Munsung Printing Services Co. was created in 1982 by Namgoong Gyun. The company, based in Seoul in South Korea, is known for its sheetfed offset work and high-end book printing. It is also a significant producer of brochures and catalogues.
In this short customer interview Marcus Greenbrook, GEW’s Director of International Sales, speaks to Namgoong about the company’s journey into UV LED printing, which began with the LED curing system retrofit that took place in June 2022.
Marcus Greenbrook (MG): Please describe your role in the company and your company’s activities.
Namgoong Gyun (NG): “I started the company in December 1982 and, to this day, I continue to run it with the help of a small but dedicated team.
In essence, we are a high-end book printing company that primarily uses sheetfed printing processes. However, we also supplement this by printing a wide range of commercial goods, such as brochures and catalogues, as well as photo-books and much more. We’re known for our product quality within the market. This reputation has been further enhanced since our UV LED installation in June 2022.”
MG: How long has your GEW system been installed?
NG: “The installation took place in June 2022, following the contract signing in November 2021. The installation consists of one LED lamphead in the interdeck, on a 5-colour RMGT 940.
However, the LED lamp is moveable between stations 2 and 4, which gives us great flexibility when we are switching from one type of job to the next.
In the delivery we have an old Panasonic LED system.”
MG: What benefits has the GEW system brought to your business?
NG: “One of our main goals in buying this system was to remove oil-based inks. We found these had many bad points, including ink-stain, and they took a really long time to dry. The issue with the long time to dry isn’t just the slow turnaround of product… which is something we were concerned with as it can present issues for our customers… but it’s also an issue of colour matching. We found we were regularly needing to wait for the ink to dry, which was leading to colour density issues. The products and their images were less clear and less sharp once the ink had dried, than they had appeared when they first came off the press.
Thankfully, these issues have completely disappeared with LED.”
MG: What can you do now, that you could not do before you had the GEW UV system?
NG: “With the original LED lamphead in the delivery, the ink was not 100% instantly cured. Introducing the GEW interstation lamp has greatly improved the UV dose, which has resolved this issue and has also solved the colour matching issue.
As we also don’t have to wait for the ink to cure anymore, the finishing process is much quicker and we have been able to take on more business. The ability to turn around product leads to happier customers, particularly when this is married with a sharper, more vibrant product.”
MG: What would you say to anyone considering purchasing a GEW system?
NG: “When looking at a new press, I would highly recommend that it is specified with a UV LED system from day one. I know that GEW is the de facto UV LED provider on new RMGT presses, so anyone buying new machinery can benefit from their depth of experience with UV LED generally.
However, for those buying used machinery, I would recommend that they specify this with LED to get the benefits from the outset. This also means businesses don’t have to do a retrofit later.
Saying that, for anyone who doesn’t currently have LED on their offset press, I would recommend a retrofit sooner rather than later, as the benefits are vast.”
MG: Describe your overall experience with the GEW team
NG: “We were very impressed with the information and communication from GEW throughout the process, from when we were first visited in November 2021, through to the supply of the system.
The supply was extremely quick and the collaboration between GEW and RMGT was very good, which meant that when the system and parts arrived from GEW to fit onto the press, the installation went very smoothly and professionally. The GEW engineer ensured the whole installation was carried out with minimal press downtime.”
MG: Are there any other points that you would like to add?
NG: “Following the installation, I have seen that the technology in UV LED has moved on a great deal from the original system that we currently have in the machine delivery. This means the newer system delivers more power and with less energy used.
As a final note, the other benefit of the system is that the heat output is reduced onto the material, with the GEW system. This means less wasted material on reprints for us, which certainly helps us financially!”
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Learn more about how GEW UV systems support sheetfed offset applications here.
Alternatively you can find out more about LeoLED Standard, GEW’s compact LED lamp designed specifically for sheetfed offset presses, here.