Corrugated: Corrugated arrives at the inflexion point says Stabler

Robert Stabler is steeped in digital printing and believes that now is the time that corrugated packaging will follow commercial printing and labels into the age of digital printing.

Robert Stabler knows what he is talking about when discussing how print sectors transform to digital printing. He is veteran of Xerox and latterly HP Indigo before joining Koenig & Bauer Durst as first CEO of the joint venture dedicated to bringing inkjet printing to packaging businesses. In one direction this is the Varijet 106 for carton printers in the other the Delta SPC130 and its new version, and the CorruJet. 

The Delta SPC 130 FlexLine Eco+ is described as an entry level compact model, intended for companies with demand for 4-8 million square metres a year and can be upgraded as companies grow and demand for digital printing increases. It thus reduces the barrier to entry for corrugated converters wanting to manage risk or feel they do not have the volume to justify the investment for the full SPC 130. It is the same logic as EFI deployed with the launch of its new Nozomi.

The SPC 130 Eco+ joins the SPC 130 as the inkjet press for post print corrugated. It uses a water based food safe ink and runs at 2m/s. It can print with six colours (white not included) to board with a maximum format of 1,300×2,100mm and 12mm thick, at 800dpi resolution There is no need to pretreat or coat the substrate before printing, though a priming unit is optional for higher quality print. The hot air and IR drying system however adds to the dimensions of the press. A basic machine comes in at 38 metre long, the semi-automatic version at 45 metres in length.

The first single-pass inkjet machine was shown at Drupa in 2016 expanding since into options with different levels of automation. Now the drying section has been redesigned to make the press more compact, although the manufacturer says it can be expanded at a later date into the full version.

The Eco+ model introduces what is being called Dynamic Nozzle Management, an automated means of keeping the nozzles open without contact to the nozzle plate and improving uptime for users. It will be possible to retrofit this to other models while being factory fitted to new machines.

The larger CorruJet machine is also a sheetfed press with technology taken from Koenig & Bauer’s Rotajet, including 1200dpi Fujifilm Samba printheads. Like the Rotajet, this is a four-colour-only press.

There are opportunities for digital print around sustainability where brands want to eliminate plastic completely as the public has turned vehemently against any use of plastic. Corrugated unquestionably has a strong story to tell. “Everything needs to be biodegradable and recyclable. The smarter converters are moving away from their plastic related businesses,” Stabler says. “There is the problem of how brands handle returns from online shopping. They can no longer afford to discard product as they might have done previously. Instead they need to unbox a return and re-box it ready to be sold again.” That is he says “a big opportunity”.