Digital printing moves to the mainstream at drupa

Epson SurePress X concept label press at drupa

So, the greatest print show on earth is over. Many digital suppliers showed off technology aimed at labels and packaging, real alternatives to flexo that will come onto the market in the next few years. These are changing the economics of production, while providing quality improvements and helping converters provide better service to customers. By Sean Smyth.

It was Benny Landa and his new digital nanographic printing that grabbed most headlines. The technology uses nanometre scale pigments where light absorption properties are greatly improved, giving intense colours from very thin films. At 500 nm, the ink is thinner than flexo, and Landa said the colour gamut will allow accurate reproduction of most Pantone colours. Water-based inks are jetted onto a fast moving belt from modified inkjet heads that the company calls ‘ejectors’. Belt temperature is 120°C, with hot air evaporating the water to leave a plasticised film of tacky, melted ink that transfers to the substrate surface, forming a tough dry film. There is very little penetration of colourant into the body of paper, the transfer is fast with little thermal shock so even thermally sensitive thin films can be printed without distortion. 

Six presses were shown, including three web versions. The W5 is for labels and flexibles at 560 mm width and the W10 prints 1020 mm wide for flexibles. These are four to eight colour simplex presses and will be reel-to-reel versions, with the W5 having optional inline finishing connectivity. They will print onto standard label and packaging stocks at 100 or 200 m/min. An opaque white is under development, this will not be nanographic as grinding titanium dioxide pigments leads to transparency.

The presses are not yet available and Landa suggested it will be another 12 to 18 months as the developments are completed to ‘make it perfect when it is released’.  No samples were released and there are quality issues – noticeable artefacts can be seen. The company is in discussion with several flexo press manufacturers to licence the technology but no formal announcements have been made yet. Benny Landa promised that nanography will soon be mainstream in packaging, and said there are many letters of intent (with a deposit) to purchase presses. 

New presses

HP is the market leader in digital presses for labels and packaging with the WS6600 the highest selling narrow web press of any type in the last year. At drupa, the inline priming unit capability was extended to cover films and foils. The big news at the show was the larger, more productive presses, including the 736 mm wide Indigo 20000 web press aimed at flexible packaging. This is a step change from the 316 mm on the WS6600 and will open many more products, bags and pouches together with reels. It will not be released until the end of next year as HP finalises the technology and ensures the necessary support for the product to work well in the field.

The other toner based system in labels and flexibles is Xeikon. It claims good accordance with food contact regulations, the wider 3050 and 3500 offering 508 mm print widths, the widest digital print currently on the market. At the show, the company launched the 3030Plus, the fifth model in its 3000 series. Featuring a top speed of 15 m/min, it offers entry-level printing technology with 50% more productivity versus competitive offerings in its class.

‘The Xeikon 3030Plus offers label printers an attractive entry-level investment into high quality digital label printing, with the additional benefit of higher speed,’ said Filip Weymans, director – segment marketing and business development, labels and packaging. ‘It is the perfect choice for customers who only need a press with 330 mm web width, but really want the extra speed for improved productivity.’

The company also showed the new Trillium (formerly known as Quantum) technology, a high viscosity toner promising inkjet speed and cost with toner quality. No date for launch has been set, but it will be for document printing, with packaging coming on board later, because the substrates in use need further development. 

A few miles away from the show, Océ unveiled its new liquid toner technology in the InfintiStream prototype. This is a webfed simplex press with seven colour stations and a top speed of 120 m/min and an imaging width of 711 mm, aimed at cartons but may find a niche in flexible packaging when it is launched next year.

Other label solutions

There were many other digital label solutions at the show, with exhibitors reporting high interest from visitors. EFI sold several Jetrion 4900 integrated label systems to the Czech Republic, Mexico, India and the UK. Ease of use was particularly advantageous, attracting companies outside existing label converters into the market. INX Digital showed the Systec, combining seven inkjet colours with integral laser die-cutting finishing in a compact unit.

Heidelberg’s Linoprint L inkjet unit attracted the crowds. The maximum width is 420 mm from a compact, very well engineered reel-to-reel unit. The company provided comparative cost information showing the print cost per square metre for a variety of designs.

Durst reported that the 330 mm wide Tau 330 is attracting more interest than narrower models. FFEI is selling the process colour Caslon as a standalone, with optional spot colour or white units. Stork Prints had the modular DSI press with 10 potential print stations while Focus Label Machinery had a busy stand where it launched the d-Flex print system alongside its label converting equipment. This is a four colour UV inkjet module from Industrial Inkjet Ltd that uses Konica Minolta piezo heads at speeds of up to 50 m/min, with three options from 142 to 330 mm wide. Domino said the N600i is completing the beta testing programme and is now taking orders. It showed some very high quality prints with very good metallic simulation.   

Opaque whites

Epson has added opaque white to the SurePress L-4033A label machine and launched the L-4033AW. This is not a single pass, instead stock is advanced onto a bed and printed by traversing head, resolution and print speed determined by the number of passes. Opaque white can be laid down as a base, top or a sandwich for two-sided clear applications. The output is very high quality and does not show the typical thick film of a UV ink. Epson also showed a prototype of a new single pass design, the Surepress X using UV inks, and initial samples looked very good. 

Screen showed a narrow web inkjet machine, the Truepress Jet L350UV, to gauge the reaction from customers. It will be shown again at Labelexpo in Chicago in September, and the company will then decide how to launch it. Interestingly, this uses Kyocera heads and UV inks, unlike Screen’s sheetfed and web inkjet machines.

Water-based inks are also used in Memjet technology, although the company is exploring UV alternatives and opaque white. It signed up new partners with a label press from ColorDyne joining the Rapid Machinery machines. The CDT-1600 series can be configured with inline finishing system from AzTech Converting Systems.

Chinese company, Founder Electronics, showed the Eagle Jet 1400, another UV narrow web machine. It reported many installations in China and has plans for exporting the machines. 

drupa proved ever more that the transition from analogue to digital technology is continuing. The pace of change is accelerating as new print methods come on to the market firmly aimed at the mainstream. This includes even fast, wide flexo, and it will be here sooner than you think.

One flexo house that is embracing digital is Shere Print, a division of Ultimate Packaging, based in Grimsby. This fast growing, family owned manufacturing company concentrates on flexible packaging for fresh and chilled foods. It is planning to grow its £37 million turnover to £50 million over the next 18 months. It currently uses five 1.3 metre wide flexo presses from Fischer & Krecke and Windmöller & Hölscher, making very high quality bags and reels in near cleanroom conditions, running continuously for 363 days per year. At drupa, the company bought a Bobst F&K 20SIX press and also signed up for the first HP Indigo 20000 flexible packaging machine that should be installed as a beta test toward the end of next year. Not bad for a new entrant to the digital world.

We talked with managing director, Nigel Tonge, and sales director, Chris Tonge. The newly formed packaging company has invested in digital technology and bought the HP Indigo WS6600 press with off line ABG Digicon finishing. The press was being installed during the show and it will be used solely for flexible packaging.

There is no chance of the company converting existing flexo work to digital as the 319 mm maximum print width will only accommodate some lidding work that is currently produced. Chris Tonge smiled as he said, ‘We don’t want to cannibalise existing markets, so we will develop new services for existing customers as we learn about the intricacies of digital production.’

The company is confident of moving forward, printing onto BOPP, PE, CPP and a range of laminates. Initially it will work to match the quality level of the existing flexo presses, then push the digital quality forward. It will be a consultative sale process, involving the full range of design and production as it develops the concept of ‘instant flexible packaging’. Variable data will develop from simple coding and marking. There is pull from existing customers and the company is looking forward to developing its business model to take advantage of the technologies in use.

Nigel Tonge said he expects that the output will be 20% digital in five years’ time (by value) and this will be more profitable than the current production. ‘We are genuinely excited by this development, and taking advantage of the new opportunities will help us develop the business,’ he commented. The wider Indigo 20000 will accommodate some 95% of the current product range and there will be direct competition with flexo then.

This impressive company is worth keeping an eye on as it is not following the traditional route of simply converting short runs to a more economic production method, rather it is looking to provide better levels of service to customers, and explore new features and functions.