DS Smith will install the world’s most productive digital press at its factory in Featherstone in May next year. The press is the 2.8 metre wide HP PageWide T1100S, a joint development between HP and KBA and designed for the corrugated preprint sector, at least at the outset.
It uses the same thermal inkjet technology as the PageWide T400S introduced a year ago. DS Smith installed this press at its Belper factory in order to assess the technology and its suitability for corrugated packaging before committing to the larger and more expensive press.
When the machine is installed it will be the culmination of a five year relationship with HP says DS Smith technical director Richard Caunt. ”This gives us corrugated sizes at corrugated speeds. it prints at 180m/min, giving all the benefits of preprint on a flat surface with run length flexibility. The customer gets flexibility, consistency and quality as we move to more demanding retail print patterns.
“This is the first time that digital printing has come anywhere near the speed that the corrugated industry needs.” The Featherstone plant focuses on supply to the FMCG sector.
The press is also the result of collaboration between HP and KBA. The German company is responsible for the paper handling and transport, including automated reel stands at either end of the press and the Patras reel management system. There is a new paper path compared to previous PageWide T series presses. This has been needed in order to handle the 2.8 metre wide paper and ensure that it can be dried without cockling. Drying combines infra red and hot air.
As the paper needs to pass 1mm beneath the inkjet heads, creating the rollers to support the web and the means of supporting the 260 inkjet heads split across ten arrays, posed engineering challenges. Nevertheless the project has moved from beer mat discussions to a press that was demonstrated to corrugated box printers in Wurzburg last week, in just two years.
“Collaboration was better than competing,” says Eric Wiesner, general manager of the PageWide web press operation. KBA had been investing the potential of its RotaJet technology for this market, but both recognised that each company could brings its own strengths to what is a relatively limited sector. HP puts the market at around 500 potential placements across North America and Europe in a sector worth $3.4 billion a year. Around 10% of this is preprint “but we are not restricting ourselves to that 10%, we want to aim for the 90%,” says Bob Seay, HP packaging business development director.
HP has been responsible for the software and has developed technology to ensure that image placement matches the multi knife corrugators that finished print will need to be processed by. It has created a frame concept to group together a number of flats to make these easier for the control system to handle. Quality control is a combination of scanner to monitor inkjet heads, image inspection cameras to check that the printed image matches the approved PDF, and inline spectrophotometer where required.
Following the DS Smith installation, HP plans a limited number of placements in 2017 ahead of a full release the following year. A press with automatic reel stands and coaters will cost $10 million, though a simpler version might start at $7 million. Despite the price tag the more than 70 companies present at the open days last week were keen to take discussions further says Eric Wiener. Likewise there have been talks with brand owners about the opportunity that this can offer. DS Smith has been engaging with customers in this way.
The press will print from 80gsm uncoated papers through to cartonboard, a potential glimpse of a future direction for the technology. HP is also working on the specification of a sheetfed press using the PageWide thermal heads, with packaging applications in mind. It is not saying whether collaboration with KBA would also cover this project.
The HP HP PageWide T1100S is a 2.8 metre wide inkjet press developed jointly with KBA which will build the machine at its plant in Wurzburg. The first version was shown to prospects last week and will be refined before a second open house at the factory in the run up to Drupa next year.
