With its volume of shrink sleeves orders continuously growing, Hammer Packaging in Rochester, New York, decided at drupa to purchase the new VSOP web printing press from Muller Martini. Since the ’40s, Hammer Packaging, founded in 1912, has been printing labels for the food and beverages industry: 360-degree labels, pressure sensitive labels and in-mold labels produced using an injection molding procedure. Six years ago they entered the shrink sleeves business segment with two VSOP printing presses from Drent Goebel. The segment is growing dynamically and Hammer Packaging is constantly gaining new customers, prompting its President and CEO James E. Hammer to purchase a third web printing press.

At drupa in Düsseldorf, the great-grandson of the company founder signed a purchase agreement for the new VSOP from Muller Martini with nine printing units, plus an additional flexo unit, hot air drying and EB drying. It will be put into operation towards the end of the year. “Compared to the predecessor models of Drent Goebel, Muller Martini has made some important technological upgrades and the new printing press fulfills our requirements exactly,” says Mr. Hammer, explaining his choice of the latest investment.

Modern Control Technology
One particular innovation is modern control technology. Thanks to the application of Muller Martini control technology in the VSOP, the reliability of the machine has been increased and considerably fewer components are in use. That simplifies both operation and maintenance. The sleeve positioning improvement in the printing units reduces wear and tear on the air shaft in the case of frequent size changes.