Flexographic Trade Services (FTS), Fort Mill, SC, USA, has announced the opening of Legacy Press Company, LLC to cater to the needs of what it says is 70 percent of the industry that is currently running out of options when it comes to affordable narrow web flexo printing equipment.

“The average shop that has sales consisting of $5 million a year or less cannot afford the purchase price of the new designs being offered in today’s market,” says Art Fields, president of FTS. “Most small label companies do not have in-house maintenance departments and rely on operators, managers, and the occasional local electrician to fix any issues they may have. The new presses offered today require specialty trained technicians to fix issues and this could take days. The downtime cost alone is enough to severely hurt the small company.”

Fields says that 70 percent of the narrow web flexo market can be ran on most shaft driven presses. “I routinely see 30-year old presses doing great work. Then you have 15 percent of the narrow web flexo market that needs a more modern shaft driven press like the Mark Andy 2200 for quality production requirements. In 10 percent of the market, jobs can be produced on a quality shaft driven press with high-tech add-ons such as re-registration equipment, screen heads or digital numbering and print units,” Fields says.

FTS created Legacy Press Company, LLC to insure that there will always be a simple, affordable, shaft driven press available to the narrow web flexo industry. “The Legacy 10 or LG10 will be the most mechanically advanced narrow web flexo printing press produced,” Fields states, also stressing that the press is made in the USA. All details on design and capability of the LG10 can be seen and discussed at FTS now, and a complete portfolio on the LG10 will be available on our website in February 2012.

Here are a few highlights:

• 10 Color 10″ press under $400,00.00.
• LG10 has the ability to go from a 6-color press to a 10-color press in minutes or a 2-color to a 10-color in minutes. “The idea being that an owner can have two 6-color presses to run the majority of their work and have an 8-10 color press when needed,” Fields says.
• LG10 can adapt to any 10″ or less print cylinder, to help with scheduling and budgeting.