Vintex | 127Vintex enters flexo market Indian pre-press specialist Vintex has moved into the fexo market. Akanksha Meena reports olkata, India-based pre-press specialist Vintex Rubber Rollers Industries has launched new products for the fexo market Kincluding laser engraved sleeves and elastomer plates in several thicknesses and sizes, polymer HD plates, plate mounting sleeves, end seal for ink chamber and anilox protection cover. The company was established by current director Mayank Chhabra’s father LN Chhabra in 1999 in Udyog Vihar, Gurgaon. It gradually expanded to fve units to serve customers across India. The company supplies offset and gravure consumables and has introduced fexo products as well. Vintex laser engraved sleeve‘I joined my father’s business in 2004 and gradually we increased our presence across India. We are supplying to almost all OEMs in be used for any color that is required to be seamless. The rest of the India,’ says Mayank Chhabra. colors can be printed with plates. It is economical and customers Vintex also exports its products to the Middle East, Africa and get the desired results.’ Asia. Current roller production capacity is at 2,000-4,000 a month; He explains that the major reason for converters choosing Chhabra says it will increase in the future. gravure over fexo is seamless printing. With laser engraved sleeves, Two years ago, the company began producing fexo consumables the print results are comparable with gravure. after observing growth in the segment. The company invested in The company provides custom sleeves and rollers. ‘Even though Esko and DuPont equipment to support this expansion. they are used in the same machine, the use might vary from Vintex has launched laser engraved elastomer plates in several customer to customer and minute changes are required by each thicknesses – 1.14mm, 1.70mm and 2.84mm. It has also introduced one. This is how we have gained preference in the industry.’ polymer HD plates in 1.14mm, 1.70mm, 2.84mm, 3.9mm and 4.7mm thicknesses. Local manufacturing Products such as plate mounting sleeves previously had to be imported into India. Vintex is making these products available “Vintex is the only company in India locally with its manufacturing facilities in Gurgaon. The company receives expert support from its UK partner North West Rollers that refurbishes sleeves for reuse. Services, which has been in this business for the last 30 years. Vintex also refurbishes used sleeves to repurpose them for the We can use the same fber base to next job. ‘If a customer has plenty of sleeves and they are of no use, they have to be discarded. Vintex is the only company in India refurbish the sleeve and send it back that refurbishes them and saves the customers’ costs. That is also to customers who can use it again”environmentally friendly since the fber that is discarded is not easy to dispose. We can use the same fber base to refurbish The new elastomer plates are claimed to be similar to polymer the sleeves and send it back to customers who can use it again,’ plates but are relatively more resistant to inks and solvents and are Chhabra explains. durable, according to Chhabra. The company can refurbish sleeves in any size, color and Another new product, elastomer laser engraved rollers or hardness. Vintex Sleeves are fully compatible with any machine engraved sleeves have ‘excellent’ ink transfer properties, he says. make. It also makes sleeves for gravure, laminators (solventless or They offer optimum registration, exact dot reproduction and combi), coating and embossing. are resistant to solvents such as ethyl acetate, ethanol, methyl The company is targeting the fexible packaging segment due ethyl ketone (MEK). Chhabra adds that the rollers are to the growth Chhabra sees in it. ‘Plastic is a part of daily life and environmentally friendly, highly resistant to light and ozone, cannot be avoided. And there is a growing demand for it. The and offer jointless printing, demand did not diminish despite the pandemic because it was an ‘The rollers eliminate the cost of mounting double sided tape and essential service. We invested in our machines to stay up to date offer high print speed in comparison to plates. There is also hidden with the coming trends in the fexo market. The demand for short beneft of downtime by faster change-over and minimum waste.’ runs in fexo will rise next. When there is suffcient demand and The rollers are suitable for long run jobs and continuous runs. customers, we want to ensure that we are ready.’They are claimed to be fve to six times more durable than plates. The company is seeing an encouraging response from the market. ‘Being elastomer it has better resistance to chemicals and The fexo customer base is the same as gravure. ‘Customers who good transferability. It has micro holes which give better coverage bought gravure products from us have the same confdence in our and ink transferability especially in the overprint varnish,’ fexo products.’ Chhrabra highlights. Vintex will expand its roller business and production capacity by Print results often show joints if plates are used. ‘The advantage adding new equipment in all its manufacturing units. It plans to of DLE sleeves is that it gives jointless results which can be seen in multiply production by three times by 2025.gravure. First, we make rubber covered sleeves to a certain size. And then we engrave it according to the design by the customer. They For more from Akanksha Meena on the Indian market, go to can go for all sleeves according to colors or they could go with a www.labelsandlabeling.com/contributors/akanksha-meenacombination of polymer and elastomer plate or sleeve. Sleeves can Jan - Mar 2022