Top five news of the week

Heidelberg to increase B1 press production
Heidelberg’s Stephan Plenz, at a special event at its Wiesloch facility, announced that 106 B1 Primefire sheetfed inkjet press production will be increased by 50%.

“The reaction has been overwhelming, so we have to ramp it up by 50% right now in order to fulfil demand and keep the quality level where it is,” he said.

The press is a joint development with Fujifilm, and uses Fujifilm Dimatix Samba printheads and is said to run at a speed of 2500 sph.

The special event held especially for packaging printers saw participation from over 300 printers worldwide and included a visit to Multi Packaging Solutions in Obersulm to witness the first Primefire 106 beta installation in action.

The second Primefire beta installation is expected to take place at Colordruck Baiersbronn, at the beginning of next month, with a further beta installation to follow in March 2018

HP announces SmartStream D4D beta launch
HP released a lighter version of its SmartStream suite- its flagship job preparation and personalisation software with designers as its target.

The simplified SmartStream D4D (Designer for Designers) allows designers to create up to 20 variations on any design, and effectively take more creative control of the process.

“Our aim with the new software is to show the possibilities of digital printing to brand owners,” said HP global head of brand innovation Nancy Janes.

At the HP SmartStream D4D launch party on November 2 in London, the famous Yarza Twins showcased the use of the software to create individualised designs for Smirnoff, in response to the beta program brief, ‘Every one is the same. Everyone is different’.

“Digital print has the ability to make packaging and print more agile and limitless but until now there has been a gap between concept and creation,” Janes added.

ESKO LAUNCHES LARGEST DIGITAL CUTTING TABLE
Esko unveils its new Kongsberg C66 for short-run production of corrugated applications.

The Kongsberg C66 is the largest digital cutting table for heavy-duty corrugated production. It was developed based on market demand as part of Kongsberg’s robotics program. Its primary application is for packaging and POP displays.

The Kongsberg C66 has a speed of 100 m/min and has the cutting dimension of 2.2m x 3.2m for manual multi-zone and 2.5m x 4.8m for single-zone production.

It is capable of processing other materials required in the protective packaging environment, including foam cushioning materials.

The Kongsberg C66 is driven by i-cut Production Console (iPC) which has the functions of camera control, machine set up, tool recognition, calibration and tool adjustments. The Kongsberg C66 performs multiple tasks with the help of iPC. It is integrated with the device managers thereby helping in monitoring process from a distance.

Naess Esko’s Senior product manager, said, “By moving shorter runs to the Kongsberg C66, operations can eliminate the time and cost associated with conventional die-cutting solutions”.

France-based packaging company, Cartonéo is the first to install Kongsberg C66.

Next generation Fiery for iGen launched
This week saw the launch of a brand new Fiery digital front-end (DFE) server for Xerox iGen 5 presses.

The new Fiery server is the first to be built on the new Fiery FS300 Pro platform and that it supports iGen specific White Dry Ink capability.

Talking about the development, Xerox cut sheet business vice president and general manager Ragni Mehta said, “We believe the new capabilities with the Fiery DFE will be a significant asset to our customers, especially as it relates to optimizing our fifth station options.”

“The new Fiery DFE for the iGen 5 Press is based on the Fiery NX Premium hardware platform. It features HyperRIP enhancements that allow shops to double their processing speed on more types of jobs. It also includes the new Fiery Command WorkStation 6, the most popular production print job management interface in the industry, which is helping our customers increase their shop floor productivity," said John Henze, VP of marketing, EFI Fiery.

Xaar 1202 printheads for Korea

Korea’s manufacturer of inkjet printing systems, D.gen Inc, is launching a new range of Papyrus 740K printers at KoSign 2017. This kit will use Xaar 1201 printheads. The new printers are optimised for printing dye sublimation and blue back paper and will be available for D.gen’s customers.

Since its launch at Drupa 2016, the response to the Xaar 1201 printhead has been good. 

Using six Xaar 1201 printheads for printing up to six colours, the new Papyrus 740K printers are capable of an 1880 mm print width and print speeds of up to 80 m 2 /h at 1200 dpi, 55 m 2 /h at 1800 dpi and 40 m 2 /h at 2400 dpi. In addition, they come equipped with a mini-jumbo roll feeder designed with flexible tension control and a strong dryer incorporated to prevent contamination. Users looking for easy print control will find the touch panel of the Papyrus 740K a useful feature, plus there is a fully integrated feeder, ‘take-up’ and dryer.