June 2025 - Koenig & Bauer Durst Digital Packaging Print

Are you riding the wave of water-based digital printing technology?

Guest blog by Ian Schofield, Packaging and Sustainability Specialist

Are end-users making the most out of the new water-based digital printing technology?

Understanding the benefits is vital and there are a number to consider. For example, on these presses you can confidently achieve what is required in terms of:

Colour gamut.
Run speeds.
Customisation of elements.
Run length flexibility.

All these advancements are now starting to happen and are shaping some production approaches that are set to be defining.

Connective packaging is one fast-growing trend and is now massive for the digital market. The ability to print unique bar codes on individual packs is going to continue to be huge for many markets. However, you cannot do that conventionally.

Other benefits of digital printing are print run lengths. Whether you run one, two,10 or 10,000 it doesn’t matter. You can have an individual print or you can do all 10,000.

The big runs now are not a big issue for these machines.

Another important consideration is sustainability, which will continue to be impactful too.

Is water-based digital printing more sustainable than current printing? The LCA’s have still to be proven. However, thankfully, it’s looking good compared to conventional printing.

I was delighted to share these benefits – and more – with important stakeholders from the packaging industry at a recent exclusive Corrugated Workshop hosted by Koenig & Bauer Durst to discuss the future and role of digital printing from a converter’s point of view.

You can find out more on which digital printing benefits could help define a successful future for your operation by talking directly to Koenig & Bauer Durst.

18. June 2025

Secure and protect with VariJET

General News, Innovation

Guest blog by Marc Hunsänger, Director Protection Technologies, Koenig & Bauer Vision & Protection

Proud of our heritage as the world’s first security press manufacturer, we’ve come a long way in the world of printing.

And as digital natives with more than a dozen years of app development experience, we make protection scalable and smart. Using cryptographic principles, your information stays private and secure.

Stegano is the name of our technology that ensures products are protected by hidden data. It also provides fast offline decoding and built-in connectivity. It can modify every single folding carton on a production line, providing unique, hidden serialisation.

With Stegano we can manipulate the printing for every single folding carton but with the huge advantage that the design won’t be visually altered. With an algorithm we can create new “information” that can be written text or a symbol.

It’s impossible to see the hidden information with the naked eye. But you can decode it with our app.

In terms of new possibilities, Koenig & Bauer Durst’s VariJET 106 is probably the most exciting development we’ve ever come across in recent years.

This digital press can modify folding cartons for each item (-> serialisation), no other conventional printing press can do it.

The advantages for customers using the VariJET 106 for protection purposes include:

no additional costs (no new inks or other additives)
printing process and brand design stay untouched
decreased varnish costs due to Stegano implemented in a varnish plate
added protection for brands
traceability – you can give each single folding carton a hidden ID and follow their path -> grey market detection

For all these reasons and more, the VariJET is the perfect press.

Find out more about the VariJET here: VariJET 106 – Koenig & Bauer Durst Digital Packaging Print

Find out more about Stegano here: https://www.koenig-bauer.com/en/products/p/stegano

18. June 2025

A look into our history – and our future.

General News, Innovation

1817: Koenig & Bauer is founded – the world’s oldest printing press manufacturer
1936: Durst begins its journey as a pioneer for photography and imaging technologies
2025: Shaping the future of the print industry – together as Koenig & Bauer Durst

We bring together the best of both worlds – Koenig & Bauer’s centuries of mechanical engineering expertise and Durst’s digital innovation power. Our focus: folding carton, corrugated, and software solutions for packaging printing.

Jochen Sproll, our Strategy and Business Development Manager, sums it up perfectly: “The combination of conventional and digital printing is a win for the entire industry – processes become more efficient, more flexible, and more sustainable.”

Why?
Because the packaging market is evolving rapidly.
To remain competitive, packaging production processes must become more efficient – without compromising on the ability to deliver or print quality.

Digital packaging printing is:

more flexible
more sustainable
enables greater design freedom

But: It doesn’t replace offest in the near future. That’s why we focus on hybrid solutions that combine the strengths of both technologies.

A prime example: Our VariJET 106 – co-developed by Koenig & Bauer and Durst. It unites the expertise of both companies!

Conventional and digital printing are not opposites. They are partners – working side by side for a future-ready print industry.

Want to dive deeper into the topic of offset and digital printing.

Check out the full article in Print Monthly!

4. June 2025