VETAPHONE NEL BENELUX
macchine da stampa ibride che combinano i due processi, e questo conferma la mia opinione. Un altro importante cambiamento è avvenuto relativamente agli inchiostri, che erano principalmente a base solvente, invece ora i trasformatori e i loro clienti sono alla ricerca di opzioni più ecologiche e questo ha portato a una grande diffusione della tecnologia a base acqua, sia per gli inchiostri che per le lacche. L’unico problema è che gli inchiostri a base acqua richiedono una tenMan mano che i trasformatori passano da inchiostri e vernici a base solvente a quelli a base acqua, la necessità di eseguire il dyne test diventa più importante in quanto è necessaria una maggiore tensione superficiale e ciò richiede un trattamento corona di maggiore potenza / As converters switch from solvent to water-based inks and lacquers, the need to dyne test becomes more crucial as greater surface tension is needed, and this demands higher power corona treatment
sione superficiale più elevata per garantire una buona adesione e richiedono un trattamento superficiale più efficace. Un trattamento più intenso comporta l’uso di più elettrodi e un generatore più potente: niente che non possiamo affrontare, ma è stato un cambiamento signi-
E da allora il mio impegno è stato costante e intenso.
ficativo nelle specifiche tecnologiche di 30 anni fa.
Basta considerare i cambiamenti tecnologici nel corso
Anche il costo delle materie prime è aumentato rapi-
degli anni. Trent’anni fa, la stampa digitale non era un
damente. Il supporto di plastica è ovviamente a base
processo commerciale: ora le linee moderne funziona-
di petrolio e l’industria petrolchimica è sia globale che
no a 70 m/min e garantiscono una qualità pari a quella
volatile, quindi quando i trasformatori europei non pos-
flessografica. Andranno più veloci e raggiungeranno la
sono acquistare il supporto vergine allo stesso prezzo
velocità di 250 m/min? Ne dubito, perché non ce n’è
a cui i trasformatori asiatici possono consegnare il pro-
bisogno: la flessografia gestisce tirature più lunghe ad
dotto finito dall’altra parte del mondo, si crea un problema.
alta velocità in modo molto conveniente, quindi le due
Questo e altri fattori continuano ad avere un impatto
tecnologie dovrebbero essere viste più come comple-
sulla riduzione dei costi e un modo per competere è
mentari che competitive. Inoltre, oggi ci sono anche
stata la fusione tra più aziende per costituire unità di
ENGLISH Version
The value of specialised experience DIRK DEN HAESE HAS REPRESENTED VETAPHONE IN THE BENELUX FOR MORE THAN 25 YEARS. HIS BACKGROUND IN SCIENCE AND POLYMERS HAS BEEN THE BASIS OF THIS LONGSTANDING RELATIONSHIP: DIRK USES IT TO ASSESS THE ROAD AHEAD FOR PLASTIC PACKAGING
I
t all began when my parents gave me a Chemistry Set for Christmas when I was 12 years old – and I was hooked on science from that moment on. I even set up my own laboratory to test chemical reactions – parents would be scared stiff if their children did those experiments these days! But they led me to study chemical engineering and then I specialised in polymers. When I graduated, I worked initially for Mobil Polymers analysing polymer additives with a whole range of technology including MFR, IR-analysers, NMR-equipment, spectrometers and so on. Later I
joined Exxon Chemicals as a special lab technician on an extruder reactor pilot line that provided test results to the main production line in Cologne, Germany. This gave me a technical grounding in plastic engineering, and I was able to go to customers with the sales team to explain the test results. It was three years later that I moved into sales from R&D, and that’s when I first came across Vetaphone. It was one of a number of brands represented by the company I was working for, but I wasn’t allowed sufficient time to develop the business, so I took the plunge and set
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up my own company with the assistance of Vetaphone CEO Frank Eisby and Sales Manager Aage Ellgaard. Initially I took on sales in Belgium and Luxembourg, but soon added The Netherlands, which was a blank canvas from my point of view. The Internet was in its infancy and it took me three months of research to come up with around 400 potential customers. And that’s when the real work began, trying to convince these guys that they needed to know more about corona and especially Vetaphone corona! And it’s been a never-ending task ever since. Just consider the changes in technology over the intervening years. Thirty years ago, digital print was not a commercial process – now modern lines run at 70m/ min and produce quality equal to flexo. Will they go faster and run at 250m/min? I doubt it, because there is no need – flexo copes with longer runs at high speed very cost-effectively so the two technologies should be seen more as complementary than competitive. You even have hybrid
presses these days that combine the two, which really highlights my point. Another major change has been in ink, which used to be mainly solvent-based but now converters and their customers are looking for greener options and this has seen a large uptake in water-based technology, both inks and lacquers. The only problem is that water-based inks require higher surface tension to secure good adhesion and requires a higher-powered surface treatment. More power means a larger treater with more electrodes and a more powerful generator – nothing we can’t cope with, but a significant change in the technology specification from 30 years ago. The cost of raw materials has risen rapidly too. Plastic substrate is obviously oil-based, and the Petro-chemical industry is both global and volatile, so when European converters cannot buy the virgin substrate for the same price that Asian converters can deliver the finished product from halfway around the world, you
