then there were around 10 machines in India. Today, we have more than one hundred GUK machines with all major converters.”

 

Speaking of the Indian market, Faulhaber, said, “The Indian converters are adding clientele from Europe and African countries. All the major Indian players in leaflet and special folding applications are our customers. They expect growth in volumes as well as applications with higher number of folds.”