The Uteco Group, based in Colognola ai Colli
(VR), Italy, is a leading manufacturer of printing presses for a wide range of
flexible packaging. It is installing two Kodak Prosper S20 Imprinting Systems,
one black and one color, on an 8-color Uteco Onyx 810 flexo printing system.
Leonardo Gobbi, Commercial and Marketing
Director of The Uteco Group, explains that “the consumer goods market, both
food and non-food, has for many years now demanded a number of functions from
packaging which go well beyond the original function of preserving the product,
and is increasingly driving packaging towards the realm of marketing and
communication. The printing of materials for packaging plays an essential part
in this. The benefits of hybrid printing merge the flexibility and high
productivity of flexographic printing with the unique capacity of digital
printing to manage the variable data which customizes each individual print job
and each individual packaging application. This is the direction taken in the
integration efforts between The Uteco Group and Kodak: to be able to offer
producers of printed packaging all the advantages of this integration between
different technologies in order to achieve extremely innovative, customized and
communicative printing”.
The S20 is a member of the Kodak Prosper
S-Series Imprinting Systems, which include S5, S10 and S30 models. They all
boast excellent print quality in overprinting jobs produced by other print processes,
flexo in this case. They offer various print speeds and resolutions, for a high
degree of customization.
The Kodak Prosper S-Series Imprinting Systems
are easily integrated into existing production processes, allowing new
advertising opportunities with highly targeted products and the creation of hybrid
print applications: images, barcodes, lotteries, road maps and QR codes. These
systems can help capitalize on investments made in offset presses and bridge
the digital divide by adopting a one-step inline process.
Erwin Busselot, Marketing Director Digital
Printing Solutions, Kodak has this to say: “The Uteco Group integration opens
up new opportunities for the packaging world in its quest for innovation and
development. Both companies have worked to create a hybrid system that combines
the best of flexo and digital printing technologies. This shared commitment
will enable The Uteco Group's customers to produce applications on a variety of
media such as paper labels, tissue and flexible film. These possibilities
generate added value not only in terms of the printed product but also for the
brand owner and print buyer, who can easily access promotions, customized
vouchers and much more”.
Hybrid
flexo printing has arrived
The two Kodak Prosper S20 Imprinting Systems
print in black plus one color with a print speed of 600 mpm, fully in line with
the production speed of Uteco's flexo printing machine. The Kodak Prosper
S-Series Imprinting System prints at a resolution of 600x300 dpi, the print
width is 10.56 cm. The heads use Kodak Stream Inkjet technology, which allows
the printing of high quality and long-lasting images not only on both uncoated
and coated paper, including glossy coated paper and also on flexible media and
plastic film: a goal that was achieved by the Uteco Group integration.
Stream Inkjet technology uses a continuous
stream of ink which is supplied by the print head nozzles. This stream is
broken into separate droplets which are in turn fired at high speed with a very
high level of accuracy, to form high quality images.
The heads are positioned after the flexo
printing and can be moved along the width of the reel, depending on the point
where the printing of data or images is required. Cost has always been the
Achilles' heel in the printing of high volumes of variable data. But that is no
longer the case: this exceptional integration between flexographic and digital
printing provides a virtually infinite number of applications and customization
possibilities in the packaging sector, where creativity will be the only limit.
Kodak has transformed into a technology
company focused on imaging for business. Kodak serves customers with disruptive
technologies and breakthrough solutions for the product goods packaging,
graphic communications and functional printing industries. The company also
offers leading products and services in Entertainment Imaging and Commercial
Films.
