The manroland 700 – the first of its kind in Australia – went into the packaging company’s site in the Sydney suburb of Richmond late last year.
The manroland R707 LV HiPrint’s raft of added extras include InlineFoiler Prindor, inline sheet inspection and sorting, closed-loop colour control, and a pallet-handling system.
Guests from numerous print and packaging companies joined a host of manroland staff to launch the seven-colour press.
Manroland Australasia managing director Steve Dunwell said: “Hannapak is no stranger to being industry leaders. They installed the first manroland 700 press in Australia in 1993… and now they are the first with InlineFoiler Prindor.”
“The growth of Hannapak is testament to the advantage Hannapak has gained through its use of technology,” added Dunwell.
Dr Markus Rall, member of the manroland executive board, praised the “better mood here in Australia” compared with the tough economic climate in Europe, as well as praising the press’s inline capabilities.
Rall, who had flown in from Germany for the event, said: “This is not just a foiling process. It’s more like a printing process. It can’t be compared to something that’s been done before – it’s revolutionary.”
Manroland international consultant Tony Kenney, who led a demonstration of the press, explained how the high-end extras on the 700, such as inline sheet inspection and colour control, had migrated from web printing technology.
Kenney said he had first seen this “tremendous transfer of web technology moving to sheetfed” as an R&D project in 1995.
“When I first saw it, I wanted to call it a foiler. But it’s not a foiler – it’s a brand-new process,” he said.
He said applications extended beyond packaging and could include creative magazine covers, commercial print, and direct mail.
“The limitations with this foiler is in the imagination of the creative designer,” he said.
Comment below to have your say on this story.
If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.
Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter