Is Unit Type Flexo Slow to Change? | Changeover Efficiency Guide

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The "150 Meters Per Minute" Trap

When buyers look at a spec sheet, their eyes go straight to "Max Speed: 150m/min." But here is the uncomfortable truth: Unless you are printing 100,000 meters of the same label, top speed is a vanity metric.

In today's market, run lengths are getting shorter. If you run a job at high speed for 30 minutes but spend 2 hours changing over to the next job, your machine is only making money 20% of the time.

A common myth is that Unit Type (Inline) Flexo Machines are slower to set up than expensive CI presses. Ten years ago, with heavy gears and manual locking, that was true. Today, with the right engineering, a Unit Type press can rival any machine in efficiency. Here is how we break down—and solve—the changeover bottleneck.

1. Deconstructing the "Downtime" (It's Not Just Plate Mounting)

Why does a changeover take so long? It's rarely the physical act of sliding a cylinder in. The real time-killers are:

  • Ink Wash-up: Cleaning 6 or 8 ink chambers and pumps manually.
  • Registration Hunting: Wasting 100 meters of material trying to align the colors.
  • Accessibility: Climbing ladders (on Stack presses) or squeezing into tight spaces (on Compact CI presses) to reach the print head.

The Unit Type structure naturally solves the accessibility issue. Because the stations are laid out horizontally at waist height, two operators can work on the machine simultaneously—one changing Station 1 while the other changes Station 6—drastically cutting prep time.

Is Unit Type Flexo Slow to Change?

2. How We Optimize the "Skeleton": The Drawer Design

At Newtop Machinery, we realized that the traditional "bolt-on" cylinder design was a productivity killer. We shifted our modern lines to a "Drawer-Type" or Cassette Structure.

The Innovation:
Instead of unscrewing bearings and gears, the entire plate cylinder and anilox assembly sits in a movable cassette.
The Result: You can prepare the next job's plate and anilox in a spare cassette while the machine is currently running. When the job stops, you simply slide out the old drawer and slide in the new one. This "Pit Stop" approach reduces mechanical changeover time from 40 minutes to under 10 minutes.

3. Technology vs. Skill: Servo Auto-Registration

The biggest fear for a new operator is getting the colors to align (registration). On older mechanical Unit Type presses, this required manual tweaking of knobs while wasting expensive substrate.

How We Do It:
We equip our advanced Unit Type presses with Servo-Driven Auto-Registration. The machine uses pre-set data to position the plate cylinders automatically.
Real-World Impact: A client in Vietnam reduced their setup waste from 80 meters per job to just 15 meters. Over a year, that saved them over $12,000 in material costs alone.

4. The "Software" of Changeover: SOPs Matter

We often see clients blame the machine when the problem is the workflow.

The Mistake: The operator waits for the machine to stop, then goes to find the new plates, then looks for the ink, then looks for the mounting tape.
Our Advice: We train your team to treat changeovers like Formula 1. Everything needed for "Job B" must be staged next to the print station 15 minutes before "Job A" finishes. The machine should never wait for the human.

Conclusion: Efficiency is a Choice

If your business model relies on short-run, high-variety labels or packaging, the Unit Type Flexo Press is often the smartest choice—but only if it is configured correctly.

Don't buy a bare-bones mechanical press and expect quick turnovers. Invest in Quick-Change Drawers and Auto-Registration. The extra upfront cost is paid back in saved labor hours within the first 6 months.

Want to see our "Drawer-Type" quick change in action? Contact us for a video demonstration.