MPS opened its doors at company headquarters in Arnhem, the Netherlands during drupa 2016 on June 1-3, 6-7, and is reporting a rewarding, well-attended event. Open House visitors were treated to live demonstrations of the MPS EF multi-substrate, EB label solution and the hybrid flexo/digital EF SYMJET presses, and a factory tour that included a 28-meter-long offset combination press, the largest ever built by MPS.

During the five-day Open House, MPS received over 150 visitors representing 24 different nationalities. “We are pleased to have had the opportunity to welcome so many visitors from all over the world, who took time during drupa to visit our Technology & Expertise Center in Arnhem,” says Aakon Schüssel, sales and marketing director of MPS. “This open house surpassed all our expectations.”

A private “MPS Express” bus brought drupa visitors to Arnhem, where they were welcomed in the Technology & Expertise Center. After an opening greeting delivered by Schüssel, MPS print manager Hans Poortinga kicked off the live demonstrations with a presentation of advanced workflow integration and efficiency benefits between the Label Traxx MIS/ERP module and AVT 100% inspection system. The first press demonstration featured the EF multi-substrate press, on which a 3-ply multi-layer label was printed. This print job reached speeds of 120 m/m.

Demonstrated next was the EB label solution press, running a job of self-adhesive labels with print on the glue side on 360mm print width material, using delam-relam. The two presses exhibited differences and similarities, as the identical image was printed.

MPS operators quickly changed the substrate on the EF press to a thin 40 micron BOPP mono film, to prove its capability to print on any substrate. The program continued with a demonstration of this foil job on the EF, showing the perfect register of this press under extreme circumstances such as low web tension. A live demonstration was then given on the new hybrid EF SYMJET press, which MPS recently launched into the narrow web label market. Poortinga demonstrated the advantages of hybrid flexo/digital printing by running a self-adhesive label with cold foil application, and a variation in color, using the integrated digital Domino N610i unit.

The open house program concluded with a factory tour, where visitors saw first-hand the 28-meter-long offset, flexo, gravure and screen combination press. The event also included the on-site signing of a new MPS flexo press order with a Polish customer.