Carpad – Case History

Carpad S.p.A., Carpad is the first company worldwide that has combined in-line spectral color measurement with press-side color recipe correction on a Central Impression (CI) Flexographic press. Since the installation, the company has seen a reduction in press down-time, waste, and press start-stop cycle due to make-ready. This resulted in an immediate overall increase of press productivity of more than 20 per cent.

Founded in 1983 as a paper converting company, Carpad began specializing in the production of paper bags and sacks in 1987. Based in Fontaniva, Padua Province, northeast Italy, Carpad is now one of Europe’s leading suppliers of industrial paper sacks and wholesale paper bags for retail trade, clothing stores and major supermarkets across the continent. The printing facility comprises:

• The newest generation flexographic presses capable of four color internal and up to eight colors external printing
• Water-protective varnish finishing
• UV finishing made up of gravure and flexo presses. It also uses various coating, laminating, slitting and finishing and co-extrusion equipment.

The company is capable of turning around in excess of 1.2 million paper bags per day in a number of finishes, including popular flat, twisted and j-fold handles.

Andrea Benetti, Plant Manager at Carpad, explains: “We were looking at ways of cutting costs due to increasingly aggressive global competition, so we wanted to focus on new solutions in the printing department. These challenges have forced us to continuously cut production costs to remain competitive in the market.” The firm opted to install QuadTech’s Color Measurement System with SpectralCam™ and an early version of QuadTech’s ColorTrack™ with InkControl™.

Benetti explains that the existing strong relationship with QuadTech’s local agent, ColorConsulting s.r.l, was a key factor in choosing a robust and effective solution: “We have worked with the ColorConsulting for several years. As a result, they know and understand our business needs and our strategic and technical requirements. They were able to propose the most elegant solution, complete the installation and provide a high level of staff training in the quickest possible timeframe.”

Carlo Carnelli, General Manager at ColorConsulting s.r.l, the Saronno-based color testing and training specialist, added: “Since we announced our formal partnership with QuadTech in May 2015, we have been able to combine our joint expertise in color quality and control to reduce waste, and drive productivity. This has enabled us to improve workflows in prepress and the press room as well as increase efficiency through automation which allows printing companies to exchange color data across the entire workflow.”

The QuadTech Color Measurement System with SpectralCam uses innovative inline spectral technology to accurately measure the spectral response and calculate L*a*b*, ΔE, Density and ΔDensity at full press speeds. The patented web stabilizer increases color measurement accuracy on a variety of substrates by stabilizing the web during measurement and utilizing ISO-conforming black and white backing tiles for transparent materials.

Equipped with an early version of ColorTrack with Ink Control, the world’s first in-line color and ink control for packaging presses, Benetti believes Carpad will now be able to target higher end customers who demand ever higher levels of finish with more rigorous quality requirements.

Giuseppe Milani, Production Manager at Carpad, has reported immediate improvements in a number of critical workflow areas: “Our print make-ready process has seen dramatic improvements, with a reduction in both turnaround time and paper waste. We improved the productivity of the machine by 20-25 percent, seeing a great improvement right from the start. The degree of control and certainty that our technicians and operators now have in respect of faithful end product color reproduction is of enormous benefit to the company and our customer base.”