Above: Sabine Geldermann (drupa) with the Durst team – Christoph Gamper, Christian Harder, and Thomas Macina
Durst has unveiled the P5 Super Multi Pass (SMP) at the Global Pre-Drupa Press Conference at Messe Düsseldorf.
The Durst Press Conference, held to present new products for Drupa to more than 70 global journalists was conducted by Durst CEO and co-owner, Christoph Gamper, Durst vice president – sales, Christian Harder, and Durst sales director for labels and flexible packaging, Thomas Macina.
The 3.5 metre P5 SMP high volume hybrid production LED UV printer delivers up to 2000 square metres per hour or five million square metres per year.
Sprinter understands that the machine is so new that the chassis for the prototype that will be shown at Drupa in less than two months will only be constructed on Wednesday of this week.
Above: Christian Harder, vice president – sales, Durst
Durst vice president – sales, Christian Harder, could only share an early image of the prototype machine on a Powerpoint slide to the assembled media at the global press conference as high resolution images were not available – only a basic render of the new machine.
Harder told Sprinter that production of the machine is not expected to commence until early-Autumn in Europe which is expected to be around September.
Harder described the P5 SMP as the “pinnacle of efficiency, speed and quality in graphics, displays, corrugated and industrial decoration”.
“We successfully introduced the P5 platform back in 2019 and today we now offer a complete product portfolio comprising hybrid as well as dedicated roll to roll printing with UV printing inks in various widths and various speeds.
Above: The P5 SMP machine is so new – only an early image of the prototype machine was available on a Powerpoint slide
“This year at Drupa, we proudly introduce a further enhancement to the P5 series – the P5 SMP that stands for Super Multi Pass. The Super Multi Pass delivers a new peak in productivity with the versatility of the P5 platform and productivity of up to five million square metres per year or 2,000 square metres per hour.
“This is tailor made for the sign and display and corrugated display printing market. The press will be available in the various levels of automation empowered by our software solutions for further automating the production processes.”
The P5 SMP machine will feature Ricoh Gen 5 printheads, the same print heads used on other Durst P5 printers, but an entirely different printhead configuration is expected to deliver the speed of the new machine.
“So far we haven’t seen any major advantages with the Ricoh Gen 6 printheads, and we have had an extremely good experience with the Gen 5 printheads since 2018 so we have decided not to change print heads at this stage,” Harder said.
The P5 SMP will also feature LED drying and new UV ink formulations.
“With this machine we will be using UV ink since we want to be versatile and also our customers want to print on a wide range of different substrates such as rigid, carton and various banner materials.”
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