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2022/10/25

Kindai Bijutsu introduces First 8-color water-based flexographic press in Okinawa

Kindai Bijutsu Co., Ltd., a printing company in Okinawa, Japan, introduced a flexographic press for the first time in Okinawa in 2021 to compete in flexible packaging business. It took three years from conception to installation. This has enabled the company to establish an integrated production system that allows them to handle everything from design to bag-making for flexible packaging, which previously had been ordered from outside the prefecture. The company has been expanding its creative business uninfluenced by media, from commercial printing to books, websites, event planning, TV, and newspaper advertising. Reporter visited the company’s headquarters in Nambaebaru-cho and the Itoman factory, which has installed flexographic printing equipment in June 2022.

Introduced full-color printing technology to Okinawa, where the primary had been one-color printer
Kindai Bijutsu is a printing company that handles a wide range of printer main in Okinawa from commercial to others including event-related. Emi Oshiro, who succeeded the founder as president in 2013 commented, “About 60 years ago, the prefecture was still in the era of one-color printers. The founder had a strong desire to bring full-color printing technology back to Okinawa, and went to Tokyo to study the technology.”

Delivery time from approximately 2 months to as little as 2 weeks 

What prompted the company to enter the flexible packaging
business?
　President Oshiro explains that while seeking future development in the declining printing industry and taking on various challenges such as e-books, video production, and drone research, the company has simultaneously been considering flexible packaging to make the factory viable.
　Another major point is Okinawa’s unique printing business situation.
“We have been doing packaging related sales before, but there was no company in the prefecture that handled flexible packaging printing, so we outsourced the work to outside the prefecture, mainly in the Kansai region. The bottleneck here was delivery time and logistics costs. The delivery time was about one and a half to two months,” com-mented Vice President Naohiro Yoshimura.
　President Oshiro continued, “One time, a customer wanted to sell vegetables in bags printed with their brand name with less than a month to go before an event. We were not aware how long it would take to deliver the product, and in the end, we could not meet the delivery deadline. In discussions with our sales staff, it was suggested that we could do our own flexible packaging as a way to shorten the delivery time.
　Currently, the company’s minimum delivery time is approximately two weeks. “We can Reduce logistics costs, and customer can also come to confirm the work. We also want customers to be aware of the advantages of our printing methods, such as high-mix, small-lot production and low environmental impact,” said Vice President Yoshimura.

Interest in flexo through exhibition
Initially, the company was considering digital printing, but after meeting SCREEN GP Japan during a visit to the International Graphic Arts Show 2022 (IGAS) in 2018 led to an interest in flexible packaging printing with flexo.
　　“As we began to investigate the flexible packaging market in Okinawa Prefecture in earnest, we found that there were many small lots of many different products. The average lot size was 2,000 m, and at most 6,000 m. In some cases, the lots were 1,000 m, which we found to be difficult to handle for gravure. There were quite a few local confectionery manufacturers who told us that they did not need that many products, but they would place orders for gravure lots,” said Vice President Yoshimura.
President Oshiro also commented, “Whether a product is chosen depends largely on the beauty of the packaging, so we strongly felt that the manufacturer wanted us to print on film, not labels or stickers. Three years after we began studying flexible packaging, we finally decided to install a flexographic printer. From the beginning, we had the choice of gravure or flexo in mind, but it would be difficult to master gravure printing technology, and we thought flexo was not yet ready for the Japanese flexible packaging market, so SCREEN’s proposal for water-based flexo was a shock. I was surprised because I didn’t think flexo could produce this much color.”

Jobs plummet due to Corona
The decision to install a flexographic press was reached and President Oshiro signed the order on December 27, 2019. However, the company began losing work at an unbelievable rate in early 2020 due to the new coronavirus infection.
“At the time, I thought, ‘I’ve done it...’. I even said to the board, ‘I’ll consider the down payment as a study fee, and may cancel the installation. Even so, I was so happy that tears came to my eyes when factory members said, ‘The other press have stopped operating altogether, but we have flexo printing. When tourism comes back, flexo printing will surely work.’ If it wasn’t for that, I would have stopped” recalls President Oshiro.

Installing Neil Peter’s “The All New FA22”
“The All New FA22”, a 22” wide modular multi-purpose 8-color flexo printing machine made by Neil Peter of Denmark, was installed at the company’s factory in Itoman City on November 2020. The unveiling of the machine was held in March 2021. More than 100 companies, including confectionery manufacturers in Okinawa, came to see the ma-chine.
   “The period between the installation and the unveiling was also a period of preparation, including operator training and pouch making machine installment. Even after the printing press was installed, we couldn’t have an instructor from overseas come, so we received instruction in setting up and operation remotely from the evening until about 8 pm. We also had a technician from SCREEN come and give us guidance.”

Six people in charge of flexo
In addition to the printing presses, the Itoman Factory, which has flexo flexible packaging equipment, is equipped with an automatic flexo plate applicator, LaserClean’s Anilox laser cleaning machine “ALCS1000SFH”, COMEXI’s non solvent laminator “SL2MB”, a dual shaft take-up slitter “S2DS”, New IWASHO’s “TW-560N” inspection and rewinder (equipped with DAC ENGINEERING’s “TrinityTCC601-T2 (600)”), “PCCW400III (GW)” high-speed center press bag making machine, and “SDN-CH500TIIIS (W)” fully automatic tape insertion bag making machine.
   Currently, there are six people in charge of flexo (as of June 2022). Susumu Oshiro, factory manager, said, “For a long time, our main printing method was offset, so we never imagined that we would be printing on film. As I thought, everyone was interested in water-based printing for flexible packaging with flexo. Even if the color is stable at first, it gradually became uneven after printing for a long time, so we had to change the resin plate and so on. It was not easy to stabilize and we had a hard time. So, we decided to start where we could, with UV, but we still had trouble with odor and maintaining constant quality.” Recently, however, these issues have been resolved, and the quality of the finished product is fine.

Over 70% of work becomes water-based flexo related

FA22 is a narrow-web combination press, capable of water-based and UV printing. Takeshi Uehara, deputy manager of the Flexographic Printing and Production Department, commented, “Currently, 70% to 80% of our work is water-based flexo printing. For UV, we can handle up to eight colors.” Currently, UV inks are made by TOYO INK and water-based inks by Dainichiseika Color & Chemicals Mfg.

　For drying, each printing unit is equipped with a hot-air unit for water-based inks and an irradiation lamp for UV inks. The machine’s one-pass inline processing capability for double-sided printing, cold foil, varnishing, and die-cutting of seals and labels was also a deciding factor in the decision to install the machine. For example, it is possible to make labels by printing, varnishing, and processing holograms with cold foil. Some of the inquiries we have received are aboutthe possibility of bag-making applying cold foil.”

　“The line is equipped with DAC ENGINEERING’s Trinity TCC601-T2 rotary press inspection system, which also enables double-sided inspection. The narrow web-compatible, close-focus sensor bar type camera can capture clear images without distortion. The TCC601-T2 inspects for dust, insects, ink splashes, and color changes during printing, and red stickers are applied to areas where dust is found, making it easy to identify the location of the dust even after rewinding,” said Uehara.

First Anilox washer introduced in Japan
Flexographic plate making is installed Asahi Kasei’s “AWPwater-developed flexographic plate making system.” The resin plate has 150 lines, and several types of anilox rollers varying from 200 to 1300 lines are used.
”The Anilox cleaner, ALCS1000SFH, is manufactured by LaserClean in the Netherlands. It removes residual Anilox ink particles by burning them off with laser irradiation. We hear that this is the only one of its kind installed in Japan,” said Uehara.
　The company installed non-solvent laminator SL2MB and slitter S2DS by COMEXI. The company’s laminating process is mainly 2-layer, 3-layer at most, and uses Toyo-Morton adhesives. “This is the first laminator in Okinawa. The operation was done remotely with SCREEN and an engineer from COMEXI, so there were many difficulties due to the time difference.”
　The TW-560N incorporates DAC ENGINEERING technology “Pitatto!Ⅰ”, which inspect and rewind automatically to the defect position by specifying the defect image after all inspections have been performed in the rewinding process. This enabes three times the normal inspection without stopping the machine each time a defect occurs.
　The company uses this machine not only for inspection, but also for simple rewinding work and rewinding of meandering caused by lamination. The bearings are made with a 3D printer using ColorFabb’s X TCF20, a material made of amphora resin (developed by Eastman) mixed with about 20% carbon fiber.
　Two pouch making machines, zipper function included whichwas in high demand
Like flexo, pouch making was also a first for the company. The training was conducted with the cooperation of Maeda Seal, a pouch making company in Nara Prefecture as a super advisor, and the participants learned about the technology. The high-speed center press pouch making machine is capable of backstitching, backstitching with gusset, and four-side gusset. The machine can also be equipped with a gusset punch device for point sealing of gusset sections, and a tape insert device for window gusset bags and twoply bags.
　Fully automatic tape-insertion pouch making machine supports three-side sealing, three-side sealing with zipper, three-side standing, and three-side standing with zipper. The machine is equipped with a two-tiered fabric hanging section, and can make bags of different materials on the front and back sides. The zipper is usually fastened by ultrasonic waves, but the company uses heat to fasten the zipper.
“We have learned over the past year that there are many zipper bags in Okinawa. We knew that we could not increase the number of customers without making these bags, so we installed a fully automatic tape-insertion pouch making machine as our second machine in May of this year. However, bag making is difficult, and we are still in the process of practicing. If this machine works well, we will be able to increase our business,” said Uehara.

Sale to prefectural residents
Tourism is a major pillar of Okinawa’s industry. The number of visitors to Okinawa reached 9,469,200* in 2019, and to encourage further tourism demand, a second runway at Naha Airport opened in March 2020. However, planes arrival would soon plummet due to the impact of the coronavirus infection.
“At one point as many as 10 million tourists visited Okinawa, but they all vanished, so there were no more tourism- related jobs or events. However, thanks to the shift in the tourism industry from confections for tourists in paper container packages to soft-wrapped individual packages for purchase by merchandisers in the prefecture, we also received orders for the outer packaging of Gassho-fold (Japanese wrapping) and three-sided seal packaging,” said
　Vice President Yoshimura. The company now also receives orders for the packaging of frozen gyoza (Chinese dumplings) and other products, mainly confectionaries.
　The company’s new flexo work has increased the number of food manufacturers, food processing companies, and other business partners. “We would be happy if we could expand our business to include offset printing of flyers, catalogs, and promotional items, taking advantage of the appeal of our flexible packaging capabilities within the prefecture. However, we can’t do bag-making and other processing without studying the filling machines and other equipment they have, so we have started talking closely with our customers about the details. I was also surprised at the strict hygiene control of a factory that handles food products. As a factory that handles flexible packaging, we are required to manage the same way, and we will continue to be thorough in our efforts,” commented Vice President Yoshimura.

Sale to prefectural residents
Tourism is a major pillar of Okinawa’s industry. The number of visitors to Okinawa reached 9,469,200* in 2019, and to encourage further tourism demand, a second runway at Naha Airport opened in March 2020. However, planes arrival would soon plummet due to the impact of the coronavirus infection.
“At one point as many as 10 million tourists visited Okinawa, but they all vanished, so there were no more tourism- related jobs or events. However, thanks to the shift in the tourism industry from confections for tourists in paper container packages to soft-wrapped individual packages for purchase by merchandisers in the prefecture, we also received orders for the outer packaging of Gassho-fold (Japanese wrapping) and three-sided seal packaging,” said
　Vice President Yoshimura. The company now also receives orders for the packaging of frozen gyoza (Chinese dumplings) and other products, mainly confectionaries. The company’s new flexo work has increased the number of food manufacturers, food processing companies, and other business partners. “We would be happy if we could expand our business to include offset printing of flyers, catalogs, and promotional items, taking advantage of the appeal of our flexible packaging capabilities within the prefecture. However, we can’t do bag-making and other processing without studying the filling machines and other equipment they have, so we have started talking closely with our customers about the details. I was also surprised at the strict hygiene control of a factory that handles food products. As a factory that handles flexible packaging, we are required to manage the same way, and we will continue to be thorough in our efforts,” commented Vice President Yoshimura.

Finally, flexible packaging is available in Okinawa
Until now, the prefecture’s packaging-related work has been ordered out of the prefecture, so there are high expectations from the local community for Kindai Bijutsu’s entry into the flexible packaging market.
“We have the government’s interest, and also experienced firsthand the support from the locals of remote islands. We have already received over a dozen repeat orders from one manufacturer. We have also received requests for flexo printing from our competitors,” said Vice President Yoshimura.
Users who have seen the flexographic finish response, “No problem compared to previous packaging materials.”

Aiming for sales of 500 million yen in 4 to 5 years
Regarding goals for the sale of flexo, Vice President Yoshimura said, “At first, we thought it would be possible to achieve 500 million yen in sales in three years. However, due to the impact of Corona and delays in the installment of equipment, our sale speed has slowed down, so we are now targeting 500 million yen in four to five years. We expect the market for packaging materials in the prefecture to grow to several billion yen, so the key is whether we can keep up.”
Regarding future prospects, President Oshiro said, “The ability to manufacture and process flexible packaging in the prefecture has made it possible for us to respond to small lot production and short delivery times. We are receiving support from many quarters, especially from confectionery and food product manufacturers in the prefecture. In particular, there have been high expectations for more than a year for the pouch making machine with seal zipper, which has been in operation since July. Our company is still in its infancy in terms of technology and quality. More than ever, our first priority is to stabilize quality, and we will enhance the quality aspect of our products so that our customers can be assured of our quality. We also aim to be involved in product development together with our customers in cooperation with the planning and design departments.”

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