Robert Rae · Managing Director · GEW · LabelExpo Barcelona 2025

Wayne Beckett from Inkish interviews Robert Rae, Managing Director of GEW, at LabelExpo 2025 in Barcelona. Robert shares that the show has been incredibly busy, with GEW’s stand packed and orders already being placed. He explains that GEW is a global company turning over about £65 million annually, employing 160 people, and operating three factories in the United Kingdom. Their UV curing systems are installed in over 70 countries, with more than 100,000 UV lamps running worldwide, supported by 40 distributors who handle service and spare parts.

While 60–70% of GEW’s business comes from OEM partnerships with leading press manufacturers—including Nilpeter—the other 30–40% is direct with end users, particularly for retrofitting older machines. The big focus at LabelExpo is GEW’s ArcLED technology, which allows users to easily switch from mercury-based UV lamps to energy-efficient LED curing. Robert explains that switching to LED delivers many benefits: 50–70% lower energy consumption, reduced CO₂ emissions, lower web temperatures, improved registration, no ozone extraction, lower maintenance, and more consistent process control.

He notes that every GEW system made since 2015 using their Rhino or RLT power supplies is LED-ready. Retrofitting involves simply swapping the mercury cassette for an LED cassette and doing a quick software update, which can convert a press to LED in just one to two hours. The return on investment is typically under two years thanks to energy savings and efficiency gains, and customers can still switch back to mercury instantly if needed.

Discussing the United States market, Robert says recent tariffs and currency fluctuations have created some uncertainty and dampened customer confidence. Still, GEW continues manufacturing in the UK and is working closely with partners to minimize the impact on customers. He concludes by noting that with LED now making up about half of GEW’s production—and over 3,000 LED modules built for the narrow web market last year—the shift to LED has become a clear industry standard.