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Meech International was presented with its 2012 Queens Award for Enterprise: International Trade by Mr Tim Stevenson OBE, Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, on Tuesday this week.

Also in attendance were Mr William Alden, the High Sheriff of Oxfordshire; Mr Derek Cotterill, the Chairman of the West Oxfordshire District Council; Mr Ian Hudspeth, the Leader of the Oxfordshire Council and Mr Harry Eaglestone, the Mayor of Witney.

The presentation coincided with Meech’s annual International Sales Meeting which allowed key company representatives from around the world to share in the celebrations firsthand, fitting for receipt of an award in International Trade.

“Meech should keep an annual slot in its calendar for a Queens Awards celebration,” Mr Tim Stevenson declared in his speech, “Having won an award twice in three years it would be a triumph to win three awards for the county of Oxfordshire.”

“We are delighted to have been presented with our second Queens Award,” confirmed Chris Francis, Managing Director at Meech. “All successful businesses depend on just a few things: people, creativity and longevity, and Meech has some of the best staff we could wish for. It is down to you that we have accomplished this achievement yet again.”

Meech, which is based in Witney, Oxfordshire, was granted the award for a second time for its ‘outstanding achievement in export sales, having continued to grow the business as a whole since 2008, with overall growth in overseas sales reported of 63%’.This success is driven by a strategy that focuses sales activity into geographic areas and market segments where the company’s products can be differentiated over those of competitors, and where the company can identify and build relationships with customers.

Meech International has further expanded its trusted static product range in the form of three new static elimination bars. Being unveiled for the first time at this year’s Labelexpo Americas is the first in the family – the Hyperion 971 - ideal for use in labelling, packaging and converting applications. Two further bars are set for release over the next few months.

“The decision to update our range of static elimination equipment is a direct result of customer feedback,” explains Business Unit Director for static control, David Rogers. He continues, “We pride ourselves on being flexible and having the capacity to respond rapidly to change. We are confident that these three new static bars will answer our customers’ needs by providing excellent static elimination in some of our most critical sectors.”

“A lot of the companies that employ our equipment work in dusty environments.” continues David, “The airborne contaminants build up on ionising bars and cause a drop in performance. The bars need to be designed to minimise the effects of the contamination and to help reduce the amount of cleaning required. In line with this principle, Meech have developed the Hyperion 971.”

Featuring the existing, reliable, pulsed DC technology used by the popular 976 bar, the 971 has an improved design that is more resilient to the build-up of contamination which naturally occurs during use, and therefore allows for easier cleaning. Like previous designs, the emitters can be removed for offline cleaning or can be replaced individually, without the need to substitute the whole bar. However, David assures that this is not the exclusive new feature of the static bar: “We’ve also integrated and improved the compressed air-boost system, which permits better long range performance in particularly difficult applications.”

Whilst providing very powerful ionisation performance, the 971 static bar has shockless emitters, which make it safe for operators to handle. Available in a choice of lengths of up to 4m, the bar operates up to 15KV as standard and provides highly effective long range ionisation typically from distances of 200 to 1000mm.

Meech International is using Labelexpo Americas as a launching pad for the latest addition to its range of web-cleaning products. The fourth in a comprehensive series of products, the CyClean™ is a compact, non-contact system with a clam shell design that is ideal for coating, labelling and laminating applications, and therefore further cements Meech’s position as one of the most versatile suppliers of web cleaning technologies.

“After extensive research into the market and recognising customers’ demands, we decided to design a web cleaner for our range that was based on a brand new technology”, says Business Unit Director for Cleaning Systems, Adam Battrick. “To my knowledge, no other web-cleaning company uses four different technologies for their systems, making us unique in this respect.”

Designed in response to increased demand for high quality applications, the CyClean™ technology is based on fundamental aerodynamic and fluid dynamic principles. Combined, these deliver a very high cleaning level while requiring practically no maintenance.

“We worked closely with a third party specialist to ascertain that the air flow performance was at optimum levels in the product’s design,” comments Adam. “We are confident that the CyClean™ will offer end users the best cleaning experience for a web cleaner of its type.”

A double-sided blow and vacuum-based web cleaning system which flows contaminants into an inline filter unit, the CyClean is Meech’s first non-contact system designed especially for the narrow web industry and is suitable for both single and double-sided cleaning.

The new web-cleaner is composed of a cleaning manifold, 4x active static control AC bars and an Air Handling Unit (AHU). The AHU, which improves air flow efficiency and allows easy removal and collection of contaminants, also features an F8 grade washable “labyrinth” filter, which reduces the chances of premature blockage in the airflow system.

With specially designed slotted air chambers that direct a constant stream of air on both sides to maximise cleaning efficiency, the CyClean™ can remove 0.5 micron and with a small footprint that enables fitting into confined spaces, the need to extend the web path is completely eliminated.

The presence of ionising bars on entry and exit sides provide integrated static control and guarantee a thorough, long-lasting cleaning process. The bars neutralise all static charges on the web and ensure easy breakdown of the bonds holding contaminants to the web, whilst the risk of re-attracting contaminants to the cleaned web surfaces is also significantly reduced.