Offset packaging

GOSS SUNDAY VPAK

GOSS SUNDAY VPAK

It is a web press designed for packaging, and Goss says its Sunday Vpak technology makes it easier and more cost effective for printers to excel in short-run applications, and to exceed the increasingly high quality demands of the packaging sector.

The machine for folding cartons, flexible packaging, pre-print and labels, includes quick-change sleeve adapter technology, advanced offset inking, tension management and control systems.

Specialised Goss Sunday Vpak systems are designed from the ground up to allow flexible packaging, folding carton, pre-print and label producers to achieve the high productivity, print quality, efficient process automation and short-run agility advantages by the latest advances in web offset technology.

Quick-change sleeve adapter technology allows infinitely variable repeat settings within the design range of each press model, making it according to Goss fast and simple to match the cylinder circumference to the repeat length for each specific job. Force loaded cylinders extend the versatility, accommodating a wide range of substrates and calipers ranging from lightweight films and foils to heavy gauge carton board and liquid packaging.

Standard web widths are 850mm 0r 1051mm, on the press that runs at a maximum speed of 365 metres a minute. Print speeds are up to 457 mpm, with web widths from 520mm to 1905mm. It has quick-change cylinder sleeve adapters for variable repeat, and uses the gapless Sunday press blankets, and bearerless force loaded cylinders.

The high-quality extended ink and dampening train comes with four form rolls, three ink form rolls, and one independent dampener roll. There are independent servo drives, Duotrol continuous film dampening, automated Goss Omnicon controls, a nested plate option to optimise substrate use, and a White Light sleeve layer to reduce size-change cost.

Goss says its Vpak presses are the widest and most productive web offset packaging option around, at up to 1905mm, and with an ‘infinitely variable’ repeat range. The machines also feature Goss patented gapless blankets, quick-change plate and blanket sleeves and a new specially designed ink train. It will print on substrates, from 36 gauge film up to 30 point board.

 

HEIDELBERG SPEEDMASTER 106XL

The so called peak performance B1 press from Heidelberg will pump out 18,000 sheets an hour in both straight and perfecting modes, in 0.03-1mm thickness (0.8mm perfecting), with those sheets at a maximum 750x1060mm. Printing up to 1000 micron and UV coating that stock is entirely possible.

Thanks to the larger 75 x 106 cm sheet format, the maximum print format of 74 x 105 cm can now be used in its entirety, which means a larger punching margin for packaging printers and more repeats per sheet for web-to-print gang forms.

The Speedmaster XL 106 achieves new dimensions in productivity thanks to straightforward operation and the interplay between preset functions, ink presettings, simultaneous plate changing with AutoPlate XL, and Prinect Inpress Control. All this makes the press another 20 to 30 percent more productive than the Speedmaster XL 105. Depending on the particular job structure, it can produce between 60 and 80 million sheets a year and change between 90,000 and 100,000 printing plates a year on an eight-colour press.

The press has extensive automation. It can come with Prinect Press Center XL2, including wallscreen XL (a 54in, 4K status display screen), interactive pad and intuitive multi-view interface. It also has the latest Inpress Control 2, Autoplate Pro and Pressroom Manager software.

Heidelberg offers conventional high-energy UV curing, low-energy (LE) or LED-UV. LE has cool running and the low replacement cost of the lamps. Some printers also find that metallics and other special inks work better with LE than LED.

Inpress Control will deliever savings on makeready, from 500-plus sheets to 100 to 250. Heidelberg’s push-to-stop concept means you do not have to stop the machine at all. You program it, put the plates on, read the profiles, format it if needed, and then it will start. The only reason you stop is sometimes you have to check the register, depending on what you are printing.

Heidelberg says its Push to Stop concept means that for the first time in the history of offset printing, you can now change jobs fully automated – from the last to the first good sheet, right up to the start of production. The job-oriented Intellistart 2 assistance system delivers efficient job preparation and automatic generation of time-optimised job change.

 

KBA RAPIDA 106

With printing speeds up to 20,000 sheets/h (18,000 sheets/h in perfecting mode), KBA says the Rapida 106 is the most productive sheetfed offset press for medium formats. And with its substrate flexibility from lightweight papers to heavy board, from plastic films to corrugated substrates, the performance capabilities are versatile.

KBA says the press has practically infinite configuration possibilities with up to 19 printing and finishing units. Single and multiple coatings, intermediate drying, numbering, perforating, cold foil application with various levels of automation, printing units after coating – the variations are endless.

It is a similar story with regard to finishing technologies: energy-saving VariDry dryers, HR-UV, or KBA’s own VariDry LED-UV technologies are already common features, also for 4-over-4 perfecting applications.

KBA says the fast-reacting measuring and control systems ensure constantly high print quality and a bare minimum of waste. Highlights are inline quality inspection with QualiTronic Professional, inline PDF comparisons with QualiTronic PDF and colour control based on grey balance with QualiTronic Instrument Flight.

With DriveTronic SPC, you can change all the plates on the press simultaneously. And as the changes are performed parallel to other make-ready processes, the contribution to make-ready time is effectively zero. Flying Job Change realises job changeovers practically without interruption. It is especially recommended where short runs prevail. DriveTronic PlateIdent detects and identifies the plates as they are mounted on the press and adjusts the register already before the first sheet is printed.

Gentle, air-cushioned sheet transport, automatically convertible perfecting units with special sheet guiding provisions for the freshly printed reverse, pre-set capabilities – everything has been taken care of. The disengaging of unused inking units reduces roller wear, a print clean function strips the remaining ink from the plate and blanket at the end of a job, and the ErgoTronic console with wallscreen leaves no wish unanswered for the operator.

The parallel functions of the CleanTronic multi-purpose washing systems for blankets, impression cylinders and rollers make for additional time gains. CleanTronic Multi is ideal for mixed operation with alternating ink systems, and CleanTronic UV eliminates waiting times before and after cylinder washing in UV production.

The production management system LogoTronic Professional integrates the Rapida 106 into a local print company Network.

 

KOMORI LITHRONE G37

Komori announced an expansion of its Lithrone G37 37-inch offset printing press lineup as a strategy for the package printing market, it offers the same quality and print on demand capability as the Lithrone G40, yet reduces the cost of plates, paper and waste.

According to local distributor Print & Pack the Lithrone G37, the compact press that can produce A1-size products, is the epitome of cutting-edge technologies. Having been shown at international exhibitions such as drupa 2016 in Düsseldorf, Germany, and China Print 2017 in Beijing, China, it has gained popularity in expanding the sales performance of print businesses.

The Lithrone G37 addresses market demands by handling paper thicknesses of 0.8 mm, and is available in 6 or 7 colours with in-line coater configurations for high added value work required for package printing. Further, the H-UV / H-UV L (LED) innovative curing system, PQA-S (Print Quality Assessment System for Sheetfed), PDF Comparator System and PDC (Print Density Control System) series can also be specified. The 15,000 (13,000 on 7-color machines) sheets per hour maximum printing speed and stable operation afforded by these systems make the press an advanced package printing system that enables stable quality and prevents printing problems.

Komori says the space saving and optimised cost-performance strategic machine for the package printing market will contribute to greater customer income.

It is available in two to seven unit configurations, and prints at 15,000sph.

Maximum sheet size is 640x940mm with maximum print area 620x930mm, on a sheet between 0.04mm and 0.6mm, with an option to take it up to 0.8mm. A G837P will be shown at Igas in July.

The press has the KHS-AI integrated control system for quick print start-up. This enables the press to meet the requirements in the publishing and commercial printing sectors, from short turnarounds, diverse printed products and short runs. Colour management can be implemented by including a CMS colour bar on sheets even with 8-up A4 impositions, while total flexibility in layout criteria such as bindery register marks and on-press proofing are further benefits.

 

 ROLAND 700 EVOLUTION ULTIMA

Manroland says it is giving packaging and commercial printers alike, more firepower with their latest incarnation of the Roland 700, the new Roland 700 Evolution Ultima.

Largely unnaffected by the ravages that other sectors of the market have been subjected to, high-end packaging and commercial printers have protected their margins by adding more and more value to their print runs.

Manroland has recognised this and developed the Ultima in response to the changing market demands printers are facing, whether it be higher quality requirements, increased complexity, shorter runs or reduced lead times.

Ultima is aimed at handling all the various coating, printing and foiling processes on high-end packaging and commercial print runs in a single – and more profitable – pass

One-pass production, a buzzword for many high-end commercial and packaging printers, is the predominant theme of the Ultima.

Manroland describes Ultima as ‘a press with one or more inline coater or special finishing process’. Ultima can be minimal – with simply an in-feed, coater and a delivery – or it can be highly complex with coating, printing, perfecting, foiling and final coating. Whichever configuration, OnePass is the common factor.

Among the new developments incorporated in the Ultima platform are a newly designed central console with touch-screen control, a new feeder pile transport that cuts down on waste, new suction belt sheet handling technology for a more even pile contour, all-new dampening units, bearings that significantly reduce vibration and, with sophisticated software for practice-oriented roller washing cycles, even less downtime.

The coaters are standard anilox-flexo-style doctor-bladed units, although now inverted – the negative chamber blade sits at the bottom of the unit, which allows gravity to feed the duct’s contents to give the blade a full dose of varnish or coating.

With the Ultima, Manroland’s QuickChange coating mechanism is standard. QuickChange allows users to swap one grade of coating or varnish for another in less than 10 minutes.”

The QuickChange system couples with a similar QuickChange wash system that flushes the entire coating unit automatically at the end of a shift, or other user-specifiable interval.

Another feature of the Ultima is the drying units that follow each coater. These can be either conventional hot air, Infrared, UV or LED.

Manroland’s InlineFoiler can also be added into the Ultima coating/printing agglomeration, giving even more scope for added-value sheets. The InlineFoiler occupies two print units, with the first putting down the printable adhesive required for the cold foil to bond to the sheet and the second unit laying down the foil directly onto the glued sheet via the blanket cylinder.

Two final ancillaries can also be added: the InlineInspector system and the InlineSorter. These devices work together to apply a set of user-definable criteria will reject any that do not meet register, colour or other quality criteria.

 

RMGT 920ST-4

The RMGT 9 series of A1-size offset presses enable high-performance 8-up printing of A4-size. Two model types are available, 940 models with a maximum sheet width of 940mm, and 920 models with a maximum sheet width of 920mm.

RMGT (the combinaiton of Ryobi and Mitsubishi) says features such as a high printing speed of 16,200sph and high printing quality make these presses ideal for printing companies seeking lower costs, high quality, and high productivity.

The press is capable of 8-up printing of international A4 size or letter size, but with significantly lower printing plate costs, power consumption, and space requirements than a B1-size press.

Installation of one LED-UV (or UV) curing unit over the perfecting device and another over the delivery section enables one-pass instant-curing perfecting (920 models only), and the inline coating system adds value to printed work.

Many of the same features as the flagship RMGT 10, including state-of-the-art sheet transfer technology and a function for quickly and easily checking the roller nip are on its smaller brother, and there is the option of a newly developed press information display with a large 55-inch screen enables the operator to easily monitor printing quality and operating status in real time from the delivery section.

Australian distributor Cyber says the RMGT 940 and 920 models were designed for speed and accuracy. It says the presses provide print quality which comes with lower operating costs, thanks to shorter makeready times, efficient automated plate-changing, and colours that come out exactly right from start to finish of every print run. Cyber says the press small footprints and energy efficiency give them a market edge for printers in the know.

The RMGT 9 series provides full-colour, 8-up printing (for the cost of 6-up) which reduces press time, makes for cost-effective paper usage, and lowers wear-and-tear on printing plates. Colour control stays accurate and efficient, with the added-value of the LED-UV instant curing technology that is environmentally friendly, but also allows curing on all substrates, improving work efficiency, reducing power consumption and eliminating warping of film and other heat-sensitive media.

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