Nosco Plan for Future Flexibility With UV and LED
With five sites across the United States and a workforce of around 650 people, Nosco is a giant in the world of pharmaceutical packaging. They work with over 450 pharma companies, including nine of the top 10 in the United States, and over 160 natural health companies.
Craig Curran is president of the employee-owned company, and is based at Nosco’s 270,000 sq. ft. corporate headquarters and Packaging Innovation Center in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. Here, he gives a brief history of Nosco’s development to where they are today:
“Nosco is actually a 120-year-old company,” he says. “We were founded in 1906 by a local family. They were in the office supply business until 1932, when [Doctor] Mr. Abbott asked them to take over his packaging for pharmaceutical drugs.
“This started the company on a whole new trajectory,” he continues. “So that's how it grew up and we added on from labels to cartons, then on to flexible packaging. We actually make billions of labels, cartons, and inserts every year.”
The Move to LED Curing at Pleasant Prairie
Nosco currently has two Komori presses installed with GEW UV curing systems. One is at the Pleasant Prairie facility, while the second is located in Nosco’s production facility in Bridgeview, Illinois. The two systems are quite different in specification as each has been designed precisely for the work to be done, while at the same time including the necessary infrastructure to enable them to easily be adapted or expanded in the future when necessary.
Lee Marcoe, strategic operations manager, with the Komori GLX940RP-A press at Nosco's Pleasant Prairie facility in Wisconsin.
Lee Marcoe, strategic operations manager at Pleasant Prairie, explains the detailed forethought that went into equipping their Komori advance press, a GLX940RP-A.
“With the addition of our new Komori, we opted for a nine-color RP which is configured 8 over 1 with a coater on the upside,” Marcoe says. “The single color downside is already equipped with our GEW LED UV lamp, but we took a little bit of a look at what we might want to be tomorrow. This was a significant investment for the company.
“Some of our customers have been with us for 40 years and over,” he continues. “Not all of them were ready to make the full change into LED/UV. A lot of their commodities are many years old and they run with the artwork that they have, and it takes a long time, quite honestly, to get some of these changes made. We wanted to make sure that in the 10 years that we have this machine, we have the ability to adapt and be able to perform services that our customers would need moving forward, if they were to change.”
The Move to UV and LED Curing at Bridgeview
At Nosco’s Bridgeview facility in Illinois, the Komori advance GLX-840A press is configured with a combination of GEW Arc and LED lampheads, for optimal productivity and versatility.
Peter Janik, plant manager, with the Komori advance press equipped with GEW UV Arc and LED at Nosco's Bridgeview facility in Illinois.
Peter Janik, plant manager at Bridgeview, begins by explaining their reasons for choosing GEW, and their need for change:
GEW was a vendor of ours for many years because we were using GEW systems on the narrow web presses. GEW did expand and built the systems for 40-inch lithographic printing presses, so that actually was a big consideration when we chose. The previous system that was on this press was already 10 years old and it was full UV, consuming a lot of power, so we were looking for better solutions as far as ink savings and also the power. We were looking for some modern, innovative ways to cure our product.
The way we did it before we would print conventionally and then take those sheets and apply the UV finish on the offline machine. We have eliminated that by putting the GEW on our printing press and doing it all in one pass. So that means we have eliminated a lot of waste: waste of time, waste of product. And so, the cost savings are pretty substantial.
The system that we have currently on the press is a combo. The ink is cured by LED lamps and the coatings are cured by mercury [lamps]. This press has eight printing units. We’ve only got two LED lamps for those eight units, but each has its own portal where we can plug the lamp, so the operator can move that lamp wherever he wants to.
Watch the Nosco case study video to learn more about why they chose GEW UV LED for their Komori presses.
