Prati Aligns Surface Treatment Requirements with Vetaphone Technology
- Published: July 14, 2022
Since its inception in 1973 by Pietro Prati, the Italian manufacturer of converting and finishing technology has always held true to the belief that quality breeds success. Today, almost 50 years later, the company is acknowledged worldwide as one of the leading manufacturers in the narrow and mid web sectors of the market, with an annual output of more than 200 machines valued in excess of $20 million. Its modern high-tech headquarters in Faenza boasts a string of ISO certifications and its products are manufactured in accordance with CE, UL/CSA, and Industry 4.0 standards.
The company’s global network of sales and support grew to include a facility in Dallas, Texas in 2018, to serve converters in the US and Canadian markets. Today, 80 percent of Prati’s business comes from exports outside Italy, with around 45 percent to Europe and 35 percent to RoW.
Much of its success is based on what it calls its ‘Futura’ technology – a scalable architecture for all converting and finishing applications that allows a customer to grow his or her Prati machine inline with changing business requirements. As Prati’s product range developed from high-speed slitter/rewinders to more complex inspection and finishing lines, the need to include ancillary technology from external suppliers became evident. The choice of Vetaphone was crucial to the company maintaining its reputation for quality.
The two companies have worked on a number of special projects as well as Vetaphone corona units becoming the standard fit for Prati’s successful DIGIFASTone and DIGI COMPACT converting lines. Currently, the two companies are working on a special 630mm project in Spain that will handle linerless labels but needs the facility to spot-coat hotmelt adhesive.
The cooperative partnership is a good fit for both. Prati’s requirements are for web widths from 370mm to 760mm, a sector in which Vetaphone has a large share of the corona treatment market, and for substrates that include PSL, PET, monofoils, multi-laminate and alufoil, amongst others – all substrates for which surface treatment was invented and over the years has been progressively developed and refined by the Danish manufacturer. Applications for this combined technology include industries from food and beverage to security and logistics as well as a range of industrial products.
Currently, work is progressing on Prati’s new DIGIFAST20000 model that’s being developed for the HP 20000 and 25000 lines. This 760mm wide machine will need a 4KW corona system from Vetaphone, and global sales projections are ambitious.