Sheet-feed offset technology applied to the production of pharmaceutical inserts offers the best finish and production advantages
A pharmaceutical insert is an essential element for medications, as it contains detailed specifications on: dosage, administration or side effects, among others. For a consumer to have optimum access to this information, the correct printing of this document is essential likewise appropriate size to enable storage in the box or packaging in optimum conditions.
At Rotatek we are aware of the need to offer these services to the insert products, so the end consumer can benefit from a quality document. To this end, one of our specialities is manufacturing machinery created to provide the best printing quality and production efficiency of pharmaceutical inserts. Our combined offset rotary technology has various competitive advantages with regard to competition, such as high speed and reduced material costs in comparison with sheet-fed are just two factors which make it unbeatable in this segment.
Perfect NT: web offset printing for greater speed
As mentioned, this type of printing is particularly useful for producing pharmaceutical inserts due to its production speed, which also enables a top-quality final finish. The offset rotary press Perfect NT offers the best features to meet both those targets. This machine which works at a mechanical speed of up to 350 m/min, can manufacture up to approximately 20,000 sheets an hour, making it strongly stand out among rival industrial printing presses, which operate flat and only manage half the production.
Once again thanks to its high speed, it is ideal for producing long print runs of this product in record time. Furthermore, because it works with webs it is not only a reference differential factor due to speed, offering greater reliability in the production process, but also because it avoids problems of register since the paper does not move when going through the machine. It is only when printing finishes that the paper is transformed from web to sheets.
The problem of blank sheet printing occurring occasionally in flat machines also disappears, i.e. a sheet-feed printing press may move two sheets which happen to have stuck together throughout the entire machine by mistake, so on reaching the end of the process, they were not correctly printed on both sides. However, because the Perfect NT is a rotary press, it fully unwinds the material making it impossible for a sheet not to be printed at output after cutting to the desired dimensions.
Modularity and adaptability to all kinds of inserts
Other Perfect NT technical details are: its maximum substrate width of 520 mm (505 mm printing) and acceptance of paper from 40 to 250 g/m2. The first factor favours its exceptional operation for all kinds of inserts whatever their characteristics, whilst the second ensures unbeatable work with the low-weight of these pharmaceutical elements. In fact, rotary presses are particularly indicated for processing low-weight formats.
Furthermore, this industrial printer includes the latest shaftless technology in its configurable modules, thus eliminating traditional cardan shaft transmission. Thanks to its modular configuration it is adaptable to each client’s needs and production requirements, likewise the desired multiple printing and handling systems being added to the process: flexography, digital, silkscreen, zig-zag folding, cut, etc. The ideal configuration recommendation for pharmaceutical inserts would be a combination of 2 or 4 bar offset units, turner bars, web and sheeter. This system facilitates correct front and back printing in a single run thanks to the turner bars.
All the Perfect NT technical details favour total control of the entire process; however, for greater peace of mind in ensuring a perfect end result, the client has the possibility of integrating an inspection system with 100% guarantee of an impeccable finish. With all this we achieve a more economic, more productive and better quality printing, ideal for the pharmaceutical insert printer.