It is a very difficult task to buy a flexographic printing machine. The price of the machine is very high and you are engaging for a longer time. Purchasing the flexographic printing machine is very crucial for a company has to handle with maximum care. If the investment is good you can advantage of market competition. A bad investment turns into a nightmare. We explain the common mistakes committed by customers when buying a flexographic machine.
Loaded with unnecessary Features and Functions
If the firm has more resources to buy a machine with maximum features have to think that, do all the features necessary for the printing? The flexographic machine should consider as part of the production process, not an individual one. As an in-line setup between the flexographic press and an extruder. There is no meaning if the flexographic press runs up to 800 meters per minute and the extrusion press runs only one-third of it.
Consider the current sales order. For example, one is printing a logo on a cheap supermarket plastic bag, they don’t need all automation on registration control and impression panel. Also, they do not require the servo drive for tightness. If the job requires only one or two colors and investing in 8 colour is considered a bad investment.
Selecting the right machine is depend on budget and requirement. For example, what type of jobs the company currently has and what will plan to get in the future. Now if any company has a vision that they require maximum specifications for a machine in five years from now, then get the machine with maximum advanced features. Sometimes more features are headache as extra features require time to time maintenance, which costs more money and consumes more time too.
Choosing Brand over Machine according to you Need
For selecting the machine, the brand is important. When the brand is famous, it comes with effort and liability. Being a large corporation goes for big brands which gives less responsibility for production. Now think deeply and consider various factors, how much does the brand name worth? It is good to choose a machine according to the requirements of the company. On the other hand, some will buy a machine from a famous brand and modify it according to the capacity of the press. The focus should be on the current job. The choice of the machine should be on evaluation and not only on the brand.
Low Price
With the investment in a new printing press, it is possible to save money on it. As with the flexographic machine cost more, it is not advisable to go for low price models. If the customer goes for cheap models, can be a disaster in long term. And if the machine has cheap quality, spending on maintenance and service starts very soon. This not only cost but delays in production and leads to shutdown and ruin the company image. So it is advisable not to consider cheap price but machine cost of its lifespan, not just initial investment.
Aftersale Services
Buying a new flexographic machine is only the beginning to run smoothly the machine is a different story. The parts replacement, maintenance, troubleshooting, onsite support, and operator training are part of the aftersales service. A good aftersales service enhances the production. It is advisable to make an agreement of aftersales service between vendor and organization for uninterrupted production.
Frequent Services without Proper Training and Testing
The flexographic printing machine is sophisticated and complicated to use. To operate the press, the operator needs to understand the machine fully and also get to know how the different parts of the machine work together. For example, pairing up the anilox with a plate as per different LPI and BCM, what is the thickness for the printing plate? What type of tape from soft, normal, hard to select from? What is the viscosity level of ink required for normal speed?
