Label Plus in Bchamoun, about 14 km south of Beirut, has installed a Nilpeter FA-3 printing press. The fully-equipped machine includes eight flexo units, UV-curing, a maximum web width of 340 mm (13.5 inches) and a top speed of 175 m/min. (574 ft/min.). As part of Nilpeter’s well-established modular FA-Lines, the new press is expected to considerably increase the company’s capacity for high quality, primary self-adhesive labels.

Haytham Sinno, general manager and joint founder, says his company is Lebanon’s leading label converter. “We were established in 1998 and were the first company in the country to print roll-to-roll labels for automatic application machines using water-based and UV-cured flexo print units.” Besides supplying major clients in Lebanon, Label Plus exports labels throughout the Middle East, especially to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, as well as to Nigeria and other African markets.

Dubai-based Nilpeter Middle East supplied and installed the new FA-3. Shyam Babu, managing director, says the installation has been so successful that within days Label Plus could run the press at 130 m/min. (426 fpm) on regular jobs. Within a week the company had already eliminated the usual need for night-shift working on one particular job involving four-colors and a varnish.

The new press is expected to play a major roll in the company’s expansion program. In 2012 it installed a new automatic slitter/rewinder with four flexo printing units and online packaging facilities to produce direct-thermal label rolls, including those used in ATMs.