India-based UFlex has commissioned two Boardmaster web flexographic printing presses from Heidelberger Druckmaschinen (Heidelberg) at a new aseptic liquid packaging facility in Ain Shokna, Egypt, as part of a $126m investment.
The deal was made via the company’s ASEPTO division, which manufactures aseptic liquid packaging products, including milk and beverage cartons.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The Egypt facility has been established to produce aseptic packaging for the global market.
The two Boardmaster systems add capacity for 12 billion aseptic packages a year, taking Asepto’s combined annual capacity in India and Egypt to 24 billion packages.
Heidelberg developed the Boardmaster web flexo printing system for packaging manufacturers. The equipment can operate at speeds of up to 600 metres a minute.
Its features include automated defect detection, shorter make-ready times, automated job changes, and intelligent process control. Heidelberg states that the system can achieve an availability rate of up to 90%.
UFlex is headquartered in India and has production facilities in Egypt, Hungary, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Poland, the US, the United Arab Emirates, and other international markets.
The company supplies customers in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), pharmaceuticals, automotive, and construction.
Its packaging solutions are used for food and beverages, cosmetics, household goods, and other products.
Asepto president and CEO Ashwani Sharma said: “The highly automated Boardmaster machines from Heidelberg offer exceptional productivity, consistently high print quality, and outstanding efficiency for high-volume production environments. This enables us to respond even more quickly to customer requirements while maintaining the highest standards of quality and performance.”
Last month, UFlex received a patent from the Indian Patent Office for an invention titled “high-speed twin aseptic pack packaging machine for liquid products”, with protection granted for 20 years.
The machine uses a continuous vertical form-fill-seal configuration, featuring a centre seal strip for vertical sealing and an induction sealing system for cross-sealing packs.
