Ready for lift off!

In the first public interview, senior executives from Bobst talk with Daniel Brunton about the new industrial digital printing machine, specifically developed for corrugated, in partnership with Kodak.

Some 12 years in the making and many tens of millions of Euros in R&D, Bobst has now lifted the veil on its latest offering — a continuous inkjet (CIJ), digital press for corrugated packaging. At 50m in length and weighing in at a healthy 100 tons, this machine prints sheets up to 2.1 x 1.3m at a speed of up to 200 meters per minute. Using water based digital inks, the machine — yet to be officially named — looks to have a bright future.

The robust, high speed CIJ press has been developed using Kodak print heads and the results are impressive. “It has been a long road to get here,” states Philippe Milliet, Head of Business Unit Sheet-fed. “But now we have arrived with a great solution and our first two beta machines are running at customers in Europe — Model and Schumacher. We knew that to get all the data and testing we needed, we had to put the first two development machines into full production environments, so we could see how the machines operated under pressure. Early on, we realized that developing in a closed lab, with controlled environments, would not do us any favours in the long run – we needed to be sure that the press could run in a broad range of production environments.”

At the time of the interview in late August, a third beta machine was being completed and ready for dispatch to another box plant, also in Europe. “We will be carefully selecting our customers for these early generation machines,” explains Emilio Corti, Head of Sales, Business Unit Sheet-fed. “It is new technology, so there are bound to be start-up challenges until reaching maturity level, so it makes sense to have the machines relatively close to us. We will target Europe first, then expand the remit to include North America soon.” The company has confirmed the first full production machines will be delivered in 2017.

Learning Curve

When asked what Bobst feels sets them apart from other players in the market, the answer was quite simple. “When we got into this project, we had the benefit of understanding corrugated, both its characteristics, the environment in which the machine would run and the entire converting process,” says Jakob Bovin, Product Marketing Director - Digital Printing Corrugated Board, Business Unit Sheet-Fed. “Right from the start, we knew how to transport a sheet of board, which is critical in the development of any high-speed printing process. However, it quickly became apparent that our preconception was not going to work this time!”

Bobst has developed a completely new sheet transfer system to transport the sheet as it travels under the priming unit, each of the four colour print heads, dryer and final print inspection system. “If the system detects any error or default on print, an ejection unit kicks the sheet out,” states Mr Corti.

The company has also developed a new loader and pre-feeder for this new press. The out-feed and stacker has been developed specifically too, in collaboration with Bobst Grenchen. “Throughout the project, we have pulled on all our group-wide resources to deliver the ultimate solution,” says Mr Milliet.

Keep flowing

Like any digital solution, the new Bobst press needs significant attention at the ‘front end’ of the process, namely in pre-press. “For many converters, pre-press and design have been handled by external trade shops,” explains Mr Bovin. “With digital, you need to bring the workflow in-house. You need to have the people, skills and workflow solution to allow you to correctly prepare the PDF prior to the ripping process. You also need to realise that costing a job for digital is different too. You have no plates to worry about, but the cost of digital inks is higher than flexo, so you need to learn how to correctly cost-estimate.”

“There is obviously a delicate tipping point when it comes to costing,” interjects Mr Corti. “Not every job is right for digital, so you have to create a costing model that allows you to identify where a particular job fits and where traditional analogue methods might be more cost effective for the customer. It is our job to help converters to learn and understand this process, as well as holding their hand in the early stages of implementing a digital workflow in an inherently analogue business model.”

But it is not just the data that has to flow; the printed sheets need to flow too. This machine, with a maximum print size of 2.1 x 1.3m, has been developed to work in conjunction with the Bobst Mastercut 2.1 flat bed die-cutter. “Our digital offering is a turnkey, near-line solution,” explains Mr Milliet. “From a first stage pile turner, through loader and pre-feeder, through the press, into a stacker and then into converting. Due to its high run speed, the ideal solution would be to have two Mastercut 2.1 die-cutters near to the press, to handle the output.”

It has been noted the press will run at 200 meters per minute, thus the need for two flatbed die-cutters. “With a press of this speed – just like our Masterflex range – what is the point in being able to print that fast if the press then gets held up because of a die-cutter that can only run at 7,000 sheets per hour and needs to change die formes for each different job?” explains Mr Corti. “Two die-cutters gives you the flexibility to be preparing one job while the other machine is processing the current job.”

Colour sells

The fact that ‘colour sells’ is not new to the industry. However, what is new to brand owners is the availability of industrial levels of digital print and all that it offers in terms of versioning and personalisation. But also comes a slight dilemma of having only a CMYK colour gamut. “Our Kodak print solution runs a four colour, CMYK range,” says Mr Bovin. “With sophisticated software, we can offer a robust Pantone simulation, offering a broad spectrum of colours. But what we can’t run is spot colours.”

“We have had some interesting discussions with many brand owners while developing this machine,” continues Mr Milliet. “What is becoming clear is that brand owners like what digital can offer in terms of shorter runs, faster time to market for new products and the ability to use regional variations. What they have also started to take on board is that digital print does have some limitations and some of the brand owners are now starting to become more lenient when it comes to house colours in certain circumstances. But it is still early days and once again, we are here to partner with our customers to continue the evolution of the process.

Turning point

“The first beta machines have been put under pressure to perform,” says Mr Bovin. “We are gathering some excellent data from Model and Schumacher, which means we get closer and closer to the finished machine. From what we know from our research and the input from these early adopters, we are witnessing a true paradigm shift. This is the dawn of a new era for corrugated packaging and how we produce it. It is not a case of replacing flexo, not at all; it is simply a new tool that will change the way we can bring value back into the equation and give converters a tool to leverage their relationships with their customers.”

“Shorter run lengths, versioning and faster time to market will add significant challenges to the supply chain, there is no doubt,” concludes Mr Milliet. “However, the industry needs to learn to adapt, as this technology will allow brand owners to bring new products for market a lot faster, and as packaging is the latest truly disruptive media, the packaging industry is set to profit from the exploitation of adapting new technologies to enhance the consumers’ experience.”

Report courtesy of “International Paperboard Industry” magazine and author Daniel Brunton