Flexo printer for pet food in the Czech Republic: seal rejects from 12% to below 1%

A flexo printer in the Czech Republic, serving a pet food manufacturer, had 12% rejects when sealing greasy meat sauces with spice dust on standard film. After switching to NEX-LAM LS, rejects fell below 2% in the first week and below 0.8% after 2 months of optimisation, and the printer kept its customer.

01 Customer

Czech Republic. A flexographic printer serving a pet food manufacturer. It is a difficult application: meat sauces, greasy and with spice dust in the seal area.

02 Challenge

Grease and spice dust got into the seal area. On standard film the printer had 12% rejects when sealing.

The end customer announced it would change supplier if the problem did not go away. So what was at stake was not just waste, but the printer’s whole customer.

03 Solution

• Film: NEX-LAM LS with a wide hot tack window (50-70 ms).
• Seal initiation at 90 °C: the seal holds even when contaminated with grease and dust.
• Trial: 3 rolls of 500 m each.
• Implementation: after the trial the film went into production, followed by 2 months of optimisation.

04 Results

Before and after

Sealing rejects	12% on standard film → below 2% in the first week
After 2 months of optimisation	below 0.8% rejects
End customer	announced change of supplier → customer retained, 2 new projects for the printer
Cost of the custom film	paid back in 4 months

05 What this means for you

If your seal fails with a greasy or dusty product, raising temperature and pressure only treats the symptoms. The right answer is a film whose sealing window is wider than the spread of conditions on your line.