A significant 2018 milestone following MPS’ expansion in Asia was achieved in South Korea.
Our local MPS Systems Asia office joined forces with Sanki Japan and Sanki Korea to successfully complete a prestigious project for Dongil Printing Services (DPS), is an industry leading and well-known label printer located in the Gangnam district in Seoul, Korea.
Me and the customer at the acceptance test in the Netherlands
In addition to selling a full-blown MPS EF 530 flexo press, we also formed a new partnership with a local UV supplier (UV Tech) to develop and integrate a new UV system into this press. (Stay tuned for my next blog about this exciting experience!).
Embracing flexo
DPS’ machine park consisted of three letterpress machines. The company decided to take a new route and invest in the latest UV flexo technology available on the market, resulting in the order for an MPS EF 530 mm wide press.
With 10 UV flexo print stations, a Stork RSI screen print unit, 2 die cut units, a cross-over unit for multi-layer peel & seal labels and several other converting options, DPS was ready to embrace flexo printing.
All converting options were strategically placed on the MPS Ultraflex rail system, making the entire press and its options very flexible and user-friendly for the operator.
Read more here about how the Ultraflex rail system is well received by MPS customers worldwide.
The new EF 530 press installed at the customer site in Seoul, Korea
Overcoming challenges
For MPS project management, delivering on this press involved the following challenges:
- Machine configuration
- Integration of local UV system
- Language
- DPS’ limited knowledge of flexo printing
But that’s not all.
MPS Systems Asia and Sanki added one more request: to send this press to a trade show in Seoul (KIPES), organized around the same time the machine was due to hit the shop floor at DPS in Seoul!
Passing the test
The Factory Acceptance Test at MPS in Arnhem was successfully completed at the beginning of August, resulting in a very impressed customer.
Standard labels where run as well as complex multi-layer labels and everything in between. All jobs used a combination of conventional and LED UV inks, while surpassing average market printing speeds.
Representatives from Dongil and Sanki at the MPS factory in the Netherlands
The road to Seoul
As a Project Manager, I visited South Korea during the engineering phase and machine assembly to prepare for the press installation at the DPS factory and the KIPES show.
Challenges were:
- Logistics: DPS’ print shop was located the heart of Seoul in a very crowded suburban area
- Accessibility: a public street needed to be closed when unloading the machine!
- Flexibility: small access doors required flexibility and improvisation of the local MPS Asia service engineers
- Overcoming language barriers
Sanki, the local MPS agent really helped out in taking over the challenging logistics, and made sure all would be taken care of smoothly for both the installation of the machine at the show and after at the customer site.
KIPES was a great success for MPS and Sanki, drawing crowds to watch flexo printing with shrink sleeves.
After the show ended, the machine was disassembled by our local MPS Asia engineers and Sanki staff in a record-breaking 1½ days!
Thanks to good preparations by DPS, the machine was successfully installed in the heart of Seoul, according to schedule.