New digital solutions make their mark at Bobst Label & Packaging Innovation event

Packaging Solutions

Bobst’s recent Label & Packaging Innovation event attracted more than 600 visitors. Demonstrations spanning across Bobst, Mouvent and the Revo team partners showed several world premieres and breakthrough technologies live.

The DigiFlexo innovations presented by Bobst and its 12 Revo partners, along with Mouvent digital inkjet printing, fulfilled brand owners’ needs and solved converters’ challenges. ‘The game changing solutions will set a new course for the industry’s future,’ said Stephan März, head of Business Unit Web-fed, Bobst Group. ‘Bobst innovates and collaborates with premium partners in label and packaging. This helps us to be agile and proactive towards the fast changes happening in our industry.’

‘The amount of working equipment on-show was impressive. Visitors could participate in hands-on demonstrations of inter-linked equipment and complete workflows,’ added Dan Pulling, EMEA business development manager HD flexo and colour at Esko.

Each of the event’s three main themes of time to market, colour consistency and food packaging safety was presented to visitors. Live demos showed how to achieve labels and packaging production faster, consistently, safely, and with greatly reduced use of resources via new design concepts, workflows and use of digitalisation.

Bobst introduced two revolutionary innovations relating to flexo inking and colour matching: Ink-on-Demand (IoD) and DigiColor.

The IoD inking system replaces conventional inking reservoirs with a single rubber pipe that dispenses 30 grams of ink to the print unit. The system eliminates ink trays and chambered doctor blades.

DigiColor, the solution for Revo Extended Color Gamut (ECG) printing takes the IoD concept one step forward: the hue of the ink dispensed to the print unit can be digitally adjusted by mixing a darker and a lighter shade of each colour in the proportion required to match the target Delta E value during printing. The digitalisation of the process gives converters and brand owners the certainty of matching Delta E at any speed, on any substrate, with any operator, anywhere in the world. The IoD and DigiColor technologies were demonstrated on a Bobst M5 DigiFlexo press.

Closed loop and traceability on DigiFlexo technology was a world premiere. It combines the Esko WebCenter platform managing production specification, approval and project life cycle, the X-Rite ColorCert colour communication system, the AVT SpectraLab in line spectral measurement and monitoring, and PantoneLive digital brand colour management assets. It is a fully digitised and connected workflow enabling the traceability of every item of packaging, from the original file, to the press, to job validation and storage of the digital data generated from the final printed job. This solution was presented live on an M6 DigiFlexo Press for flexible packaging.

The DigiFlexo presses in demonstration were equipped with all the latest technologies developed by the Revo partners: patented GTT 2.0 anilox rollers by Apex International delivered consistent ink laydown for uniform colour consistency; workflow automation on colour and register by AVT guaranteed digital control of colour and print quality and on the fly adjustment capabilities; flexo plates by DuPont enabled 120 L/cm print quality.

A range of new technologies addressed the safety of food packaging. The new generation of low migration UV inks by Flint Group integrated into the Revo process, provides food safe compatible printed samples. These are certified by the UV monitoring system by GEW, which allows the safety traceability of every metre of printed substrate.

UPM Raflatac introduced new food label substrates that support product safety and legal compliance.

At the event, visitors discovered the recently opened Revo Academy, installed in Bobst Firenze’s new Competence Centre. The equipment encompasses the Esko Crystal CDI 4835 XPS ECG separation and imaging and Kongsberg X20 cutting table, and X-Rite I1Io scanning table. The Revo Academy is open to converters worldwide to test and get trained on the turnkey ECG solutions. From the new file, in just one hour, it is possible to print the new job on press including plate making, plate mounting and press set up.

Mouvent, the digital printing competence centre of the Bobst Group, presented its LB702-UV high productivity digital label press in a six colour set up (CMYKOV) for the first time, showcasing digital ECG and spot colour printing matching DigiFlexo ECG colors.

Converters were very impressed with the high production speeds of 100 metres per minute reached during the live demonstrations, without compromising on the 1200 x 1200 Lpi print quality of Mouvent digital Inkjet heads.

‘It was a great opportunity for us to present the unique features and simplicity of our digital solutions to such a high class audience, and the strong interest shown by visitors is the best sign that we’re on the right track with our offer,’ summed up Reto Simmen, Mouvent’s chief business officer.