Enhancing value: innovative print and packaging solutions from Valence Electrons

With domain knowledge in the print and packaging field built over 35 years, A.T.E. is known as a reliable source for quality products. Valence Electrons, a business unit of the A.T.E. Group, has developed customised solutions for demanding and complex printing and converting applications.

Headquartered in Bengaluru, India, Valence provides world class solutions for managing static electricity, ink handling, surface cleaning, and heat recovery in various industrial applications. It is involved in design, manufacturing, marketing, sales and support of various products and serves customers across the world with innovative products and solutions.

Valence’s primary areas of focus are:

Electrostatic solutions: Static electricity can cause problems in many industrial applications such as shocks to operators, dust or dirt accumulation, reduced productivity, and even fire hazards. During the production run, such static charges need to be neutralised. Valence offers static charge eliminators for effective static charge removal.

In gravure printing and coating machines, in particular, high levels of electrostatic charges are formed on the plastic film and paper. These electrostatic charges can cause sparks that are potentially hazardous. The only way to remove these static charges is through a process of ionisation. Since ionisation requires a high voltage for operation, these active static eliminators need to be certified for use in the solvent vapour-laden environment of a rotogravure printing or coating station. Valence’s Valstat VR20X static eliminating bars are designed to efficiently neutralise electrostatic charges from fast-moving plastic films in explosion-prone environments. Valence is the first Indian manufacturing company to offer ATEX-certified static charge eliminating bars.

Ink-handling and conditioning systems: Valence offers pumps, filters and ink tanks for efficient ink circulation and ink temperature stabilisers (ITS) for ink conditioning. The ITS cools the ink to ensure that ink temperature is maintained at optimum levels during the production run. This reduces evaporative or fugitive loss of solvents, improves ink transfer and reduces solvent odour on the shop floor.

Waste heat recovery: Rotogravure printing, coating/laminating and extrusion coating machines use large amounts of heat. Valence’s Lamiflow is a waste heat recovery system that recovers heat from the exhaust stream and uses this heat for preheating the air used in the process, resulting in energy saving.

Surface cleaning: Valence provides solutions for the removal of surface contaminants like dust and lint from various substrates like paper, film and foil.

Ashok Sethuram, Director, Valence Electrons said, “Our presence in this market for over three decades has helped to build a close and constant connect with the OEMs and end users. It enables us to better understand customer requirements. This learning in turn has given an impetus to our product development efforts. We have a strong hardware and software development team working closely with application specialists, who ensure that a ‘close fit’ solution is found for field issues. We are proud to say that all our products are not only manufactured but also designed in India, ensuring high quality import substitutes at affordable costs. Also, our pan-India after-sales service team provides prompt service. Needless to say, we work towards continual development and are an ISO 9001:2015 certified organisation.”

The print and packaging industry in India has started to mature, and needs more thoughtful and sophisticated engineering to compete effectively at a global level. In addition, safety, health and environment concerns are getting more and more important.

Valence Electrons’ is committed to providing innovative, customer-driven, and cost-effective solutions to the Indian print and packaging industry.