Highlights you can touch

 
Finishing Attractiveness is a competitive advantage. Druckerei Flawil transforms a normal print product into a real eye-catcher. 
Premium products are in vogue. This applies not only to fine foods and beverages, but also to printed matter. Varnish finishes are one way of creating highlights and appealing to different senses. Effects for sight, touch and smell can now be easily realized by Druckerei Flawil AG. This is ensured by the new flagship, the Hibis-104 from Steinemann Technology AG, with which medium and large print runs can be coated offline using the rotary UV screen printing process. Depending on the desired result, the coating machine applies a maximum of 150 g/m2 UV coating to a substrate up to 0.8 mm thick. This opens up limitless possibilities with every conceivable coating effect. The company has invested 800,000 Swiss francs in the finishing technology, which was presented to a wide audience at the "uv-lack-07" trade event.
Communicating benefitsAround 200 participants from the advertising and printing industry recently took the opportunity to find out about the many possibilities of coating finishing at Druckerei Flawil. Pascal Schwarz, Managing Director of Druckerei Flawil AG, welcomed the participants with the words: "We want to convey the benefits of coating finishing and not show machine technology". As the company had made headlines in recent days in connection with the partial sale of Huber & Co, Schwarz was keen to clarify a few facts once again. "It was not us who sold off parts of Huber & Co. but Tamedia. Druckerei Flawil has taken over the commercial printing division and thus also felt obliged to secure the jobs of the existing employees," emphasized Schwarz. From November 1, 46 employees will be taken over, 14 will remain at the previous Frauenfeld site.
Luxury is the trend "The art of refinement and thus the possibility of turning something beautiful into something even more beautiful is becoming increasingly important," said Oliver A. Jentschke, Head of Direct Sales Germany and Austria at Steinemann Technology AG, in his subsequent presentation. He visits around 300 customers a year to show them how a product can be finished even more beautifully and elaborately. "Competition is getting tougher and tougher, and products are being sold less and less through their content and more through labeling," said Jentschke. It is now common practice to scout trends and then present the consumer with a corresponding end product. Zero-eight-fifteen products are now being turned into trendsetters.
For Jentschke, luxury has now become a lifestyle that people want to own and show off. People are also prepared to pay more for high-quality products. More and more companies are therefore investing in the most elegant design possible for their brochures and leaflets. However, the problem with the previous screen printing finishing process was its speed. Thanks to the new UV screen printing system, which is much faster, larger print runs can now be finished in less time.
Packaging with effectsMany end customers, such as cosmetics or confectionery manufacturers, have no technical expertise in the printing sector and are therefore reliant on information from agencies and printers. "I try to inform these end customers about the possibilities of finishing," says Jentschke. He cited the cigarette industry as an example. Due to the ban on cigarette advertising, packaging is taking on a whole new meaning. Special collector's editions with special effects are an issue here. These are produced and refined in runs of one or five million copies. "Customers want luxury. However, it is much cheaper to produce new packaging than to develop a new product," said Jentschke, summarizing the advantages of refinement. Eric Voser, owner of Eric Voser Werbeagentur AG, reviewed the trends and anti-trends in brochure design. With a short machine demonstration, the technology finally took center stage and fascinated with a brilliant result.
Sabine Flaxman
Druckerei Flawil AGOst Swiss printing and publishing company, founded in 1897 as a book printer.
Publisher of Wiler Zeitung, Gossauer Wochenzeitung, Allgemeine Anzeiger and Bezirksanzeiger. 110 employees, turnover 20 million francs, 50 percent of which is generated by printing and 50 percent by publishing.