Gravure printing enters the digital age with SmartGravure

Bobst has developed SmartGravure for its gravure machine platform Master RS 6003. SmartGravure offers an end-to-end digitalised process, which enables printers to meet and exceed the highest industry standards with ease. It overcomes the set-up time and tuning required with gravure printing, which requires high-level operator skills. With offline setup and automatic selection of the optimal process data for each new job, the machine frees up press time and disengages from the operator skills level.

Therefore, the optimal settings for each print job are automatically determined by SmartGravure at the push of a button, while the system continuously ensures that the gravure machines operate with the optimal production parameters during the printing process. Compared to the previous manual setup process, the time required is minimised, input errors are reduced, and waste during setup is significantly lowered.

With ECG printing, digitalised set up and controls, and connectivity with Bobst Connect, SmartGravure increases productivity and output consistency, reduces downtime and complexity, and offers considerable sustainability benefits.

SmartGravure is modular. The complete system includes three components — OneSet, OnePrint, and OneECG (Extended Colour Gamut) — each offering various benefits and collectively revolutionizing the gravure printing process.

OneSet is part of the Bobst Connect recipe management function. It is 100% automated, meaning a fast and accurate machine set-up. After taking over the customer's order data in the form of PDF files, the system suggests the most suitable and efficient machine settings on its own. Importantly, this step no longer needs to be performed on the printing machines but can be moved to the prepress stage. One click is enough to transfer the offline-created recipes to the print queue of the machines.

OnePrint is an innovative new inking system with inline and fully automated process colour measurement and adjustment, significantly relieving machine operators. Continuous monitoring and adjustment of the process colours are based on measurements with an inline spectrophotometer. This provides input for the OnePrint colour control, that when combined with OneECG ensures reliable colour stability from the first to the last print.

The new system limits the amount of ink in the colour circuit to the necessary minimum, reducing ink in the machine by over 50% compared to conventional gravure solutions and reducing ink waste simultaneously.

OneECG is Bobst’s technology for fixed palette printing, now available for gravure printing and an essential element of digitising this printing process. oneECG works with a fixed set of up to seven printing inks, so gravure printers only need to change the printing cylinders for job changes, while the inks remain in the printing machines. This reduces ink waste. A digitalised version of colour matching” can therefore be performed in the pre-press stage — before the print jobs are transferred to the machine controls.

The machine provides 100% job repeatability and perfect colour consistency. The Master RS 6003 with OneECG technology is officially Pantone validated.

The innovative technology reduces waste and ink waste drastically by up to 50% and lowers the energy consumption of this printing process, which also provides an economic advantage.