By Robert Stabler, Managing Director, Koenig & Bauer Durst

The landscape of digital production print is being defined by a challenging mix of geopolitical and financial events as well as industry specific trends.

That was among the key observations made by print consultant Sean Smyth at Print Matters – an annual conference, organized by Intergraf, the European association of the national print associations, and the Nordic Printing Association NOPA.

Dr Smyth went on to share a number of industry defining trends that print service providers should be aware of including:

• Innovators re-engineering print manufacturing with high-volume inkjet.
• A lack of skilled operators making it necessary to lower entry barriers in operations.
• Simpler processes and technology enabling end users and goods manufacturers to print.
• The elimination of printing things that people don’t want driving down volumes.

These trends, and the technologies that respond to them, were explored in depth at Koenig & Bauer Durst’s recent SPC Open House on “Digital Transformation in Corrugated Packaging”.

It considered how digital technology, such as the Delta SPC 130 a single pass inkjet press, cost efficiently responds in an agile and flexible way.

And how it delivers a production environment that addresses demand for a greater number of SKUs, increased interest in regionalization, enhanced product life cycle management, and the ability to keep pace with ever-changing regulations.

Technology that quickly produces more shorter run, fast turnaround jobs per day.

Technology that comparison tests have shown saves €2.5m on digital addressable volume, eliminates process waste of up to 160k sqm of board and cuts time with the removal of steps associated with analogue printing such as platemaking.

Uptime and capacity is maximised by a global service organization that provides software and workflow support as well as remote diagnostics and telephone service.

Investment is fully supported with project management, prepress, application and operator training, as well as consulting and coaching.

Digital printing technology enables operational capabilities that respond to these defining trends. It also future proofs operations to be prepared for the fresh challenges that are undoubtedly around the corner.

• The next SPC Open House is in Lienz, Austria, on 18-19 March. Contact your local Koenig & Bauer Durst representative or partner for details. The event will cover drupa technology announcements, live demonstrations of the latest SPC technology and special customer insights.

 

By Matthias Krautgasser, Senior Product Manager, Koenig & Bauer Durst

The time for digital printing is now.

That is one of the main takeaways from a white paper by Markus Witthaut, a senior scientist at Fraunhofer IML, Europe’s largest research organization covering all areas on logistics.

He said the benefits of digital printing are already there and will just become more and more relevant. He added: “Don’t wait. Go for digital printing now.”

The white paper on the complete supply chain management and logistics was created on behalf of Koenig & Bauer Durst.

It clearly showed digitization that comes with digital printing delivers benefits for converters and brand owners. Processes can be made faster by the quick exchange of information about new packaging designs, new print, as well as the status of the production order.

This approach delivers three major advantages for brand owners – the lead time is considerably quicker, design changes can be made rapidly and there is a greatly reduced risk of obsolescence.

These advantages can be very quickly introduced and capitalized on with the right software tools.

Efficient production with optimal results in the shortest possible time is delivered by the browser-based Durst Software Solutions. Durst Workflow combines data preparation, colour management and output preparation and allows multiple users with customizable permissions to work in parallel on the same database.

Production results are made more transparent by Durst Analytics. It gives users an at a glance overview of their printing systems via a web browser or an automatically generated email report. They can monitor production data such as material, ink consumption and productivity.

The complete processing of print orders and the sale of products and services is managed by the online Durst Smart Shop. The all-in-one solution digitizes and automates the sales and marketing process from the first customer contact up to the transfer of a print ready file to the production floor.

Individually or collectively these solutions can enable digital production to be responsively scaled up to meet demand.

They can also help generate increased profitability through the provision of the most highly automated and productive single-pass digital printing solutions on the market.

To discover more about how converters and brand owners can enjoy the benefits of digital print read the full white paper here: Supply-chain-improvements-with-digital-printing.pdf 

Key mega trends shaping carton manufacturing and how the latest technology responds shared at customer event

 

The trends and drivers shaping the future of carton manufacturing were identified and discussed last month when Koenig & Bauer Durst invited carton printers to Radebeul, Germany, home of the sheetfed production centre.

Around 100 interested carton converters, from across Europe and North America, listened to the wide-ranging discussions and learned more about Koenig & Bauer Durst’s solution to help them capitalise on emerging opportunities.

 

After Ralf Sammeck, Member of the Board at Koenig & Bauer with responsibility for Sheetfed, joined Koenig & Bauer Managing Director Robert Stabler to officially open the event, Dr Sean Smyth, print technologist and consultant for Smithers, listed the mega trends influencing today’s packaging environment.

They included sustainability and carton production’s place in a circular economy. Also detailed were the advantages of digital printing in eliminating the need for plates, water, and chemistry, and reducing set up time and waste, while improving responsiveness to demand.

The impact of micro and macroeconomics were explored – demographic shifts from the growth in affluent, educated consumers, to changing population age profiles and the rise in individual preferences. Sean expanded on how technology specific to packaging is evolving to deliver higher quality in an increasingly agile and responsive way.

Legislation is also shaping printing requirements both in terms of on pack information and post use disposal while enhanced supply chain management and track and trace capabilities enable improved stock oversight and brand protection.

These, he said, were set against a back drop of positive growth for carton makers in 2022. Growth that is expected to continue with cartons predicted to reach the equivalent of a billion A4 prints by 2028 and digital carton volumes in North America and Europe predicted to enjoy a compound annual growth rate of just under 20% to 2027.

 

At the same time average runs are falling with operations under pressure to manage many more short-medium runs. Sean pointed out that a shift in all carton volume from 26% to 29% equates to 20 million more jobs and asked: “How do you manage more jobs in your shop effectively?”

Robert Stabler detailed how to build a business case in digital printing in folding carton markets and outlined key solutions developed for carton converters.

He highlighted how the latest technology in the modular VariJET 106, that can utilise offset and flexo functionality, helps future proof investment. The B1 5,500sph press platform for folding carton packaging makes simple work of limited-run seasonal and personalised, targeted packaging.

A water based, food safe and deinkable ink set, developed with exceptional rub resistant characteristics, ensures food safe production meeting current and future regulatory and environmental standards. The most recent of which is the updated The Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive that aims to ensure that all packaging is reusable or recyclable in an economically feasible way by 2030.

 

The VariJET 106 leverages the know-how and expertise of Koenig & Bauer’s leadership in offset printing with Durst’s digital inkjet prowess. This enables the delivery of offset quality while harnessing the flexibility of digital allowing customers to build new, highly responsive business models. Based on Koenig & Bauer’s standard high performance Rapida 106, it features standard components for infeed, priming, coating and delivery. It incorporates Durst printhead electronics, inkjet expertise, proprietary workflow, and RIP technology.

Highly automated file submission, approval and delivery to the press is managed by Durst Workflow. It also automates unique coding and numbering applications for track and trace applications. The optional Smart Shop module provides a full e-commerce front end, including design and job submission tools while the comprehensive analytics tool set, reports detailed performance data and KPIs that aid press optimisation.

All of which help contribute to a convincing TCO (total cost of ownership) when evaluating whether an investment will pay off, where the volume break even points are to ensure more accurate costings, and how the most effective technology utilisation can be achieved. Other benefits such as how digital just-in-time print production can help reduce storage costs and obsolescence were also explored.

Attendees watched as the press was put through its paces and seamlessly ran five carton jobs in just over 15 minutes, which included job-changes on the fly at a top speed of 5,500sph. “Don’t blink or you’ll miss it!” Three featured the same stock with design and ink coverage changes. Next was a spot varnished job on a different board with a changeover of varnish plate. The final job included board size change and another spot varnish.

 

The event included updates on the installation of the first beta press that will be up and running this month (May). Preparations are underway to install a second in June and a commercial customer is planning production from Q3. Other systems are under construction.

By Joerg Krista, Prepress Specialist, Kärcher
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