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May 22, 2003

RotoMetrics Gets Stamped With FTA Technical Innovation Award

St. Louis, MO—RotoMetrics has been named as one of two winners of the Flexographic Technical Association / Flexo Market News 2003 Technical Innovation Award. It serves as the exclusive distributor of UniFlex Hot Stamp Rotary Dies, developed by UEIŪ Group, Overland Park, KS, for which Rotometrics designed and manufactured a magnetic cylinder to serve as the die’s base.

Two men intimately familiar with the product are Steve Lee, vice president, RotoMetrics; and Larry Hutchison, president of UEI Group. Hutchison reported that the intention behind UniFlex was to develop a die that would be less costly to manufacture or tool and that would allow flexographic printers to compete by adding more value-enhanced processes, such as foil stamping, to their offerings. He further observed, "The die had to have a ferrous surface that would mount to a magnetic base and a non-ferrous/ferromagnetic surface that you could engrave into." Copper and steel were bonded in a special combination in order to provide the right level of etchability and magnetic attraction. "We used a molecular bond of very high temperature and very high pressure that actually melds the two materials together."

For UniFlex dies, Hutchison estimated a requisite temperature of 1,900 degrees F. to melt the bonded metals. "Obviously, no hot-stamping application is running near the heat that would be required to do that," he said.

Commenting on RotoMetrics’ involvement, Lee stated, “We developed a cylinder that could be used successfully with the plate. It has a combination of high-strength magnets and regular-strength magnets." The magnets in this special combination are precision and accurately ground with proprietary technology that ensures the cylinder will work when they get on the press."

Benefits of Technology Hutchison stressed, “With UniFlex, the benefits are many. The cost of the rotary hot-stamping die is greatly reduced, and turnaround time is greatly decreased." According to UEI, UniFlex dies take only one to five minutes to install.

"UniFlex dies are only 30 to 40 percent of the cost of solid rotary cylinders," confirmed Adrian Brown, managing director for Olympus Labels in the UK. UniFlex dies are lightweight and are .028 inches thick. This makes UniFlex dies safer to handle and easier to store. It also reduces the cost of shipping and makes handling and changeover easier and faster. In addition, the dies are interchangeable and can even be mounted while the cylinder is hot, provided the individual is using proper safety equipment.

According to material submitted to FTA, the estimated return on investment associated with UniFlex dies increases substantially with each die purchased. Repeat jobs increase the ROI even further. Turnaround time for UniFlex dies approximate one to two days, as compared to four to five days for a solid cylinder.

Fine Details "As we've introduced this product to the marketplace, one question that has continued to come up is how it handles as far as cleanliness of foil stamping. The criteria for good foil stamping are the brilliance of the print/foil transfer, the speed at which it can be achieved and the cleanliness of the transfer. With UniFlex, there is no deterioration of quality in any one of those categories. As far as brilliance goes, there's no reason, from a tooling standpoint, that the foil, when stamped, should not stay as brilliant as it is on the roll.