Sriraam Selvam’s Top Five of the Week

Kodak Flexcel NX
My favourite product for the week is the Kodak Flexcel NX Mid model, which is a flat-top dot technology platesetter machine can form plates with a resolution of 2400 dpi at a speed of six minutes per imaging layer. Chennai-based Repro Plate Services has also invested in the Flexcel Mid model. The Flexcel benefits Indian firms whose focus were mainly on packaging with foils, cartons, aluminum, etc, plus those firms who are adding more printing on its paper for the secondary packaging market, including corrugated.

The Kodak Flexcel NX digital flexographic system uses the thermal imaging layer in conjunction with flexo plates. This layer is exposed on a Trendsetter NX imager with Kodak Squarespot imaging technology. After imaging, it is laminated to a Kodak Flexcel NX digital flexographic plate using the Kodak Flexcel NX laminator. The quick and simple lamination process removes all oxygen between the layer and the plate, and results in the creation of high-quality, full amplitude, flat-top dots.

Bobst digital printing press
Bobst signaled its digital intentions when its CEO Jean-Pascal Bobst raised a sample of digital printed carton at Drupa 2012 and declared that “Bobst will not come into the market with a toy”.

Ten years of research, and putting its money where the mouth is, the as yet unnamed Bobst’s digital printing press for corrugated board is ready and has received its second beta site in Schumacher Packaging plant in Ebersdorf, Germany. The first beta site was Switzerland’s Model.

The press is built in a strategic partnership with Kodak, which was signed in 2013.  Designed and built in Switzerland, the Bobst digital printing press for corrugated board prints images, graphics, codes and text, which can vary from sheet to sheet. Incorporating Kodak Stream inkjet technology, the press delivers four-colour digital print directly onto the corrugated board and print run lengths can be from a single sheet to several thousand. Production speeds can reach 200 meters per minute, with a maximum sheet width of 1.3 meters.

Applications include serialisation, personalised packs, versioned packaging, customised corrugated products, and medium to short-runs of conventional boxes and displays. 

The good part about the press is that it is designed to integrated into high-volume post-print production environment that is typical of the corrugation industry.

Konica Minolta C71hc
There is news from Konica Minolta that the bizhub Press C71hc has replaced the bizhub Press C70hc in its portfolio.

From the look of it, Konica's High-Chroma toner that has the ability to reproduce a wider range of shades in the sRGB colour space, will expand its footprint in the photo merchandising market.

The High-Croma toner is derived from Konica's Simitri HD E toner technology.

The new press can print up to 71 A4ppm at 1,200dpi resolution, can print colours such as vivid pinks and purples, shades of green and bright blue in a significantly brighter and more vibrant manner than before. Other features of the C71hc include automatic duplex printing of up to 300gsm, and producing printed materials up to 1,200mm for simplex printing.

Masterwork
Heidelberg is doing an all India roadshow which announces how it can now offer Indian customers Masterwork machines such as the Duopress alongside the Promatrix die-cutter and Diana X and Diana Smart folder-gluers.

The Duopress, which can hot foil and emboss work in one pass at 6,000 cartons per hour, can also incorporate both stripping and blanking facilities in a single pass.

The agreement also includes offline inspection systems and other machines from the Masterwork product range.

As was reported in PrintWeek India, Heidelberg first announced its outsourcing deal with Masterwork in August 2014, when it announced that the OEM partner would manufacture its packaging post-press products going forwards as part of a major shake-up of its post-press operations.

TechNova's Akron
The newly introduced Akron range of IPA reducing/eliminating fountain solutions is good.

The Akron range of fountain solution includes Akron Gold CFIA which is designed to work with 0% to 4% isopropanol, depending upon the machine configuration; Akron Diamond which is designed to work with 4% to 6% isopropanol and isopropanol substitute; and the ultra low foaming fountain solution, Akron Gold, which is designed to work with 6% to 10% isopropanol or isopropanol substitutes.

The range is designed to keep the pressroom hassle-free by offering the printer a never before ‘Dose and Forget’ comfort, with its exceptional wetting stability and a high level of plate protection, at a low cost-in-use. This allows printers to focus on producing high-quality prints, rather than being bogged down with ink-water balance.