Plockmatic was a first-time exhibitor at the Hunkeler Innovation Days, offering a UV coater as both an offline and inline proposition, and using the event to launch the Intec ColorCut SC6000 cutting table.
The visitor profile for the Hunkeler, of larger printers interested in automation, high volume printing and continuous feed inkjet, made this machine something of an anomaly among the other product introductions.
Its key selling point, that it has a much smaller footprint, points to customers that are restricted on floor space. It achieves this by moving paper back and forwards beneath the cutting blade, rather than having the cutting mechanism move across a static substrate.
The design allows automatic feeding and delivery to allow unattended running and handles material to 350gsm so can cope with lightweight cartons as well as folders, kiss cut labels and greetings cards on sheets to 340x710mm.
It is hitting a point in the market that is currently poorly served, Plockmatic’s VP sales & marketing offline business Ray Hillhouse explains. The first containers of the device have been sold as soon as they arrive, with the company’s dealers ordering four or five at at time confident that it will sell well.
There was greater interest from Hunkeler visitors on the DigiCoater Pro 400. A standalone version of the flood coater, which uses LEDs to cure the UV varnish was on Plockmatic’s own stand with an inline version running behind a VarioPrint iX320 on the Canon stand. Here it was adding a gloss finish to high quality posters.
It is proving popular among online photobook and cards producers, among them Moonpig. “What people are really interested in,” says Hillhouse, “is that it is using around half the power of a standard flood coater thanks to the LEDs.”
The Plockmatic group acquired the technology from Argos Solutions in February 2021.
