Gallus ECS 340 at Stratus Group Inc. in USA

The Stratus Group, Inc., is known for its production of high-quality pressure-sensitive and folding cartons. And, the 17-year-old, Hamilton, OH-based company recently added to its capabilities with the installation of a nine-color, 13-in Gallus ECS 340 UV flexo press.

The press, which was installed in November 2009, allows virtually any combination of inks, adhesives, coatings and substrates, with minimal set-up and changeover times without the use of tools. The Gallus ECS 340 is the third of Stratus’s Gallus presses: a 10-color Gallus EM 410, purchased in 2004; and an eight-color Gallus EM 280 installed two years later.

The very short web path of the Gallus ECS 340 offers a number of benefits, including an extremely efficient workflow and a print image that is not altered when speeds are changed, thus ensuring the consistently high quality of print results. 

Gallus’ productivity elements, which already have a proven track record on the market, were used in the development of this press. For example, plate cylinders and anilox rollers are designed as sleeves, thus enabling very fast job changeovers. This benefit is supplemented by the chambered blade system, so that inks can also be changed in next to no time. The press, which comes with full servo drive technology, is also equipped with UV lamps mounted directly against cooled impression cylinders, leading to excellent substrate flexibility.

Curt Curran, Vice President of Manufacturing explains that each of Stratus’s three presses meets a different market niche, though all are capable of high-quality label production. The Gallus EM 410, for example, serves as its long-run press, capable of doing multi-ply work and utilizing multiple converting techniques. As for the Gallus EM 280, “I always call it our ‘sports car,’ because we’re always doing our short-runs on it. And our new Gallus ECS 340 is going to compliment those two very well because we can off-load some of our current work onto it and, of course, add some new business as well!”

The Stratus Group’s 100,000-square-foot facility also houses three Arpeco offset presses, which print up to nine colors and 16-in. wide, to produce high-quality folding cartons. All of its equipment is used to serve its three primary markets: health and beauty, pharmaceuticals and beverages.

Curran says that he and his father and partner, Bob, chose Gallus as the supplier of its label presses because, “We’ve always respected Gallus as a manufacturer of high-quality printing equipment and a leader in the market, so when we were ready to move on from Arpeco and buy ourselves a real label press, we went with Gallus.”

What attracted Curran to the Gallus equipment? “I think our respect and appreciation for the technology they have,” he explains. “So we can do UV flexo, we can do short run, long run,” adds Curran. “There really isn’t a whole lot we can’t do with the technology we have!”