66 | Shenzhen KunbeiPulisi DPIM-330F digital-fexo hybrid press in Kunbei Weigang fexo press in Kunbei“We collaborated with Yupo on research and development through a series of tests, failures, improvements and then re-tests before the in-mold labels were fnally approved and accepted by customers”Starting in 2018, Kunbei gradually retired its old Omet inline Optimized managementfexo press and full rotary letterpresses, then successively purchased Representing the new generation of managers, Raymond Kwong a Weigang intermittent offset press and inline fexo press, as well as tells L&L: ‘I am very grateful to my father and the company’s multi-functional fnishing equipment from Rhyguan and Hontec. veterans, who have brought together an excellent group of Kunbei also retroftted its presses to connect inline with the teams in technical, production and customer service. Their fnishing units, so orders could be fnished in one pass. This professional knowledge, rich technical experience, teamwork signifcantly helped save time, labor and plant costs. awareness and loyalty to the company have not only facilitated In May 2023, Kunbei invested in its frst digital press, a Pulisi my successful takeover but also laid a solid foundation for DPIM-330F digital-fexo hybrid printing machine. The press is reforming the company.used mainly for small and medium-sized orders and proofng of ‘But I’ve also found some drawbacks left by my predecessors new products, freeing production capacity from the company’s running the company, such as management’s severe dependence conventional printing machines. on personal experience and poor implementation of some internal ‘It’s relatively late for Kunbei to enter the digital printing rules and regulations, which have signifcantly affected the industry compared with our peers,’ concedes Chen Dongji. potential development of both equipment and the talents of our ‘However, we had actually looked at digital printing technology employees.’some years ago. We are very optimistic about UV inkjet printing Raymond Kwong has been able to fully leverage his business with its print quality and speed, which is now very suitable for background in understanding the concept of Big Data to optimize our current stage of development. internal management processes. ‘Besides this, we attach great importance to the after-sales According to his plans, modern management software will service provided by the digital press supplier. One of the major be used to summarize and analyze the data from each process advantages of digital printing is just-in-time production, so and workstation, identify weak points in production and provide we require the press supplier to troubleshoot problems that practical and effective solutions when combined with the occur during the production process in a timely and effective professional knowledge of the company’s technical team. This manner. Pulisi has satisfactorily met our expectations from the process will gradually optimize workfows and achieve the fnal performance of the equipment to after-sales service.’ goal of quality and effciency improvement as well as reduction of In addition to hardware upgrades on its equipment, Kunbei cost and waste.has also innovated and optimized its software. Based on years Inevitably some obstacles emerged during this process of of production experience, Kunbei applied for a series of software management optimization, especially from what Kwong describes patents, including a high-precision plate-making system, as the ‘stubborn habits’ of some older company employees. With a high-fdelity image processing, text layout software, a color manager’s strategic patience, Kwong patiently promoted his plan, matching system for digital inks and fully automatic control allowing employees to see and experience personally the benefts system for in-mold label production. This allowed the company brought about by a modern management system, ‘so they will to systematically integrate all its in-house software systems. gradually accept it, carry it out and fnally maintain it themselves.’At the same time, it has introduced the Xunyue ERP system Wong says this management system is now becoming frmly to monitor in real-time the operation of all equipment, allowing established. management to identify and address any problems at the ‘The number of our employees has been reduced from over 170 earliest possible opportunity to reduce waste and equipment to currently 160 without affecting our annual output growth at all,’ downtime. says Kwong. ‘Our goal for next year is 140 employees.’ At the time of L&L’s interview with Raymond Kwong, the recently purchased inline fexo and intermittent offset presses Both Pulisi and Weigang will be demonstrating printing were due to arrive. Kwong estimates they will increase the equipment at Labelexpo Asia 2023 in Shanghai this company’s productivity by 20 to 30 percent.December. For more information, visit labelexpo-asia.comlabelsandlabeling.com