Created in 1910 and located in Damery in the Marne, Lithographie Billet is today a major player in label printing for champagne with a 30% market share and a turnover of 14 million euros.
Already equipped with digital, offset, flexographic, screen printing and gilding presses, the printing company, which employs 110 people, has just invested two million euros in a new printing and gilding machine. After a five-week installation and three weeks of training, the Gallus RCS 430 with the 18-metre-long Rhino flatbed offset press from Pantec went into production this week with an 18-metre-long press. The new equipment is designed for large quantities of complex champagne labels (at least 100,000 copies).
A Gallus RCS 430 press for new media in offset quality
The Gallus RCS 430 web offset printing press is configured with 6 offset and 3 flexographic or screen printing units.
For the printing company, it is its first web offset machine. "We were already equipped with semi-rotary offset and rotary flexo", says Arnold Derégnaucourt, the founder's great-grand-nephew.
"If in flexography we do very nice things, structured papers are tricky to pass. Now we have the quality of offset on structured and high-speed papers."
In addition, thanks to the application of a specific tension to the substrates, Gallus easily prints synthetic substrates (such as PE in 120 or 150 micron).
A Pantec module for high speed multi-stamping labels
But the added value made possible with this new equipment does not stop there. The Pantec is a multistroke hot foil stamping machine: it allows several simultaneous hits on different foils.
"In a single pass, we can apply up to three different gildings on the same label. We can also make two embossings and one embossing in one pass." the printer is delighted.
"For us, it was indispensable: champagne labels are often several gildings in golden hues like shiny, matt, dark, a little bronze or gunmetal colour that fired silver".
The Billet printing house was already doing multi-stamping, but it was much slower. "This week we completed our first order on the Gallus Pantec press: we ran at 40 m/min, compared with 17 m/min up to now (in a single gilding process, but multiple gilding would not have taken any longer). And at the end of the run, we accelerated to test the speed: we reached 65 m/min!"
And the printer still has room for improvement: with the right settings, the manufacturer gives a speed of 100 m/min. "But it's strange enough as it feels to be driving twice as fast! It's a bit like driving a car!"
