Gomundang Printing INC (CEO Jang Sun-yoon and Jang Si-young), which started printing in Dalseo-gu, Daegu in 1962, is a leading printing company in Korea that is continuously growing with the aim of becoming a leader in 21C global printing and packaging service solutions. It is one of the few global printing companies in Korea that operates a printing business in Vietnam after China, aiming to grow into a sustainable global company. Gomundang produces packages and labels for global companies such as LG and Samsung, as well as various food, beverage, and tobacco manufacturers. It has various quality certifications such as Single PPM, ISO9001/14001, 6 Sigma activity, and G7 (CMS), and is making great efforts to improve quality management and productivity. Gomundang operates printing plants in three locations in Daegu, Hwaseong, and Asan in Korea, and in Vietnam, especially with a long-term vision, is to build a future-oriented smart factory in Asan, Chungcheongnam-do. Heidelberg-MK is the most important partner in Postpress Packaging in completing this work.
Mr. Lee Chun-gi, director of the Asan plant of Gomundang Printing, said, "Before Heidelberg and MK formed a partnership, we knew the MK company and its products well. This is because MK is one of the best companies in China in Postpress Packaging, and it has been used well since the time when Gomundang was operating a Chinese factory. Since our company knows and trusts the advantages of MK machines, when building a new Postpress Packaging process in Korea, we invested in MK products without hesitation from Heidelberg Korea when they started selling MK machines,” he explained the background of investing MK machines from Heidelberg Korea.
To build a smart factory to produce packages and labels in Asan in 2022, Gomundang Printing installed MK Diana Eye 55, MK Promatrix106 CSB, and MK Duopress106 FF. All of these machines are the first machines in Korea to have fully automatic logistics installed to enable automatic pallet feed and delivery.
The inspector, Diana Eye 55, is a representative MK product that is equipped with two RGB line scan cameras consisting of one light dome and one low-angle light and checks the deviation and consistency of foil, metalized board, hologram, spot vanish effect, print quality and color, The backside camera for inspection for highest requirement. MK is operating their own software program company needed for inspectors, responding quickly to changes in the market and focusing on user convenience. In particular, Gomundang installed special options for inspecting cigarette packages. In addition, this inspection machine is equipped with an auto feeder, lifting device, and viewing table exclusively for cigarettes. The delivery section is characterized by installing a curved conveyor belt so that workers can easily remove defective products.
Promatrix 106 CSB, die-cutter is a professional die-cutter model with stripping and blanking functions to maintain the high quality of demanding packages, with a maximum speed of 7,500 sheets/h and a cutting pressure of 260t. In particular, the Promatrix 106 CSB supplied to Gomundang has a logistic system that automatically supplies and discharges pallets to the feed and delivery sections combined with automatic non-stop pile exchange that can minimize workers' labor.
In the field of packaging of cosmetics, food, and tobacco, there is a very high demand for foil stamping processes, and gold foil work is one of the essential tasks. The Duopress 106 FF, installed in Gomundang as the first Duopress in Korea, is a hot foil stamping machine and designed to produce accurate registration when stamping foil and embossing at once. The 20 independently controlled heating zones concentrate energy and keep temperatures individually and stably at the most important points, providing the best results even if you do complex tasks. Set up and monitor 20 heating zones is done at the control station. Software for foil feed systems developed by MK Masterwork can calculate complex foil usage, minimizing the use of foil to save cost. The foil tension is adjusted by a servo drive motor, and the waste foil can be easily treated by applying a foil rewinder. In the case of the Duopress 106FF supplied this time, it is a model that can perform two hot foil operations in one path or hot foil stamping and die-cutting at the same time. Therefore, it can have various effects at once and can perform high-quality foil operations, resulting in excellent effects with high productivity. The machine is also designed to enable fully automatic logistics, and like other MK equipment, it is certified by GS European Safety, ensuring excellent stability is guaranteed.
Gomundang Printing is currently working with MK to push for another project. Gomundang Printing continues to strive to increase its market share in packaging sector through future-oriented investments, especially to expand its tobacco package business. In this regard, it is expected that the developmental partnership between Gomundang and MK will continue.
"MK has excellent technology in the postpress field of packages and I think it will be highly evaluated in Korea," said Lee Chun-gi, director of Gomundang. "I believe that if Heidelberg provides the application know-how for users to handle a variety of jobs, Korean printing companies will like MK machines as much as we do," he said.
