SA Litho Label Printers remains on the forefront of diversification, this time they’re making their entry into the shrink sleeve market.

A division of CTP Limited, SA Litho boasts a reputation as a premium producer of wetgum sheetfed labels, self-adhesive flexo, litho and digital labels, and now, shrink sleeves. This wide-ranging product portfolio cements their position in the label market as a total solutions provider.

“As part of our product diversification strategy, SA Litho actively started looking at entering the shrink sleeve market about 18 months ago. This decision, attributed to the gaining popularity of shrink sleeves as a packaging solution and the shrink sleeve compound annual growth rate exceeding all other traditional labelling solutions,” says Leon Witbooi, MD at CTP Packaging Western Cape. “Our greatest challenge was that this expansion required technical skills and equipment that the business did not have at that time, hence our strategy to source the required technical representation coupled with the correct capital investment,” he continues.

It is common knowledge that the production of shrink sleeves is a sophisticated process with many variables to consider, making shrink sleeve printing a highly technical process with very little margin for error. “It is extremely important to us to control the quality throughout this production process. Investing in state-of-the-art equipment and sourcing the required technical skill in the market to support our clients with online application became a core focus for us in order to guarantee predictable quality,” says Peter Sproul, Joint General Manager at SA Litho Label Printers.

Consequently, SA Litho Label Printers installed a state-of-the-art AccraSeam shrink sleeve seamer and an ancillary DM12 shrink sleeve inspector.

Equipped with automated lay-flat adjustment, the AccraSeam perfectly seams material and holds industry lay-flat tolerances at 600mph, making it  the fastest commercially seamer available. The accompanying DM12 boasts an automatic seam inspection capability, delivering greater efficiencies and predictable quality.

“Our choice of equipment, both from Accraply, followed a detailed investigation into available seaming equipment at the time, with Accraply emerging very much the market leader,” says Dawrian Salies, Operations Manager at SA Litho Label Printers “Coupled with a promising install base in the country and great local support in the form of their local partner, IPEX, the decision was relatively straightforward” he continues.

SA Litho’s latest investment doesn’t stop here; over the past 18 months they have installed a Nilpeter FA-4* 10 colour press, a Nilpeter FA-4* 8 colour press and a Heidelberg CX102.

In addition, their newly renovated facility boasts a specialised shrink sleeve department comprising a skilled team who are experts in the shrink market.

Flanking Ipex Machinery’s Samuel van Heerden and Stephen Wood (suppliers of the latest Accraply shrink sleeve production
machinery), are members of the SA Litho team – operations manager, Dawrian Salies, shrink operator, Robert Hendricks, and joint
general managers, Peter Sproul and David White.