A UV print job can fail before a single drop of ink reaches the surface, and the reason is rarely the printer itself. It is what is underneath: glass, bare metal, acrylic, or a plastic bottle — materials that, left untreated, do not want ink to stick at all.
According to PRO TECHnology's digital printing division, the Dubai group distributes and supports Modico, a German manufacturer whose machines combine several pre-treatment technologies in one unit — PRO TECHnology's adhesion guide names flame, Pyrosil and plasma treatment among them — covering ink adhesion, surface activation and material preparation before a UV printer runs a single pass.
Why a surface needs preparing at all
Materials such as glass, bare metal and several plastics have what materials scientists call low surface energy, which is the technical reason ink beads up, peels or wears off quickly rather than bonding. A February 2024 study in the journal Nanomaterials, by researchers including Fleischer and Kelar Tučeková at Masaryk University, found that a few seconds of atmospheric plasma treatment on polymer substrates measurably raised surface energy and improved ink adhesion for UV digital printing, without damaging the material's transparency.
Flame treatment works on a related principle — oxidising the surface to raise its energy — and is described as an industry-standard pre-treatment for printing on glass by Boston Industrial Solutions, an industrial surface-treatment supplier unconnected to PRO TECHnology or Modico; when ink is printed onto untreated glass, the company says, there is a high likelihood that it will not permanently adhere.
What PRO TECHnology distributes
The division's own description breaks the machine down into a short list of what it does and what it covers:
- Flame and Pyrosil treatment oxidises and conditions a surface, the pre-treatment PRO TECHnology lists for glass and coated bottles.
- Plasma treatment activates a surface at lower temperatures, for materials flame treatment would damage.
- Corona treatment offers a third option within the same machine, for substrates where flame or plasma is not the right fit.
- Materials covered: glass, metal, acrylic, wood, leather, ceramics and plastic, per the division's own materials list.
The four-step workflow PRO TECHnology publishes
A detailed guide on PRO TECHnology's own site sets Modico inside a four-step process rather than treating it as a stand-alone fix. First, identify the exact material and check it for any existing coating, paint or lacquer, including a water-drop test on unfamiliar surfaces. Second, clean it — the guide specifically calls for clean nitrile gloves, since finger oil alone can ruin adhesion, wiped with isopropyl alcohol on a lint-free cloth. Third, pre-treat with Modico's flame, Pyrosil or plasma option; the company describes Pyrosil as leaving an invisible, glass-like silicate layer only nanometres thick that ink and primer bond to. Fourth, apply a primer matched to the material — glass, metal or plastic — and respect its flash-off time before printing, since printing onto wet primer is treated as being as bad as skipping primer altogether.
PRO TECHnology frames skipping any of those four steps as the single most common reason a print that looks perfect on day one peels within weeks, and backs the equipment with technician visits, operator training and application testing at its Sun Studio facility in Dubai, according to the same guide.
A real deployment: printing straight onto bottles
PRO TECHnology's digital printing division is not only pre-treatment: it is also the Middle East dealer for LSINC's cylindrical UV printers, the machines that print designs directly onto glass bottles without a label. A published case study describes Saudi water producer Pure Beverages Industry Company adopting the PeriOne printer on PRO TECHnology's recommendation and later adding a second PeriQ360 unit for capacity, using the printers alongside its existing bottling line to produce branded water, sparkling water and limited-run seasonal designs without the lead time a printed label would add. The case study does not name Modico specifically, but it illustrates the kind of production line — glass, running continuously, decorated in-house — that a pre-treatment machine is built to sit inside.
Why this matters for the UAE's printing and packaging sector
Decorated glass and metal — cosmetic bottles, award trophies, retail fixtures, architectural panels — all depend on the same adhesion step. A workshop that sends substrates out for separate surface treatment before it can print adds a supplier to the job; one that pre-treats and prints in the same facility keeps that step in-house. That is the commercial case for buying the pre-treatment stage as equipment rather than as an outsourced service.
Part of a wider printing-equipment portfolio
Modico is one of six machine-manufacturer dealerships PRO TECHnology lists on its digital printing division page, alongside LSINC (cylindrical UV printers for bottles and containers), Direct Color Systems (UV LED flatbed printers), wallPen (direct-to-wall printing), IQDEMY (continuous-belt UV printers) and IMAGO (edible inkjet printers for confectionery) — plus Marabu, the German ink and consumables maker PRO TECHnology also distributes in the region.
The honest limits
PRO TECHnology does not publish pricing, machine throughput or named UAE client installations for Modico, and this article estimates none of them. What is published is the pairing of technologies and the materials list; a buyer's next step is the same as for any industrial equipment purchase — a sample run on the actual substrate before committing to a production order.
Frequently asked questions
What is PRO TECHnology?
PRO TECHnology describes itself on its own about page as founded in Dubai on 4 February 1998 by Jamal H. Maraqa, operating five divisions today — enterprise IT, distribution and retail, digital printing, AI solutions and air quality. The company's own wording calls itself "one of the leading IT companies in the Middle East, delivering cutting-edge technology and solutions across multiple industries" — its own characterization, not an independent ranking.
What does PRO TECHnology do with Modico specifically?
It describes itself as an authorised distributor, reseller and service provider for industrial digital printing, among other divisions, and its digital printing division page lists Modico pre-treatment systems among the equipment it supplies.
Why does a surface need pre-treatment before UV printing?
Because materials including glass, bare metal and many plastics have low surface energy, so ink beads up or peels rather than bonding. Raising that surface energy with flame, Pyrosil or plasma treatment is what allows ink to wet and bond to the material, per the Nanomaterials study and the industrial pre-treatment supplier cited above.
What materials can Modico's machines treat?
PRO TECHnology's own materials list for the digital printing division names glass, metal, acrylic, wood, leather, ceramics and plastic.
Specifications and terms in this article are as published by PRO TECHnology and Modico at the time of writing.
