Labelexpo Europe 2019: Gallus announces ECS 340 deal with Kwality, Mudrika and Nutech

The inline premium matrix unit will be useful in removing matrix which has complicated shapes without reducing the speed of the press, Rajeev Chhatwal of Kwality Offset Printers informed PrintWeek India while announcing the deal.

The reason for adding another press to its existing set-up of two Mark Andy presses, was the need to increase capacity. Chhatwal said, “Two years ago, we invested in digital printing technology. That investment was prompted because the run lengths were beginning to vary greatly. That remains, but for the regular long runs, we need to add capacity because the current machines were unable to take the added load.”

Chhatwal said, as far as the current order status is concerned, we will be able to fill up the press by 20-30%. “We will gradually scale up,” he said. “We believe the label industry is growing at about 12% annually, and being an old player in the segment, filling up capacity is not going to be a difficult proposition for us.”

Besides flexo and digital operation, Kwality also has an offset operation, and specialises in both wet glue and self-adhesive labels.

An elated Samir Patkar, president at Heidelberg/Gallus in India informed PrintWeek India that besides Kwality, two other key label printing companies have booked the ECS 340 press. They are Mudrika Labels and Nutech Labels.

Team Gallus with Mudrika’s Manish Desai (third, right) after signing the Gallus ECS 340 deal

Patkar said, the ECS 340 is turning out to be street fighter after the phasing out of EM 280. “One of the best features, when the press was introduced, was the short drive on the servo. It is was, and is still a very easy press to use.”

According to Patkar, there are around 35 ECS 340 presses in India.

The ECS 340 was introduced at the Labelexpo Europe in Brussels in 2009. The first ESC 340 rolled out for commercial sale was installed in India in 2010. “India has always been special for Gallus. Even the Labelmaster series, which was introduced in 2016 and displayed at Labelexpo 2017 saw the first roll out in India.”