Bobst’s upcoming digital printing press for corrugated board is now in place at its first beta installation, at Model AG plant in Weinfelden, Switzerland, the manufacturer announced on 27 May.
Designed to deliver four-colour digital post-print directly onto a broad range of uncoated and coated corrugated media, the sheet-fed digital press offers personalisation and speed across both short-run and high-volume work, said Bobst.
“This press will start a revolution in the corrugated packaging industry because it opens up such a huge range of possibilities to box makers and to their clients – the brand owners,” said CEO Jean-Pascal Bobst.
The press features Kodak’s Stream inkjet technology and delivers variable-data printing at up to 200m/min and can handle sheets up to 1.3×2.1m, according to the Switzerland-based company.
The Model AG plant is also the production and management hub of the CHF 700m turnover Model Group.
“We are very excited and proud to be the first beta customer for this revolutionary press,” said Model Group CEO Dr Daniel Model.
“We firmly believe that the technology this Bobst solution brings will permanently transform the corrugated packaging industry.”
Philippe Milliet, the head of Bobst‘s sheet-fed business unit, said that Model has been a partner with Bobst on “many such pioneering projects”.
He added that the press is “unlike any other solution seen in the market”.
“For corrugated packaging makers, it bridges the gap between high-volume flexo printing and the lower-capacity digital systems available up until now,” he said.
“Furthermore, the press has been designed to integrate into the typical high-volume post-print production environments of the corrugated industry. For our customers, it means they can offer their clients more flexibility and the reactivity to meet dynamic consumer demands, by introducing new products with versioning, mass customization and personalization.”
Bobst claims that Kodak’s Stream inkjet technology has produced “the first credible digital solution for industrial scale corrugated box printing” with vivid colour reproduction and “one of the highest print resolutions available”.
The press also uses food-compliant inks, a key issue for packaging manufacturers in many sectors.
A second beta press installation will soon take place in Europe, said Bobst.