LABELEXPO EUROPE BREAKS RECORDS

LABELS&LABELING |35
JIM TODD, Heidelberg UK sales director
What to run line inline depends very
much on the technology, the volume
of finished work, run lengths, speed
and quality required. Adding value and
creating new services has to be cost
balanced. The very fact that Heidelberg
offers many value-added tools both
online and offline makes it an ‘honest
broker’ and there’s no charge for
asking for advice. By standing out you
can become outstanding – and more
profitable.
PERFECTING IMPACTS PACKAGING
At a press conference in the historic
Stationer’s Hall in London, Heidelberg
UK announced it has delivered 110 B1
Speedmaster perfector units since Drupa
– with increasing interest from packaging
printers.
The installations include the world’s longest
B1 press, the 17 unit Speedmaster XL 106
perfector at Chesapeake East Kilbride,
consisting of 10 printing units, three coating
units, four drying units as well as an inline
cold foiling option.
Commented Jim Todd, Heidelberg UK
sales director, ‘The Speedmaster XL 106
has taken productivity to a whole new level.
Some of our customers believe it could easily
achieve 75 million impressions when running
at 18,000sph and combined with Inpress
Control automated spectral and register
measurement and Autoplate XL simultaneous
plate-changing.’
Todd believes that more packaging printers
will look at perfecting in this format as
demand grows for printing information inside
packaging in addition to brand-conscious
print outside.
Looking at broader trends in the packaging
sector, Todd said consolidation and
globalization continue to be key factors. At
the same time single pass processes are
replacing multi-pass processing, presses
are getting longer and finishing technology
has become more efficient and capable
of matching the performance of the new
generation of presses.
Looking to the future, Todd said packaging
printers would have a key role in global color
management using spectral standards. ‘And in
food packaging we see a move away from UV
inks to low migration inks.’
Legislation changes are also changing the
package printing landscape, and Todd cited
the changes in pharma leaflet font size, braille
and sustainability as both key challenges and
opportunities to offer new solutions.
For carton converters the issue of ‘no
brand’ cigarette cartons remains a major
cloud on the horizon.
Todd said Heidelberg has had some
success with its B2 Anicolor ‘short inking’
press in the packaging sector because of its
ability to produce short runs economically
with fewer variables.
Heidelberg’s statistics show that the global
volume of printed products by value has
remained remarkably stable since 2000
despite the advance of the internet, and by
2017 volumes are actually expected to exceed
2000 levels. Sheetfed offset packaging is
expected to be worth over 131 billion euros
by 2020, accounting for some 28 percent of
total global sheetfed print volumes.
AM I ALWAYS IN A
MARGIN WAR?
WHO ISN’T?
AM I
WINNING IT?
D
NITELY.
EFI Jetrion 4900
DIGITAL LABEL
PRODUCTION SYSTEM
Run lengths shorten. Profits shrink. Time to change the game. The EFI Jetrion
4900 ® is the leanest way to produce labels. You go from a print file directly
to a finished roll without interruption. Which means you improve efficiency,
productivity and profitability as you remove cost from current jobs. Is it time
to get digital printing and digital finishing in a single system? Oh yeah.
For more information call 1-800-875-7117
or visit jetrion.efi.com/definitely36
©2013 EFI. All rights reserved.
NOVEMBER 2013 | L&L