GEW founders Gillian and Malcolm Rae with Malcolm’s Global Achievement Award.

UK manufacturer reports record number of stand visitors

UV curing systems manufacturer GEW has highlighted an ‘exceptionally successful’ Labelexpo Europe, following the return of the exhibition after a four year interval. The company presented its full product range at the show, with a focus on its air-cooled UV LED system AeroLED, launched in 2022.

Robert Rae, GEW’s Managing Director of Sales, comments: “It was fantastic to return for the first time since 2019. The exhibition was exceptional for GEW, with a record number of visitors to our stand, and a very healthy order book to show for it. We displayed our full product range but UV LED was top of the agenda for most of our visitors.”

On-press presentations demonstrate impressive energy savings

GEW staged a series of on-press presentations at the exhibition, which demonstrated the substantial energy and cost savings that can be expected when upgrading the curing technology on a press, from conventional UV Arc to UV LED.

The presentations took place at the Mark Andy and Omet stands over the course of the four day show, and proved to be very popular. Many visitors were surprised by the impressive energy savings that were validated and displayed on large screens during each presentation… across the board, savings of over 70% were achieved in every case, when switching from Arc to LED.

Rae adds: “Our air-cooled AeroLED UV curing system was the subject of particular interest, and our ability to demonstrate this technology in action, live on OEM presses at the show, meant that we could clearly demonstrate the huge energy and cost savings that printers can expect with a switch to UV LED. We measured and published our energy consumption live, and were able to repeatedly demonstrate a 75% saving when compared to conventional UV arc technology.”

Over 150 GEW lamps in use across Labelexpo

GEW systems were the default choice UV for many flexo press manufacturers at Labelexpo, with the company’s equipment in use on machinery at ABG, Bobst, Gallus, Grafotronic, Lombardi, Mark Andy, Multitec, Nilpeter and Omet, among others.

GEW systems were ubiquitous, with over 150 lamps in use across many flexo manufacturers.

Marcus Greenbrook, International Sales Director at GEW, remarks on this: “Each time I visit these exhibitions I am proud, but not surprised, to see that GEW systems are so widely chosen by so many manufacturers. There is no better recommendation we could ask for, and this omnipresence must also speak volumes to the show’s visitors.”

Press conference highlights ambitious sustainability drive

GEW also presented a joint Press Conference with the All4Labels Group, at Labelexpo. The conference highlighted the remarkable sustainability drive that has been embarked upon by All4Labels, with the upgrade of around 70 of its presses to GEW’s UV LED technology, across 12 sites in Europe and the UK. Under this program, over 600 UV lampheads are being installed and around 90% of the upgrades will involve GEW’s energy-saving air-cooled UV LED system, AeroLED. The entire installation program is due for completion within 2023.

The press conference was presented by Andy Thomas-Emans of Labels & Labeling, and included an absorbing Q & A session with All4Labels’ Severin Much, who has been instrumental in the implementation of the UV LED upgrade program. These Q & As will be published by GEW soon.

Malcolm Rae honoured with 2023 Global Achievement Award

To add to these successes, Malcolm Rae, founder of GEW, was presented with the 2023 Global Achievement Award at the Label Industry Global Awards on the first evening of Labelexpo. The award is the most prestigious accolade and recognises ‘an individual who has made a key contribution to the promotion and growth of the label industry and has been a high-profile industry influencer and motivator’.

Robert Rae comments: “To see my father being honoured with the Global Achievement Award completed the set and made this year’s Labelexpo the perfect end to the Brussels era. We now look forward to Barcelona in 2025.”