DCM ATN
DCM ATN's e-ATENA rotogravure printing units
Rotogravure isn’t the only printing technology deployed for tobacco packaging but it certainly is the dominant one, and for good reason as Tobacco Asia has found out.
By Thomas Schmid
Due to its lower pre-press costs, sheet-fed offset printing may be preferred for small-volume tobacco packaging printing jobs, but rotogravure printing is definitely the dominant methodology for anything beyond the smallest quantities.
Its exceptional print quality perfectly suits the often high requirements. The colors achieved with rotogravure printing are very consistent during the run and the print quality is extremely smooth, outshining that of any other printing method.
Furthermore, excellent metallics – often deployed on tobacco packaging – are reliably produced in rotogravure.
“Rotogravure is also a web-fed process with the ability to combine other options inline, such as foil or hologram stamping, tactile varnishes, special coatings, inkjet printing, and so on,” says Pierre-Eric Dessus, after-sales manager at French company DCM ATN, a leading global supplier of rotogravure printing machinery and complementary equipment to the tobacco packaging market.
His colleague, area sales manager Jason Elvery, adds that although the company’s e-ATENA line is primarily used for printing and converting the different types of flip-top boxes, it is also being deployed for a wide range of other tobacco packaging products “such as outer cartons and inner frames on board, as well as on paper for soft pack boxes, inner liners, overwrapping and tipping paper”.
e-ATENA’s versatility
DCM ATN’s e-ATENA is an electronic line shaft machine using the latest B&R technology. The e-ATENA’s modular design allows for the integration of a range of optional add-ons (see table).
“The specifications for the standard e-ATENA machine permits printing on paper and board weighing up to 450 grams per square meter. The customer can easily switch from running a job on paper to running a job onboard without any modification of the equipment. All that is required is setting the tension levels for the different material,” Dessus elaborates.
The globally bestselling e-ATENA version has a maximum print width of 640 mm, most commonly comes with an inline rotary die cutter and is customizable for up to 14 colors. “We sell several of these machines for tobacco packaging [purposes] each year, most commonly with 10, 11 or 12 colors” claims Elvery. In his opinion, DCM ATN is so successful because the company has over 50 years of experience in designing and manufacturing rotogravure printing and rotary die cutting equipment under its belt, with a clear emphasis on the tobacco packaging market.
Worldwide customers
“We have customers from all corners of the world” notes Dessus. “We were initially more focused on the European market, then China. But nowadays, two-thirds of our rotogravure machine sales are across Asia.
The tobacco packaging market is where our focus has always been and continues to be,” he says. “And we are constantly improving our machines further. They are extremely efficient, producing superior-quality blanks at high speed, with very little waste.”
Most of the sales are to existing customers. “They know and appreciate how good our products are.” However, there are no pronounced global variations that would make any given e-ATENA version more popular in some markets than it would be in others. The only noteworthy aspect may be that customers in countries where labor costs are low tend to choose shingle delivery of blanks rather than stacker delivery. “Other than that we see no differences geographically,” Elvery asserts.
In a wider context that also means that there doesn’t exist a single “all-round” model of the e-ATENA that DCM ATN would universally push in cases where a tobacco company isn’t certain what to select, particularly regarding integrated options.
“In order for us to determine the most economically viable solution for the customer’s particular needs, we need to understand their requirements. Each customer is different and it’s therefore imperative to propose a machine that is configured to suit them,” he says.
Is It worth the investment?
Not all tobacco companies run their own in-house printing division, preferring to outsource the production to companies specializing in supplying tobacco product packaging. This is particularly the case where the manufacturer in question simply does not shell out sufficient product volumes to justify an investment in printing machinery.
As Elvery points out, “One single rotogravure machine can produce tens of millions of blanks per month.”
And as far as expertise is concerned, Dessus says: “Needing specialized printing expertise is true for many machines in the market, certainly for offset and flexo but also for certain other rotogravure machinery. However, the e-ATENA is extremely easy to run and very user-friendly, at the same time meeting the strict specifications required by different major brand owners.”
Moreover, with sufficient product volumes, rotogravure printing will be the most economical printing method, and rotary die cutting the most economical converting method, giving a very fast ROI for the e-ATENA line, typically within 18 months after production start-up.
Customer support just as important as sales
Selling new machines is one thing, but a broad package of support services is just as important. And it is in this arena where DCM ATN earns kudos points, too. According to Elvery, DCM ATN recognizes that high-level services are key, including operator training, regular maintenance, machine re-calibrations, wear-and-tear part replacements, machinery refurbishing, and upgrades.
“Our customers need to produce high-quality packaging with high efficiency and we do all we can to make it easy and reliable for them,” he asserts.
All of it already begins at DCM ATN’s factory in France, where newly sold e-ATENA lines are subjected to meticulous test runs before they are subsequently installed at the customer’s facility.
“The customer attends these tests and only once they approve the machine will we disassemble and deliver it to their facility, where it is set up and tested a second time,” explains Dessus. He also affirms that it is standard routine to “always include comprehensive training and production support for operators and maintenance staff with any installation.”
In 2019, DCM ATN further increased the local service and technical assistance to its customers. As of 1 July 2019, French service engineers from ATN have been permanently based in Indonesia, ensuring that customers in the Asian region can receive fast response and quick service. DCM ATN now provides highly skilled local technical service across three continents to support customers operating e-ATENA lines.
Furthermore, since 1 September 2019, DCM ATN’s dedicated service hotline based in France for the ATN machines has been staffed with additional engineers who reinforce Pierre-Eric Dessus’ after-sales team on and ensure that customer service all through the year.
Continuous evolution
And just like DCM ATN’s service and support network, the e-ATENA is constantly evolving, too, thanks to a dedicated r&d department back in France. One of the latest developments is a new transfer rejector unit that allows higher-speed production for more complicated blanks such as round corners, for example.
Further recent developments have resulted in the optimizations of the company’s Universal Rotary Sheeter for producing sheets of variable width and length, and also the Rotofoil hot foil stamping and hologram stamping units, according to Elvery. The efficiency of the driers’ hot-air recirculation functionality likewise has been enhanced as well in order to minimize energy consumption.
“Plus many improvements have been undertaken to conform to European and international safety standards. Our next development to be officially launched is the inline rejection system,” says Elvery, with Dessus adding that “it ensures automatic inline quality control… and works for both short-grain and long-grain blanks running at very high speeds. We have also worked together with another leading European company and can today offer inline flat-bed die-cutting as an alternative option to rotary die cutting. This is particularly interesting for those customers who produce a large range of different blank shapes and sizes. And we will soon also launch the myATN application, which enables customers to have one-to-one direct access to a broad range of personalized services and information.”
DCM ATN also manufactures a diverse assortment of complementary equipment, including slitter rewinders, coaters, laminators, sheeters and shrink sleeve converting machines. “For example, the Tigre is an automatic double-turret slitter rewinder commonly used on the e-ATENA,” Dessus says. “Another example would be the LaminaStripe for depositing a continuous hologram at a speed of over 130 meters per minute, and which is an alternative to the Rotofoil unit.”
DCM ATN Unfazed By Asia’s Copycatting Scourge
There is no denying it: A lot of unscrupulous Asian companies – predominantly located in China – are in the unsavory habit of blatantly ripping off and unlawfully misappropriating patented and trademarked equipment of any sort and description, sometimes even passing it off as their own innovations.
Alas, this also holds true for rotogravure machinery, where either the entire machine or important mechanical or electronic parts are copied. It doesn’t faze DCM ATN all too much, however.
“Of course there are Chinese companies that try to copy us. But it is very difficult for them to do this, particularly due to the high level of automation and the consistent evolution inherent to our machines,” remarks Pierre-Eric Dessus.
What’s more, he adds that feedback received from customers indicates that “machinery from China is still very far from the quality offered by DCM ATN.” Area sales manager Jason Elvery meanwhile is adamant that investing in a cheap machine is not a good idea as waste levels are high, production efficiency low, machine downtimes frequent, and upkeep costs for replacing parts burdensome.
“Our customers clearly recognize that it is more cost-effective to invest in a quality machine. All DCM ATN machinery is 100% designed, manufactured, assembled and tested in France. The quality is exceptional. And our machines last many years, with numerous thirty-year-old machines still running today.”
Well, as the saying goes: It doesn’t always pay to save at the wrong end and fall for cheap copycat equipment.
Alternatives to Steel Cylinders
Traditionally, rotogravure machines use engraved steel cylinders to apply colors and embossed elements to the printing substrate. In the past, the costs of engraving these cylinders were often cited as one of the drawbacks of the rotogravure process. But today supplies are cheap and plentiful thanks to specialized Asian companies that can engrave new cylinders at between 25 to 50 % of the cost typical for Europe and Northern America.
Yet there still remains the logistical issue of shipping, storing and handling bulky and heavy steel cylinders. However, a range of suppliers including German manufacturers like Janoschka and Saueressig have successfully developed alternative materials to replace steel. They are lighter, easier to store (as well as to change over) and can be adapted to fit rotogravure machinery of different brands.
Among these alternatives are hollow cylinders made of nickel and copper that require an air mandrel to be deployed. But there also are cylinders manufactured from steel and polyurethane foam in a sort of “sandwich” construction, which need an expanding shaft to be installed. While they may perhaps not be as sturdy as steel and potentially can wear down a little faster, they are interesting alternatives especially for smaller print volumes due to their lower investment cost.