IEEC is upbeat about market for Corona Treatment systems

Rohit Deshpande, director, IEEC and second generation of the family-owned business said, “It is fascinating to see the label converters in India making a move towards polymer and PET based films from the long-ruling paper films. With such a move, the importance of having a corona treatment and inspection system at the unit becomes a necessity.”

Generally, plastics used in printing are non-polar with low surface tensions causing them to be non-receptive to bonding with substrates, printing inks, coatings, and adhesives. Polyethylene and polypropylene are the lowest in surface energy of the various plastics and are the two materials most often subjected to surface treatment to improve their bonding characteristics.

“Corona treatment machines have been in demand and effective usage in European markets from a long time. However, with the shift (from paper to polymer-based liners) that we are witnessing in India, we are sure that the trend will soon percolate to the different tiers of market,” Deshpande added.

Around two years back, the company launched its Plasmoin 3D+ atmospheric plasma treatment system. “Similar to corona system, but is much more advanced, it allows plasmas to be sustained at atmospheric pressure in a way that permits the surface treatment of polymers and other substrates. It can be configured to work with a variety of feeding systems including continuous web,” explained Deshpande. The company has already installed 21 Plasmoin 3D+ machines across the globe. “The main target market for this equipment is glue carton machine manufacturers.

“In last couple of years, we have installed over 30 corona treatment machines for narrow web flexo market, and have also partnered with major narrow web flexo press manufacturers such as Gallus, Nilpeter, Mark Andy and Gideu. We also have solutions for wider web press with a treatment area of up to 8000mm,” he added.

PBJ, the owning company of IEEC, employs over 120 people and believes in having a direct marketing approach instead of distribution networks. “We have customers not only pan India but also in Europe, Latin America, USA and Middle East. We service the clients through our own offices situated in different parts of the country,” he concluded.