As a manufacturer of premium self-adhesive labels for wines and spirits, Etigraph Italia S.r.l. has to set the highest standards for its quality assurance. At the end of the 1990s, the company, founded in 1983 and currently employing about 70 people and based in Chions in north-east Italy, put a first web inspection system from BST eltromat into operation. Today its 15 printing presses and eight slitters are all equipped with quality assurance systems from BST eltromat. Web guiding systems as well as systems for web monitoring and 100% inspection are used in all presses. In some printing presses, register and ink key controls are also integrated.
"The complexity of our production process and the need to accelerate and continuously optimise it have brought us to BST eltromat. The high quality and breadth of the product range in combination with the efficient services make BST eltromat an ideal partner for us", says Etigraph Italia president Luigi Cesselli.
"In the wine and spirits market, the demands on the quality and design of self-adhesive labels are constantly increasing", co-partner and founder Federico Zucchett describes the trend in the market. "This is why we have continuously expanded our technical capabilities over the years." Etigraph Italia supplies around 80% of its premium labels to the wine and spirits market. In addition, the customer list includes manufacturers of food and industrial products, who also have high demands on quality. Depending on customer requirements, the labels are produced using offset, flexographic or screen printing. The company also offers its customers a number of options in the further processing and finishing of the labels - starting with embossing and stamping foil printing, through varnishing and laminating, to Braille printing.
The quality is 100% controlled
On its website Etigraph Italia documents its philosophy. It underlines the company's high demands on the quality and expressiveness of its products. "The label has its own soul. It must represent an added value for the product. The label must enhance and embellish the product". In addition, labels should reflect the thoughts that distinguish products. Cesselli: "Plain white labels with a clever personal touch can be more effective on some products than elaborate labels".
This makes it clear how complex Etigraph Italia's requirements are also in terms of quality assurance. For web inspection and 100% inspection, for example, the company relies on various solutions from BST eltromat, with which it covers different economic and technical requirements. Cesselli: "We want to be able to guarantee our customers that we only supply them with 100% inspected labels".
Pulling out all the stops in quality assurance
Web guiding systems of the CompactGuide type from BST eltromat perfectly control the run of the label materials through all printing presses, rewinders and slitter rewinders at Etigraph Italia. This is the basis for the high quality of the company's products. The Compact Guide was developed by BST eltromat especially for use in narrow-web machines for the label industry, among others. The web guiding system with integrated control unit is available in six sizes and can be flexibly adapted to individual requirements.
The standard equipment of Etigraph Italia presses also includes POWERScope 5000 digital video monitoring systems, which are ideally suited for web inspection in label printing. The compactly designed system features a high image resolution and various options that offer machine operators a wide range of options for automatic monitoring of the printed label webs.
Two Gallus RCS 430 label printing presses with a very high degree of automation are also equipped with BST eltromat ink zone controls. In addition, Etigraph Italia has retrofitted a 100% inspection system for error detection in each of these presses in order to detect and eliminate errors and deviations from the target values at an early stage. BST eltromat offers video and inspection products especially developed for the narrow web and label industry in order to cover the manifold tasks of quality assurance in this market in the best possible way. The systems combine sophisticated technology with extensive functions including powerful software for defect management.
Etigraph Italia has been using systems from BST eltromat for 100% inspection in its rewinders since 2009. The newer machines are equipped with both SHARK 4000 LEX and TubeScan digital strobe systems of the latest generation. These systems from Nyquist Systems combine high-performance area cameras with the stroboscope principle and enable reliable quality control in the manufacture of labels, among other things. They reliably detect, for example, missing labels, lattice residues and missing printing inks, even on reflective and metallized surfaces. Nyquist Systems is part of the BST group of companies.
Finally, Etigraph Italia had two of its printing machines equipped with the AR 4000 register controller from BST eltromat. “With the AR 4000, we have reduced the set-up times and waste on these machines,” says Zucchett, summarizing the benefits that arose immediately after commissioning. The compact AR 4000 is a precision solution from BST eltromat, especially for label printing machines.
"The reliability of the systems from BST eltromat makes a significant contribution to the fact that we can promise our customers that their self-adhesive labels will be produced quickly and efficiently," says Zucchett. The steadily increasing ease of use of the technology is also important for the company. "With their intuitive user interface, the systems from BST eltromat can be set up even faster and easier to operate."
Investments pay for themselves quickly
“Thanks to the efficiency and reliability of the technology, our investments in the systems from BST eltromat have always paid for themselves quickly,” says Cesselli, confirming the company's attractive price-performance ratio. BST eltromat knows the requirements of the industry very well and is always competent to support Etigraph Italia with its in-depth practical know-how, for example with the integration of quality assurance systems and the automation of individual process steps. In particular, even in challenging situations, the company can rely on fast and flexible responses from BST eltromat Italia. Predictable quality, stable production with few rejects, maximum reliability and the most modern technology that makes an impression on customers - quality assurance supports Etigraph Italia's strong competitive position in many ways.
“In view of the continuously increasing demands of the markets on self-adhesive labels, we will continuously optimize our processes by investing in the latest technology for quality assurance. BST eltromat will keep opening up new possibilities for us with pioneering innovations, ”says Cesselli with conviction.
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