Page 29 - Print 21 Magazine Jan-Feb 2019

Digital Packaging
produce cartons in short and medium runs, was on show at the Packaging- Days, and is used for straightline
and lockbottom cartons. Equipped with the Diana Inspection Control and Diana Braille modules, it will be producing pharmaceutical cartons.
The new Diana Smart 55 folding carton gluing machine replaces the Diana 45, and is suitable for folding carton manufacturers that produce small cartons for the pharmaceuticals or cosmetics sector in short and medium runs. The Diana Smart 55 now also optionally offers the latest technologies for this small working width in the shape of the Diana Braille and Diana Inspection Control modules.
Although the focus of the day was not on its presses, Heidelberg made the point that its new XL106 can achieve complete job changeover
in less than five minutes, thanks to the combination of Prinect software and newly developed components which automate the most productive press in its format class even further, making it even more productive.
Heidelberg says the intelligent interplay of the automation components enables cost-effective production for all applications, whether the runs are long or short. The key element here is the patented process- and job-oriented assistance system Intellistart 2, which acts like a navigation system to show the fastest way to achieve the desired result for print. 21
Above:
Printers listen: Heidelberg expounding packaging opportunities at the PackagingDays event
Right:
First will
be first: the Heidelberg Primefire 106 at ColorDruck
B1 digital inkjet Primefire in series production
The world’s first digital B1 inkjet sheetfed press, the Heidelberg Primefire 106, is now in series production, with 25 packaging printers around the world already in the queue to receive one, and more orders soon to be signed.
The company has been running beta machines for the past year, but has now installed its first series machine in Colorado, with its second currently going into a Chinese printer.
Speaking to the world’s trade press at the PackagingDays event at the Heidelberg’s sprawling manufacturing centre in Wiesloch, company board director Stefan Plenz said, “Projections for packaging print continue to show growth, and that is really before plastic became such a big issue, any trend away from plastic will boost carton packaging even further.
“Digital packaging will grow fastest of all; it has barely begun, and we predict it will treble in output over the next five years,
a 300 per cent growth. Digital packaging is a bit of a chicken and egg situation: there is only
a small market at present as
the technology has not been developed; however, the launch of the Primefire will give brand owners new options for short run and variable data packaging.
“The Primefire 106 is the first B1 inkjet in the market. It uses water-based inks for food safety compliance. It is an industrial scale machine. Its design principles were for a reliable, repeatable, robust digital print.”
Plenz says the Primefire 106
is suited to the Australian and New Zealand markets, with its capability to print short runs and
variable data. He is dismissive
of the concept of runs of one, but says mass customisation
is a likely application. He says, “Consumers will drive brands to personalisation, to short run and to quick turnarounds. The same trends that are impacting Europe and the US are seen in Australia, and make the Primefire a clear choice to meet the market.” Heidelberg then took the
trade press to the site of the first Primefire, family owned $70m turnover ColorDruck deep in
the Black Forest, which has been running a beta machine for the past year. Its joint managing director Martin Bruttel said it decided to install the Primefire and at the same time launch a web-to-pack service, for which
it commissioned a company to develop the software.
He says, “We went with Primefire because we have trust and confidence in Heidelberg. Since we installed the machine we have found that the print quality, the registration, the reliability have met our needs. We are using the machine to create a whole new business with our web-to- pack solution of short runs in short time frames, and with personalisation. What Coca Cola and Nutella did with labels we can do with cartons.”
The Primefire 106 combines the Heidelberg paper transport with Fujifilm print heads. It prints in seven colours at 2,500 sheets an hour, and its initial application is in the packaging sector. Heidelberg says the gamut of seven colours means there is no need for spot colours for the printer to achieve brand colours.
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