Made in India: Jetsci Colornovo UV inkjet label press

Over the years, Chennai-based Monotech Systems has consolidated its home-grown inkjet printing machinery business under the brand name Jetsci. One of the key products in the Jetsci brand is the Jetsci–Colornovo UV inkjet label production press. The machine is available in various configurations as per the requirements based on colours (CMYK/W), and with print width of 216mm and 324mm. It also comes with customised inline/offline finishing and converting options.

According to Jimit Mittal, vice-president, inkjet products and solutions, Monotech Systems, Colornovo is based on the drop-on-demand UV Inkjet printhead technology from Kyocera, Japan. Mittal says a 216mm Colornovo press can produce over 150,000 sqmt and a 324mm press can produce over 250,000 sqmt of jobs per month at a resolution of 600x600 dpi and speeds up to 70m/min with 10 hours shift per day for 25 days per month. “We have collaborated with Grafisk Maskinfabrik, Denmark, for the web control systems, which includes various inline finishing and converting options,” Mittal says.

The machine had a soft launch about a year ago at a beta site in China. Based on the feedback, many upgrades and development have been done and now the machine is commercially available.

Mittal says the press is suitable for all label printers with short to medium-run jobs, short turnaround time, multiple SKUs, variable data printing and others, required to deliver their jobs, which are not possible or difficult with conventional printing processes.

“Digital solution complements all conventional workflows and gives the capabilities to the customer to decide their own process while printing and delivering jobs,” he adds. 

The technology 
The machine is based on the complete digital workflow minimising the conventional process like requirements of flexo plates/ pre-press. Customers can provide a digital file format like PDF, AI, EPS which can be directly printed on the machine with a user selective profile, ink limits, workflows based on the different substrate materials. In short, the complete workflow in production can be completed digitally.

The Colornovo is equipped to address all medium-run label jobs regardless of the substrate being used. It also comes with additional value-added features like variable data printing. It is equipped with colour management workflow. 

“One of our to-be-customer has a job of more than 200 SKUs with varied repeat length and each set of job has 2,000- 10,000 labels, which could not be possible with any conventional press. Colornovo has delivered the solution,” Mittal says, adding that the company is seeing a major shift in these types of requirements in industries like cosmetics, liquor, pharma, health, and food products. 

Configuration
In hybrid UV inkjet, the company provides complete workflow with the choice of print width and colours. It comes with fully integrated production and software. The user can create their own customised profiles, colour matching, colour replacement, and variable data printing. The machine is equipped with inter-colour LED pinning (after each colour), full curing by LED or mercury lamp, spectrophotometer and many other ancillaries needed for digital printing solution. The software also features the reduction of ink usage without affecting the overall quality thus reducing the ink usage and running cost. 

In a standalone solution, the standard system is equipped with web cleaner, corona treatment, static eliminators, UV inkjet with all the above features and components with a choice to add finishing options like spot servo registered flexo, cold foil, lamination and converting options like semi/ full rotary die-cut, slitting and dual rewind. The web control system offered by Grafisk Maskinfabrik is completely modular and future upgradable.

The Jetsci Colornovo UV inkjet label production press

Mittal says the customers have the choice to configure their systems as per requirements based on print width of 216mm and 324mm and the colours CMYK (with or without white). The 216mm CMYK/W kit is on field upgradable to 324mm CMYK/W. 

If a customer wants to start with low investment; based on volume increase upgrade can be offered. All UV inkjet configurations are available as a hybrid solution ready to be installed on conventional press like flexo or with a standalone web control system with finishing and converting options.

Thus, according to Mittal, the USP of the machine includes the lower total cost of ownership; substrate flexibility; opaque white; no job repeats length limitation; most substrates do not require the primer. “We offer customers the future-ready path with an easy on the field upgrade at minimum cost whenever there is a technology upgrade,” he adds.

Specifications:

The market
Mittal says the configuration of the label press depends on the actual requirement of the customer and its current set up. “Many customers like to go with hybrid printing by installing a digital set up on the current conventional process which could save the initial investment and provide flexibility,” he says. 

He adds that the standalone digital solutions are also very popular where customers can configure their system with the choice of finishing and converting options.
In recent years, UV inkjet technology has seen great advancements and has been accepted widely for most of the label printing requirements. “It is a flexible solution in terms of investment, flexibility on the substrates, no click cost, low running cost and high productivity,” says Mittal, adding that Monotech's Jetsci Colornovo is the only one developed in India meeting all the international standards.

Mittal adds that the Colornovo is customised to suit Indian and other global label printing requirements. “Label printers have options to choose from hybrid UV inkjet to inline full colour standalone digital label production press which generally is not being offered by most of the manufacturers globally,” he says.

The machine comes with a user-friendly interactive GUI/ workflow with step by step process of printing which is very easy to understand and use. “It can be adopted after a short training from our engineers,” Mittal says, adding, “We have a demo and training centre in Gurugram at our manufacturing facility where we are equipped with all training and testing equipment. We offer customers advanced training on operations of machine maintenance, colour management, colour matching and all necessary production workflow training. The same training is also offered at after-sales and installation at the site as well.”  

Inkjet at Monotech
Monotech has a vast experience in integrating various inkjet printhead technologies with over 150+ installations in over 14 countries. “Colornovo is an adaptation of the same technology experience and continuous in-house research and development efforts keeping in mind the customised requirements of the label printer and converters,” he says, adding, “The Colornovo is has been successfully installed in China a few months ago. We will have four to five installations in India and overseas before the end of this financial year.”

On the recent trends in the industry, Mittal says that every customer has the requirement of digital, but factors like total cost of ownership, operational cost, productivity, turnaround time has proved to be a hindrance in their investing in digital. “The Colornovo has made this possible for the label printers to go ahead with digital printing with the best total cost of ownership, operational cost, productivity, and with the shortest turnaround time,” he adds.