UV curing specialists GEW have announced a new milestone in the company’s history. Following its 30th anniversary celebrations in March 2021, the company reports that the 20,000th GEW UV curing system has recently been installed.

System number 20,000 is a 35cm width, four lamp configuration of GEW’s highly successful GD3 lampheads, which were retrofitted to a Gallus Labelfire 340 press at FlexON’s label printing facility in Vestec, Czech Republic. Established in 1994, FlexON produce self-adhesive labels and flexible packaging for a wide range of the country’s leading cleaning, hygiene, food and beverage brands.

To mark the significance of this particular installation, each of the UV lampheads has been specially anodized with a gold finish to the front. Holger Frenzen, Field Installation Manager at Gallus, comments on the installation: “The GEW GD3 system is the default UV solution for the Labelfire 340, so I have to say that the installation itself was nothing remarkable. We have installed so many similar GEW systems, the process is now fairly routine. The fact that this is GEW’s 20,000th system is what makes it special. The number is impressive but unsurprising, these UV systems are so widely used because of their build quality and reliability.”

As is the case with the majority of GEW narrow web installations, the integration and commissioning of the new system was carried out by the original equipment manufacturer, in this case Gallus Ferd. Rüesch AG. The commissioning of any GEW UV integration is simplified for the installation technician, as the system is pre-checked before power-up and immediately connected via the internet to GEW’s Remote Monitoring service. This online monitoring remains active for the lifetime of the UV system and enables GEW’s Service Support Team to detect and correct out-of-tolerance parameters remotely.

Marcus Greenbrook, director, international sales at GEW, concludes, “Our 20,000th system installation is another momentous occasion in GEW’s history and development, coming soon after the recent celebration of the company’s 30th anniversary. Despite challenging global restrictions created by the coronavirus pandemic, we have been able to continue both OEM and retrofit installations successfully with the flexibility and technical support of our distributors and business partners, worldwide. Our remote commissioning and online monitoring services have really come into their own during these difficult times, enabling us to ensure that every UV system integration is right first time, every time.”

FlexON’s new press is the first Gallus Labelfire installed in the Czech Republic. The Gallus Labelfire 340 digital production system enables label printers to achieve levels of print quality that match those of high-resolution offset printing. This is reflected in the native (physical) resolution of 1200 × 1200 dpi with a droplet size of just 2 pl. The hybrid narrow web press combines the latest digital printing technology with the benefits of conventional printing and further processing technology, and is raising the bar in single pass label printing.