BOBST register control system adds more gravure capacity for Diadema

Embalagens Flexíveis Diadema, located in the greater São Paulo area, has invested in a REGISTRON®– S 6100 D integrated register control system, which has been installed on a Cerutti R960/2 gravure press from 2005. Serving Latin America and the US, the company is one of the leaders in Brazil, producing laminated flexible packaging for customers primarily in the food, drinks, cosmetics, personal care, hygiene, cleaning, health, and healthcare industries.

Diadema offers many types of technical structures, such as triplex lamination with aluminum foil for food products that require a high barrier, as well as bespoke structures on demand. In addition to its lamination expertise, its fully integrated process delivers excellent printing quality in up to 10 colors on a fleet of Cerutti gravure presses. The company, that has an important share in the packaging sector for customers in the food industry with continued growth in this segment, also added packaging for the pharmaceutical segment to its product portfolio in 2017, and has been significantly growing its market share year after year.

Alexandre Alonso joined Diadema in 2019 as Director of Operations bringing in more than two decades expertise in packaging production. He was immediately tasked with evaluating various growth strategies for productivity gains, as well as looking at the cost implications and the possibilities for meeting the strong demand for sustainable solutions.

“It is in our DNA to handle more complex and very technical packaging with high competitiveness, so we need our equipment to perform at its best, with low waste. After detailed analysis of our requirements, the decision was made to start upgrading the existing production footprint. As a first step, we implemented the BOBST REGISTRON® system on our old R960/2 Cerutti press, which was under threat of becoming obsolete because some of the original spare parts were no longer available,” explained Alonso.

The BOBST REGISTRON®– S 6100 D integrated register control system with automated EasyStart technology has given new life to the Cerutti press, improving print accuracy, providing consistency over very long runs, and cutting waste. It is the first machine with electronic drive shafts in the world to incorporate this specific REGISTRON® system.

The installation of the new system was faster than expected, according to Alonso, and Diadema was back to full production after just eight days. “There were some concerns about when the press would be back in production, so we were pleasantly surprised to learn that it was ready sooner than planned and printing at even better speeds. We also observed a significant improvement in register, so clearly, we made the best decision,” he said. “Our main objective was to eliminate the machine’s obsolescence, and that was fully accomplished. Moreover, the operators are thrilled with the new automation features, which make it much easier to operate.”

One notable saving has been on material during setup as a result of the EasyStart technology which eliminates errors caused by faulty operator input. Removing waste from the production workflow is a main priority for Diadema, so the fact that the amount film material used during setup was reduced from 50kg to under 10kg per job, was an additional bonus. With four to five jobs going through the press each day the reduction of plastic films in set-up has been very significant, presenting the dual benefit of lower costs and better sustainability.

With this new capacity and improved sustainability, more investments with BOBST are in sight to allow Diadema to keep ahead of competition and serve its customers with even more agility and quality. More functionalities, such as AutoTrack technology and Total Automatic Pre-register Setting (TAPS), will have the potential to elevate productivity even further when upgrading. 

“Diadema has a long relationship with BOBST that started with Cerutti decades ago, and it has been very advantageous for both companies. Since the acquisition of Cerutti, BOBST has continued to equip Diadema with the latest innovations, providing world-class service. Now it’s time to start evaluating a new round of investments to guarantee the capacity to serve the growing demand,” concludes Alonso.

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