Raising the Bar in Cold Foil Technology – Oftentimes, the products that grab a consumer’s attention in grocery and retail stores have eye-popping graphics that incorporate hot or cold foil. The design requires highly specialized equipment that only a handful of suppliers offer. One such company is Eagle Systems. Mike King, who is known to many of his customers as “The Foil Expert,” founded Eagle Systems 25 years ago. Initially, he engineered and designed hot foil stamping modules for retrofitting diecutters. There are more 400 systems installed around the world.
King became interested in the concept of cold foil about nine years ago when one of his customers, Multi Packaging Solutions (MPS), asked him for assistance. MPS is considered a pioneer in cold foil applications for packaging. King remembers the phone call from John Cote, MPS Vice President of Innovation and Manufacturing Technology. “He had an older cold foil system and
needed service on it because the company that built it had gone out of business. I said, ‘John, I have no idea about cold foil,’ but he said, ‘Mike, you know foil. I need you to come here and fix this machine.’”
King agreed to look at the system, which was installed on a MPS press in Indiana. “I repaired it and got it to work, but then I realized I could build my own better system,” he says. Today, Eagle Systems has 28 cold foil units installed worldwide. MPS has two. One is installed on a KBA 10- color press in Indianapolis, Indiana, and the second is on a Komori eight-color in Dallas,Texas.
