In the middle of May, more than 400 guests from all
over the world attended the Packaging Day hosted by Heidelberger Druckmaschinen
AG (Heidelberg) at the Wiesloch-Walldorf site. Under the slogan “Think out of
the Box”, they witnessed the premiere of the Primefire 106 – what up until then
was only available to see in customers’ print shops and in the laboratory
environment is now also installed in the Print Media Center Packaging, and thus
completes the extensive demo range in the world’s biggest demo center for
packaging solutions. Heidelberg is the only manufacturer to integrate offset
and digital printing including finishing via the Prinect workflow, and is
opening up new business models for packaging printing.
“With this range, Heidelberg cements its position
as the leader in packaging printing and provides answers to current and future
requirements in the age of digitization. We make our customers more productive
and therefore also more profitable,” explained Rainer Hundsdörfer, Chief
Executive Officer of Heidelberg, in his welcome. This was impressively
confirmed by the two Managing Directors Thomas Pfefferle and Martin Bruttel
from colordruck Baiersbronn. colordruck is a decade-long customer of Heidelberg
and has seen its business models go through many successful evolutions. The
Primefire 106 has been installed at colordruck since the end of last year and
has been undergoing field testing since mid-January 2018. The Primefire offers
colordruck the advantage of high-quality digital printing in combination with
sheet finishing using existing die-cutting tools in 3b format. The packaging
service provider, which operates throughout Europe, has been producing
packagings using digital printing and a Highcon Euclid since 2017. In its new
“Packaging Digital” division, colordruck offers customized and personalized
packagings through to mass customization via its online shop
“designyourpackaging.de”. In this way colordruck is opening up new customer
groups. In its offset printing arm, colordruck continues to produce premium
packagings using four highly automated Speedmaster machines from the latest
generation.
Information
tours provide answers to the trends in the packaging industry
The Packaging Day offered the visitors a platform
for getting new ideas and inspiration for their current and future business
models. Three information tours – “Packaging as you like”, “Operational
Excellence”, and “Special Applications” – addressed the trends in the industry
and provided a comprehensive presentation of the corresponding solution from
Heidelberg.
In addition to demonstrating overall solutions,
special highlight shows enlarged upon topics such as navigated printing in
large format with the Speedmaster XL 145 six-color press with coating unit. The
topic of postpress packaging showed economical solutions for postpress
requirements. The Primefire 106 also had its own exhibit on the topic of
industrial digital printing.
Lifecycle Solutions with the components Saphira
consumables and service are an essential part of Heidelberg’s solution offering
for achieving top quality, productivity, and production reliability. Saphira
has established itself as a quality brand in ten years (see press release dated
18.05.2018).
Trend
towards customized packagings is growing
The answer to the trend towards declining run
lengths and mass customization through personalization and individualization is
the seamless integration of digital processes into existing offset landscapes.
The information tour “Packaging as you like” showed how the Primefire 106 and
the Speedmaster XL 106 are perfect complements for developing new customers and
new areas of business. Using two identical folding carton jobs, Heidelberg
showed how digital and offset printing offer economically viable product
developments. For example, customers can now be supplied with long runs as well
as personalized runs or short preliminary runs, and Heidelberg ensures
end-to-end color consistency. In postpress, machines like the Promatrix 106 CSB
diecutter with blanking function and the new Diana Easy 115 folder gluer can be
used both for offset and for digital printing.
The information tour “Operational Excellence”
showed how growing cost pressure and falling margins can be addressed
successfully. An alternative for the profitable production of short runs with
shorter delivery times was presented to this end. Productivity analyses show
that the overall equipment effectiveness is currently at 20 to 25%, but that
values of over 50% are absolutely achievable in the long term. This is made
possible by lean, intelligently controlled processes that systematically
minimize the influence of the operator on productivity and deliver real-time,
transparent, and accurate performance data. What is important here is maximum
integration without system breaks – starting from the customer all the way to
the delivered product. The Prinect modules offer a variety of coordinated
solutions here.
To increase productivity and reduce process
interventions, Heidelberg has been developing the innovative Push to Stop
operating concept since drupa 2016, clearing the way for autonomous printing.
In packaging printing with its high complexity and many spot colors, navigated
printing helps the operator to achieve the best possible result within the
shortest time. This is achieved using the Intellistart 2 operating software in
the Prinect Press Center XL 2 machine control station. This was demonstrated on
a Speedmaster XL 106 six-color press with coating unit and logistics equipment
– the makeready time can be shortened by up to 60% here and the paper waste is
significantly reduced. In packaging printing, repetition accuracy and color
consistency are important topics. The innovative Hycolor Multidrive drive
technology for the Speedmaster XL 106 is used here. This system makes it
possible to operate the inking and dampening units independently from the main
drive. The inking units can be washed while the coating plates are being
changed via the main drive – or the rubber blankets and impression cylinders
can be washed at the same time as the makeready process. The system reduces
makeready times easily, reliably, and highly effectively with the aim of
improving consistency and increasing availability. A new feature is that
Hycolor Multidrive now makes it possible to prepare printing units that are not
currently in use for the next print job while the current one is still in
progress. In this way, for example, the time for a color change can be saved by
washing and changing the color at the same time as printing is underway.
Brand owners want maximum attention for their
products at the point of sale through differentiation and embellishments. The
information tour “Special Applications” inspired the visitors with Heidelberg’s
application know-how and economical ways of achieving embellishments. For
example, the Speedmaster XL 75 Anicolor UV with twelve units produces premium
cosmetic packagings including inline embossing within the shortest time. This
delivers maximum productivity. Thanks to fully automatic, simultaneous plate
changes, the large Wallscreen XL 2, and navigated printing, job changes can be
performed very quickly even with highly complex embellishments.
The Speedmaster XL 106-8-P+LYYL showcased the full
range of embellishments by effectively producing premium folding cartons with
matt, gloss, and UV coatings.
Cost-effective embellishments with hot foil,
holograms, and embossing were on display on the versatile Promatrix 106 FC
which is now available with the optical sheet registration system, MasterSet to
ensure perfect alignment between image and embellishment. The Diana Eye 55
demonstrated how effective offline inspection can be used to check highly
embellished products meet the highest quality standards and avoid expensive
follow-up costs.
