The P5 Pack series is a printing option tailored to the production of corrugated displays and packaging. The P5 350 HS Pack combines the versatility of a P5 hybrid printing system with the ability to print on a wide range of materials used in the POP/POS and retail markets.

Andrea Riccardi, head of product management, graphics at Durst, commented, ‘The modular design of the P5 technology platform enables us to develop new products for a wide range of applications. We identify market requirements and incorporate them into our development process. The P5 350 HS Pack is another result of our customer-oriented approach and expands our P5 portfolio.’

As part of the P5 Pack series, Durst is introducing a new ink set that is tailored to the requirements of display and packaging printing. The Luvera LED ink is characterised by low odour and high abrasion resistance. With this new ink, Durst has covered a wider colour gamut to give displays and packaging a high level of vibrancy. The Luvera inks are also Ikea and IOT-Mat compliant. 

The P5 Pack series is equipped with a material guide and a pressure rollers system, aiming to ease production. The series’ automated corrugated edge holders avoid collisions between the print heads and the substrates. The width and height are set automatically by selecting the media channel in the software, reducing set-up time.

In addition, the vacuum system increases the suction power on the print belt by approximately 40% compared to the conventional systems. This means that heavy and warped corrugated boards can be flattened and printed cleanly.

The P5 Pack series also includes the sensor-controlled Multitrack six function, which is managed by six independent printing queues, enabling up to six corrugated boards to be printed in parallel by manual feeding.

To maximise production potential of the printing system, the P5 Pack series, as all P5 printing systems, can be equipped with the proprietary Durst Workflow Rip/colour management and analytics software such as the Durst Automat MT.

With this new option for the automatic feeding and stacking of boards, up to four lanes can be processed in parallel. The multi-lane operation of the Automat MT works together with the Multitrack six function of the P5 350 HS Pack and is said to result in clean and fast media separation, even with difficult synthetic boards and thin substrates.

Continuous and stable production is ensured by pneumatically controlled flaps that prevent the materials from slipping during the loading and unloading process. The entire printing process is continuously monitored by surveillance cameras. The feed and delivery tables have also been further developed to ensure smooth transportation of the boards.

‘With the Automat MT, we can map different levels of automation, ranging from three quarters to full automation. This allows us to raise our customers’ productivity to a new level,’ stated Christian Harder, vice president of sales at Durst Group.

The availability of the P5 Pack series is planned for Q3 2024.

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The Uvijet HZ inks, which the company says are quickly cured with conventional LED UV lamps, are suitable for decorating a range of materials commonly used in thermoforming applications. Fujifilm claims ‘superb’ dot reproduction, light-fast colours with ‘outstanding’ adhesion and elongation, and high quality for applications involving deep-draw thermoforming, line bending and dome blowing. Other benefits of the inks are said to include high quality finishing, bending, creasing, routing and guillotining.

The inks are suitable for internal and external applications, and work between 150-200*C. They are also free from volatile solvents and hydrocarbons, meaning that they have less impact on the environment than solvent-based products.

Matthew Whiting, product manager at Fujifilm Wide Format Inkjet Systems, commented, ‘With our extensive knowledge of the sector, as well as the award-winning manufacturing facilities at our Broadstairs site, Fujifilm proudly creates inks to maximise the capability of its printers, such as the Acuity Prime.

‘When thermoforming, you don’t want the ink to crack, become brittle or flake. Our Uvijet HZ inks are very flexible and maintain their high quality throughout the thermoforming process, resulting in an excellent finish.’

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The company plans to present a roll-to-roll configuration in which the press is integrated with a Hunkeler UW8 unwinder and RW8 rewinder along with the Hunkeler WI8 web inspection system via its open architecture interface. The press will print live three versions of a ‘magalog’ (blend of magazine and catalogue) with different editorial and marketing content. The application includes large, high-resolution images and a compelling design.

Show attendees can also expect to see an extensive collection of finished applications printed on the Prosper Ultra 520 press as well as the Prosper 7000 turbo press, a digital press with speeds of up to 410m/min. The range of samples on display will include trade publications, colour books, newspapers, catalogues, postcards and direct mail.

Jim Continenza, executive chairman and chief executive officer at Kodak, said, ‘This inkjet press eases printers’ transition from offset to digital production with its quality, productivity and application capabilities. With their high-speed architecture and use of proprietary water-based nanoparticulate pigment inks and optimiser agents, the press provides complete solutions for high-output, cost-effective printing of a broad range of applications in all segments of the print market.’

Digital Printer will be previewing Hunkeler Innovationdays in the January/February 2023 issue. If you are not registered for the magazine in print or digital versions, you may do so via the ‘Register’ tab above, or here.

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The machine, at its Gaillon site in Normandy, comes one year after installing the HP PageWide T250 web press to complement its existing production line of three HP PageWide Web T240 HD presses.

Data One is now looking to accelerate its green transition while developing new products and experiences. First unveiled by HP alongside DataOne at Printing United Expo in Las Vegas in October 2022, the web press achieves a colour HD print speed of 150m/min which will allow Data One to expand into new industries such as photography, and complete its programme to migrate from film packaging to paper.

As with the content, the envelopes will now be fully customisable and manufactured directly at the production site without additional transport. Data One will also be able to decrease the time it takes to achieve high quality production volume by a third. What used to take 24 hours to print, will now take eight hours with only one production team member. According to the company, this speed and precision of execution will allow it to stop running several toner-based machines, creating significant energy savings.

Loïc Lefebvre, development director at Data One, said, ‘Thanks to the ultra-customisation that the installation of this new press gives us, we can deliver more effective and intelligent documents, which allows us to limit the waste of energy and raw materials. HP is helping us to meet our sustainable development challenges with a business model that suits us and a relationship of trust that grows stronger every year.’

Data One has also called on energy equipment and solutions company, A3NERGY, to install a heat recovery system on its new HP PageWide Advantage 2200 press, as well as on other presses in its fleet.

The system will be used to optimise industrial processes by wasting as little energy as possible. The heat produced by the various presses will be extracted and redistributed for heating in winter and cooling in summer.

Mr Lefebvre added, ‘This new investment is decisive for our group, as we have decided to accelerate our eco-responsible strategy to establish a more sustainable customer relationship. Our objective is to reduce our carbon footprint, while developing new experiences and products, especially for our direct marketing activities.’

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Available in litre packs and specifically developed for the company’s new AccuFine piezo drop-on-demand print heads, the new MS51 inks do not require health and safety pictograms and are said to be ideally suited for long term outdoor and indoor signage applications.

Mitsuo Takatsu, Mutoh Europe’s managing director, said, ‘The new MS51 ink series are the cherry on the cake for our high quality XpertJet SR Pro series sign and display printer models which we released in January 2022. The inks will initially be available for Mutoh’s XpertJet 1641SR Pro device, with more models following later this year.’

Stephan Heintjens, product marketing and product application manager added, ‘With our MS51 inks, we definitely fulfil the requirements of today’s sign professionals with regards to outdoor and indoor signage applications : wide media compatibility including heat sensitive substrates, superior colour gamut, vibrant prints, unrivalled gloss preservation of prints, 3 years outdoor UV durability, low odour, excellent abrasion and chemical resistance.

‘The MS51 inks are also future-proof.  Taking into account the current CLP regulations, they do not require any danger or hazard pictograms and do not contain gBL (gamma-Butyrolactone1). In addition, our MS51 ink formulation contains a new mix of evaporating liquids which will substantially improve the drying behaviour of the output.’

The company recently announced it has appointed Isle of Anglesey-based Nova Chrome UK as its UK distributor for the XpertJet 1341WR Pro 137cm dye sublimation printer. The printer, developed and manufactured in Japan, is targeted at the dye sublimation market and features one Mutoh AccuFine 1600 nozzle head.

The XPJ-1341WR Pro is compatible with Mutoh’s DS3-series HC dye-sub inks. DS3 inks come in degassed 1kg pouches.

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The new non-contact colour measuring device is the first to use X-Rite’s Mantis video targeting. This uses a high resolution camera and larger display to help operators correctly identify and line up on measurement patches, using zoom as necessary and saving patches for later inspection.

‘With Mantis video targeting, operators have the confidence they are measuring the right spot every time. What you see on the screen is what is measured. This eliminates any uncertainty and re-measuring,’ said Ray Cheydleur, printing and imaging product portfolio manager at X-Rite.

Captured colour data can be shared seamlessly with the X-Rite ecosystem of software, which covers colour specification, ink formulation and quality control software, via Wi-Fi. Built-in process control tools for the ink kitchen and pressroom support G7, PSO and Japan Color standards. Embedded software capabilities include X-Rite NetProfiler for device optimisation, InkFormulation Software, ColorCert Suite for print quality control and reporting, and PantoneLive for digital colour specification and communication. This connectivity enables printers and converters to meet quality standards 17% faster, says X-Rite.

‘Print, packaging, and ink professionals can drive their workflow directly from the eXact 2 for maximum efficiency. With access to colour workflow software directly on the touch screen, operators no longer need to be tied to a console,’ explained Mr Cheydleur.

Further online support comes via the X-Rite Link platform, a cloud-based dashboard that provides a real-time view of device performance. From one location, users can verify the status of one or a fleet of devices, configure and distribute updates and colour libraries.

The eXact 2 is available in three models. The standard one handles paper, corrugated and carton board substrates, while the eXact 2 Xp captures film, plastic and foil with white opaque and other unique substrates. The eXact 2 Plus offers advanced paper and flexible film control with the ability to measure metamerism, opacity and absolute and relative colour strength.

‘We have redesigned the award-winning eXact to be more than a measurement tool,’ said Chris Brooks, president, X-Rite. ‘The eXact 2 is a complete solution that sits at the centre of an integrated colour workflow. It is the most versatile, powerful, connected, and easy-to-use tool in a printer’s colour toolbox.’

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According to the European Printing Inks Federation there are over one million different ink recipes used across the range of applications where ink plays a part. Manufacturers offer different formulas suited to different printing methods and in digital printing the ink sets can differ from device to device. Makers must balance performance with cost and environmental considerations and ideally get a certification of some sort for the ink’s credentials and the maker’s claims. The most popular and well respected such certification are the Greenguard and Greenguard Gold awards and achieving them can widen the scope of applications for a given printing system.

The Greenguard certifications are intended to ensure that materials and products used indoors are safe with respect to their chemical emissions. Greenguard Gold certifications require compliance with even stricter targets and additional safety criteria, including constraints for over 360 Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and lower aggregate VOC emission requirements. Intended to provide additional safeguards for children and elderly people, Greenguard Gold schemes also take into account how the VOCs in a product interact.

Both of the Greenguard certifications confirm that the printed products used for interior spaces in homes, hospitals and schools are safe, and that they pose no risk to human health. For a printing company this potentially enhances competitive advantage and for their customers it offers some peace of mind that the printed materials won’t poison their customers, patients or children.

These standards are important for printing system and ink manufacturers so it is encouraging that more companies are making an effort to get their inks certified. Fujifilm has been in the vanguard of this effort along with HP but other companies, are also getting their inks certified. Both Mutoh and SwissQPrint recently announced that all of their standard inks are now either Greenguard or Greenguard Gold certified. And Agfa’s got this certification too for its UV LED inksets for the JETI and Anapurna wide format digital presses.

We can expect more such announcements as manufacturers start paying greater attention to the potential applications for their machines in producing printed interiors. Expect this to be a major topic at the FESPA Printed Interiors feature at next year’s event in Madrid.

– Laurel Brunner

This article was produced by the Verdigris Project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fespa, Fujifilm, HP, Kodak, Ricoh, Spindrift, Splash PR, Unity Publishing and Xeikon.

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Aimed at high-volume users, the SureColor SC-S60600L and SC-S80600L 1.6m (64-in) roll-fed signage printers use new 1.5l GS3 Ultrachrome ink pouches which reduce time spent on topping up supplies and maintenance as well as reducing ink packaging waste. Both machines will be supplied with the Epson Edge RIP and LFP Accounting Tool software. The former includes an expanding library of media profiles, while the latter provides accurate job costing data.

An application printing on Ecotex synthetic leather with SureColor SC-S printers was demonstrated at Fespa. Dedicated software for the application, written by Dev Studio, was also featured. Richard Barrow, senior product manager – production LFP at Epson, said: ‘Ecotex is an innovative Italian company with years of experience. They provide us with the best synthetic leather solution for the market and offer a range of materials to suit different applications. We have high hopes for this solution and the business opportunities it brings to our customers.’

Epson also announced that it is opening up its printhead business to OEM partners and other third-party ‘collaborators’ to tackle the growing range of industrial applications. This follows the opening in 2018 of a new 47,000sqm manufacturing facility in Japan that increases production capacity by 300% and the introduction of two new printhead models: the Precision Core S3200 and the Micro-Piezo L1440.

Suitable for aqueous, solvent and UV-curable inks, the new printheads offer 300 and 180 nozzles per inch for totals of 3200 and 1440 nozzles respectively in 4.73 and 1-in formats. A 2.65-in 1600-nozzle unit, the Precision Core S1600, will become available later in 2019, as will models that use cavity recirculation rather than the reservoir type currently available. This technology is said to offer increased reliability, wider ink compatibility and easier initial ink charging. The new models are aimed at supporting industrial applications such as high-speed single-pass printing in textiles and packaging, amongst others.

More commentary on this development will appear in the June issue of Digital Printer.

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Mimaki has released LUS-170 clear ink for its UCJV300 series of printers. The ink brings new design possibilities for displays by adding gloss, matte or textured finishes.

‘With the availability of this clear ink for the UCJV300 series, we have employed our Mimaki Clear Control (MCC) technology for the first time in a roll-to-roll printer,’ commented Ronald van den Broek, general manager sales EMEA. ‘This feature shortens the time needed for ink curing to prevent dust from sticking, ensuring smoother, cleaner clear effects, such as matte or glossy finish. We believe this new ink opens up more possibilities for users and enhances the versatility of our award-winning UCJV300 series even further.’

The UCJV300 series delivers increased versatility via layered print technology, including newly developed four-layer and five-layer capabilities.

To simplify the process of creating clear effects, Mimaki also offers the Artista UV Texture Library, which users can access when they install RasterLink6Plus RIP software on a UCJV300 printer. The Artista library contains 129 texture swatches for use in Adobe Illustrator to add a wider choice of visual effects.

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A newly developed digital imaging ink has been released by  Nazdar Ink Technologies. The 184 Series is formulated specifically as a high-performance alternative for Mimaki JV150/300 and CJV150/300 digital printers using Mimaki BS4 ink.

The series is low odour and available in a range of packaging options, including 600ml bags and 2000ml bags compatible with MBIS.

‘The new Nazdar 184 Series exhibits outstanding performance, with excellent outdoor resistance to colour fade and chemical attack caused by UV degradation or environmental pollution,’ said Stephen Woodall, global segment manager, Aqueous & Solvent Digital. ‘We’ve developed an ink with excellent performance and adhesion on flexible and pressure sensitive vinyl, banner material, blue back paper and backed mesh.’

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