Matik, Inc. Sells First iFlex In North America

WEST HARTFORD, Conn – As the exclusive North American distributor of OMET of Lecco Italy, Matik, Inc. has brought one of their most innovative machines to date, the iFlex, across the big pond to Olathe, Kansas. The iFlex will contribute substantially to the already-impressive display of OMET presses at Phenix Label. 

As Phenix Label’s philosophy states, they “adapt to meet the ever-changing needs of clients.” This led to a move in the direction of modernizing their company, beginning with the machines in their plant. A growing demand from customers led to a need to optimize output in order to keep up with their product. They also decided to switch over, like most of the industry, from water-based ink to UV to decrease setup time. Fitting in perfectly with this objective is the OMET iFlex uses UV curing. However, most notable about the iFlex is its current title of the shortest web path (1300 mm) of any narrow web print ink press.

Phenix Label boasts a growing arsenal of OMET machines, capable of a wide range of applications. Phenix installed an X6 10-color 21” press last year to produce unsupported film, flexible shrink film and thin film labels. This gave them full substrate and premium auto-register capabilities.  

Todd Fatino, Vice President of Innovation at Phenix Label stated, “Our team at Phenix is thrilled to be welcoming another OMET to our factory. We are in the process of updating and modernizing our plant and we were impressed by the capabilities of the iFlex. The features we were most sold on, here at Phenix, were that it has the shortest web path in its class, delivering unmatched ability to reduce waste and it has a very simple user-interface.” 

Currently equipped with several Webtron 750 flexo presses, Phenix was looking for a press to increase efficiency of output while keeping a conscious eye on available space within their plant. The iFlex is capable of double the output of one Webtron 750, allowing them to replace two of their Webtron presses with one iFlex. Pleased with their past OMET experiences, this iFlex is only the first of multiple OMET presses that Phenix is committed to buying in the near future. 

The iFlex features iLight, which has pre-register laser pointers indicating the best alignment of the print cylinder. It also offers quick change die-cutting for ease in change of the die cylinder through special trolley and only one gear per flexo unit.

Phenix Label was formed on the simple idea of quickly and efficiently providing labels to customers. Over 100 years later, Phenix still delivers on that, and continues to be a family-owned business, now run by Arthur McCrum's great-grandson Hans Peter. From quality controls to printing consultations, Phenix takes their time in making sure they can shape a package and print solution to get the product noticed.