< PreviousTonejet, it’s essentially a large oval-shaped track on which are mounted multiple pairs of tools. Each pair grips one can from opposite sides and carries it through the oval-shaped circuit. Along the way, each pair of grippers pauses briefly at two stations. In the first, the can rotates so that a belt can perform a physical wipe down of the external surface of each can. A short distance later, each can stops again, this time to rotate against a roller coater for application of a proprietary Tonejet primer that gets thermally dried. “It isn’t a great deal of heat used for the drying,” says Foreman. “It’s a very quick evaporation, because the primer has to stay reasonably soft.“ A few feet away from the washer/primer sits the Cyclone digital printer, and now the cans are ready to be transferred onto one of the 20 mandrels that are at the heart of this printing system. An intermittent- motion flighted conveyor positions each can directly in front of one of these mandrels and pushes the can onto the mandrel. Each mandrel is mounted on a mover of an iTrak linear servo track system from Rockwell. Each mover, once a can has been pushed onto its mandrel, takes its can through the iTrak’s oval- shaped track and beneath the four electrostatic CMYK print heads. Upon arrival in a print station, the can rotates on its mandrel as ink is jetted onto it. Foreman says the introduction of the iTrak technology was a big step forward in the evolution of can-handling at Tonejet. Movers move independently “In some areas of the oval-shaped track through which the cans move we need to go really fast, but in other areas we need to go slow,” says Foreman. “With the iTrak’s programmable movers, which move completely independently of each other, you can change the timing and speed in just about any way you wish. The part where we need to slow down considerably is where we have an air tunnel that evaporates the last bit of the carrier fluid from the pigment. Immediately after that we use an analog roller coater to apply an overprint varnish.” Thermal curing of this varnish comes next, after which the cans reach the end of the iTrak and are unloaded from the Cyclone open-end-up on a vacuum conveyor discharge that keeps each can fixed in one spot. “They’re not cured yet,” Baril explains, “so the vacuum conveyor ensures that they have no opportunity to touch each other and possibly mar the surface. The vacuum conveyor brings them to a robotic pickup that transfers six cans at a time onto the infeed conveyor of the curing oven. Four minutes later the cans emerge from the oven and enter the Ska Fabricating palletizer to complete their pallet-to-pallet loop.” Since installation last December, the Cyclone has produced hundreds of thousands of cans in batches ranging from 48 to 165,000 cans. While craft brewers are a key target market, so are the marketers of canned water, kombucha, and wine. In addition to the benefits this digital printing technology brings in terms of keeping labels from contaminating the aluminum recycle stream, it also dovetails nicely with today’s trend toward making the package a digital portal. SoluCan General Manager Jean-Francois Gaudreault put it this way in a recent article that appeared in the UK’s Digital Labels & Packaging: “[Digital printing allows the beverage can to be] transformed into a totally digital portal. Linking packaging to the digital world, accessible via your smartphone or laptop, is a total game-changer and provides a powerful marketing tool. In addition to using the space to promote events, marketing promotions, etc., you can include codes to link to augmented reality apps and even invisible codes and water marking.” When asked if the relatively slow speed of the Cyclone digital printing system, 60 cans/min, is viewed as any kind of a drawback, both SoluCan and Tonejet said not at all. “Naturally, since this is a new technology, we have a wish list of things we might like to see optimized, and speed is on the list,” says Baril. “But for now it’s not a huge priority.” More of a priority, he adds, are plans to install a second Cyclone system some time later this year. “Right now we’re only printing 12-oz cans,” says Baril. “The new machine will handle both 12- and 16-oz cans.” PW DI G IT A L P R IN T IN G F O R L A B EL S & P A CK A G IN G 8 PW JU LY 20 20 Freshly printed cans are unloaded from the Cyclone printing system open- end-up on a vacuum conveyor discharge that keeps each can fixed in one spot, leaving no opportunity for one can to touch another and possibly mar the uncured surface. Solucan.indd 8Solucan.indd 86/22/20 3:45 PM6/22/20 3:45 PMPERFORMANCE, PACK AGED GENESIS DIGITAL COL OR PRINTING SY STEM The Perfect, High-Speed Solution for Printing Package Graphics Directly onto Packaging Substrates, eliminating the need for preprinted material. This compact, all in one, stainless steel system prints at the highest resolutions while keeping pace with the industry’s fastest packaging machines. Traversing and inline printing capabilities, versatile mounting options and scalable design allows for a seamless integration in every application. T OP FEATURES XactCureTM PostScript Driver 21 CFR Part 11 Compliant All Stainless, Modular, Compact Footprint Fle xible Solution f or P rinting & UDI Complianc e PHONE 717-848-3875 EMAIL Greydon@ProMachBuilt.com WEB Greydon.com Solucan.indd 9Solucan.indd 96/22/20 3:47 PM6/22/20 3:47 PMThree digital technologies with huge potential in the packaging arena have recently gone from the develop- ment stage to the fully commercial or beta-site stage. Interestingly enough, each of these technologies occupies a different place in the package converting continuum. From Actega Metal Print GmbH comes EcoLeaf, a method of em- bellishing packaging substrates by way of micro-pigments. From Komori comes the Impremia NS40, a 40-in. sheet-fed Nanographic Printing® system. And from Highcon comes the Beam 2C, which brings to corrugated packaging the power of digital laser scoring and cutting that has been quietly trans- forming the folding carton sector since drupa 2016. Let’s begin with the Beam 2C, which would have been the star of the Highcon booth at drupa had drupa not been postponed due to COVID-19. Digital finishing of corrugated sheet, says Highcon CEO Shlomo Nimrodi, is something that up to about a year ago simply did not exist. “What we’ve been able to accomplish in just 12 months is, in my opinion, phenomenal,” he tells us. Like the digital laser scoring and cutting equipment for folding cartons that put Highcon on the map in the first place, the Beam 2C replaces the expensive and slow conventional die-making and setup process with a digital technology that delivers fast speed to market, design flexibility, and the ability to perform a wide range of applications in-house. The key to the Highcon technology is DART: Digital Adhesive Rule Technology. Digital creasing data is uploaded from a DXF file to the Beam 2C system. Proprietary software translates the data and sends it to a special dispensing unit that contains an unnamed polymer. This polymer is released onto a PET Packaging Converters are Digging Digital By Pat Reynolds, VP Editor Emeritus DI G IT A L P R IN T IN G F O R L A B EL S & P A CK A G IN G 10 PW JU LY 20 20 From a new approach to metallization to nanographic printing to digital laser scoring and cutting of printed corrugated sheet, converters agree that digital is the future. An impressive example of what THIMM has been able to produce thanks to its digital capabilities is this package for a Danone Activia campaign executed in the Czech Republic. The single-wall E-flute corrugated was printed on a Durst RHO 1012 and then taken to the Highcon Beam 2C (above right) for digital laser scoring and cutting. Digital3Fer.indd 10Digital3Fer.indd 106/22/20 3:22 PM6/22/20 3:22 PMjacket mounted on a hard metal upper cylinder. In essence, the dispensing unit extrudes onto the PET jacket the rules needed to make the case’s creases. The pattern it extrudes is dictated by the digital data uploaded from the DXF file. As soon as the polymer rules are laid down, they’re hardened by exposure to UV light. Directly beneath the upper cylinder and its PET jacket is a lower cylinder that has a soft, silicone- like blanket mounted on it. All that remains is to send the printed corrugated sheet through the two cylinders. As the upper cylinder with its UV-hardened rules presses into the soft surface of the lower cylinder, the corrugated board in between is creased by the rules. Once the required number of sheets has been creased, the PET jacket is removed from the upper cylinder and a fresh one takes its place so that a completely different job can be downloaded. This video (pwgo.to/5553) demonstrates the rules of polymer being printed onto the cylinder with PET jacket. As for cutting the individual cases from the sheet, it’s done within the Beam 2C system immediately after creasing. An array of high-powered CO 2 lasers combine with scanners and advanced optics to perform whatever cutting design was spelled out digitally in the uploaded file. According to Highcon, the Beam 2C is capable of handling C-flute and double-wall corrugated at up to 4,000 sheets/hr, and sheet width can be up to 29 in. x 42 in. Among the first to install the Beam 2C is THIMM pack’n’display. This leading solutions provider for the packaging and display of consumer goods installed and commissioned the Beam 2C in its production plant in Vsetaty in the Czech Republic. It further enhances the plant’s capabilities, which already includes a high level of automation and state-of-the-art digital printing capabilities on equipment from HP Indigo and Durst. “Our objective is always to deliver the best solution to the customer,” says Michael Weber, Head of Corporate Marketing at THIMM. “Alongside digital printing, this digital laser cutting technology for the digital finishing of corrugated represents a logical expansion of our capacities. We are convinced that laser-cut packaging and displays are relevant to many different sectors and we are currently working closely with our customers in the preparation of new packaging and presentation options to generate a competitive advantage for them.” Digital laser technology lets THIMM meet the growing demand from brand owners who no longer accept a one- pack-suits-all approach and want customized variants instead. THIMM is able to respond to this trend because digital laser cutting requires no cutting tools. This shortens the production process and makes it practical to produce small numbers of corrugated cases. Not to mention that digital laser cutting can produce some very sophisticated cutouts that are impossible for conventional cutting dies to handle. Highcon’s Nimrodi says his firm’s expansion from equipment designed for finishing paperboard cartons to equipment that finishes corrugated had three key drivers behind it. First, anywhere between 30 and 50 digital presses are being installed in the plants of corrugated suppliers every year. So it only makes sense that these companies would also want to go from analog to digital in corrugated finishing equipment. “If these companies are spending three or four million dollars on a digital press to satisfy their customers’ speed-to-market demands, why would they want to put those printed sheets into a production queue until conventional creasing and die-cutting equipment is ready to finish them? Where is the efficiency in that approach?” asks Nimrodi. A second driver is that Highcon isn’t just about selling equipment, it’s also about selling consumables like the proprietary polymer used in its DART technology. By expanding into corrugated finishing, the firm positions itself to sell more of this polymer. As for the third driver, it’s actually something that Highcon only began to fully appreciate once customers began to finish significant amounts of corrugated on the Beam 2C. What they discovered is that unlike conventional finishing technology, which crushes or compresses the corrugated sheet, digital laser cutting is a non-crush method. “For example,” says Nimrodi, “if you need a corrugated case with a three-millimeter thickness, you have to start out with four millimeters if you are relying on conventional finishing technology. But by going digital and laser, you can start out with three-millimeter board. That means a savings in material costs.” Go to pwgo.to/5546 for a brief video of the Beam 2C operating at the THIMM plant. 11 Digital3Fer.indd 11Digital3Fer.indd 116/22/20 3:23 PM6/22/20 3:23 PMKomori’s Impremia NS40 Moving now to the other two notable firsts in the digital print for packaging scene, it’s worth mentioning that Benny Landa’s entrepreneurial fingerprints are on both of them. Sometimes called the “father of commercial digital printing,” Landa is the one who launched Indigo Digital Press in 1977, a technology he sold to Hewlett-Packard in 2002. He then went on to launch The Landa Group for nanotechnology research, an organization that brought not only nanographic printing into existence but Nano-Metallography, as well. We’ll get to Nano-Metallography shortly. But first we turn to Nanographic printing, specifically to the Impremia NS40, the 40-inch Sheetfed Nanographic Printing® System from Komori. Described by Komori as a “technical exhibit” at drupa 2016, it was slated for a proper sales launch at drupa 2020. It uses Nanography® technology licensed from Landa, and its development incorporated the know-how and technologies that Komori has cultivated over a long period of time through its offset printing business. Last October, Komori announced the world’s first beta site for the Impremia NS40: Shinwa Factory of Japan. “I am extremely grateful that Komori chose us to conduct the field testing for the Impremia NS40,” says Yasunari Yamazaki, Representative Director of Shinwa Factory. “One of our requests was the support for small-lot production of packages. About 40% of jobs of the total volume of packages that we manufacture are 2,000 sheets or less, and there is a limit to one day’s production in terms of setup and efficiency. We can expect that the production volume of the Impremia NS40, with a print speed of 6,500 sheets per hour and an extremely short changeover time, will far exceed our current offset printing capabilities.” The NS40 has a true resolution of 1,200 dpi and can handle four to seven colors with UV, LED, or aqueous based in-line coating. Sheet size can be up to 750 x 1,050 in. with thickness ranging from 0.06 to 0.8 mm. As for the Komori/Landa relationship, it is a longstanding one. In building its S10 and S10P Nanographic Printing presses, Landa has for some time incorporated a sheet- transfer system made by Komori. For the NS40, Komori builds upon a similar transfer system and licenses Landa’s Nanographic printing technology. Unlike anything else out there, it uses an innovative system that employs Landa NanoInk colorants, a proprietary water-based ink with nano- pigment particles that measure tens of nanometers in size. Unlike ink-jet printing, where ink-jets put the image directly onto the substrate, nanography is essentially an offset process. The Landa NanoInk dispersions are ejected onto a unique heated blanket, and only then is the ink transferred from the blanket to the substrate in the form of an ultra- thin film. Substrates, it should be noted, can be of the off-the-shelf variety requiring no pre-treatment or priming. Landa claims that nanography offers unprecedented dot sharpness and color uniformity compared to ink-jet or offset lithography, because its high-resolution ink ejectors deliver 1200 dpi resolution, high coverage, multiple gray levels, and exceptional color definition. This animation (pwgo.to/5547) does a good job of depicting how the technology works. According to Jacki Hudmon, SVP New Business Development at Komori America, while the NS40 relies on Landa’s Nanoinks and the same method of jetting them onto the transfer blanket, it’s not the same press that Landa offers. “We’re used to developing and working with presses that run at 60,000 sheets per hour, so we’re taking some of that core technology in terms of registration and control of the transfer blanket and bringing it to how we actually deliver the image to the substrate,” says Hudmon. Metallization reimagined So that brings us to Actega Metal Print, which announced this past March that German print specialist Kolbe-Coloco Spezialdruck GmbH is the world’s first beta customer for EcoLeaf, which Actega claims is a “revolutionary, sustainable, and cost-effective metallization technology.” Founded in 2017, Actega Metal Print’s mission is to revolutionize the graphic arts industry with a sustainable metallization technology that significantly reduces the amount of material, waste, cost, and production time for creating decorative embellishments compared to today’s conventional processes, which are mainly based on hot-foil or cold-foil deposition. To achieve this, Altana Group’s Actega division acquired Nano- Metallography from the Landa Group and branded it EcoLeaf. Nano-Metallography is a unique digital technology that was first unveiled at drupa 2016 by Benny Landa. As we’ll see in a minute, while Actega kept much of the technology as originally engineered by Landa, they’ve changed it rather dramatically in one key way. At the heart of EcoLeaf is a module designed to be integrated into any analog presses, digital presses, or finishing equipment. In the case of Kolbe-Coloco, which plans to focus on metallized pressure- sensitive labels for a variety of brands, the module is part of a newly installed all-servo Gallus RCS 12-color press, which incorporates a combination of offset, flexo, and screen printing. “Our business is focused on print services that create a greater connection between a brand and the consumer to ultimately aid sales,” says Michael Leon, Managing Director, Kolbe-Coloco. “We do that by employing some of the best print technologies on the market, and EcoLeaf is a perfect example of this.” DI G IT A L P R IN T IN G F O R L A B EL S & P A CK A G IN G 12 PW JU LY 20 20 The Impremia NS40 40-in. sheet-fed Nanographic Printing System from Komori combines Komori’s experience in sheet-transfer systems with the NanoInk technology invented by Landa. Digital3Fer.indd 12Digital3Fer.indd 126/22/20 3:23 PM6/22/20 3:23 PMThe most fundamental advantage of EcoLeaf is that it eliminates waste. The technology is probably best understood by rst reviewing how hot-foil and cold-foil decorative metallization of labels and packaging materials has typically been done in the past. Hot-foil metallization involves a multilayer construction consisting of a carrier, usually polyester, plus the metal layer and an adhesive. In the hot-foil station, a heated tool often made of bronze and having the desired image on it presses the hot-foil material against the substrate. The adhesive is activated, causing foil in the shape of the desired image to adhere to the substrate. The rest of the multilayer construction is rewound as waste. Cold-foil metallization also involves a multilayer construction including a polyester carrier, but there is no adhesive. You exo print an adhesive on the substrate in the shape you want to be metallized. Then you press the cold-foil material against the substrate and cure the adhesive with UV light. Once again, the carrier and everything except the metallized image is rewound as scrap. Needless to say, both of these approaches are wastefully expensive because you’re only using a portion of the roll-fed multilayer material and discarding the rest. It’s also not the most sustainable way to go, either. What sets EcoLeaf apart is that there is no roll-fed multilayer carrier material and you only use as much metal as the design requires. In summary, it works like this. Using a transparent UV-curable adhesive, one of the printing stations ahead of the EcoLeaf module prints and UV cures what’s called a “trigger image” on the substrate. Only on this printed image will metallization occur because it’s the only place where the adhesive has been deposited. The substrate then moves into the EcoLeaf module, inside of which are a donor roll and a replenishing system lled with metal pigment supplied by Eckart, also part of the Altana Group. The donor roll carries on its surface a thin layer of metal pigment, and when the donor roll contacts the trigger image, the pigment transfers to the image and bonds instantly. The metallized image can be lacquered or overprinted to achieve a wide range of metallic colors. And since only the metal used to create the image is consumed, there is zero waste, making EcoLeaf considerably less expensive than either hot- or cold-foil stamping. One added bene t is that unlike aluminum foil, it’s microwavable. Go to pwgo.to/5548 for a video animation. “We have no doubt that our customers will embrace EcoLeaf with open arms,” says Leon. “We think they will love the opportunity to add cost-effective and amazing metallization to their jobs. This solution has the potential to be a serious game changer.” Examples of EcoLeaf labels in commercial use are not yet available. But shown above is a photo of a paper pressure- sensitive label produced by Actega that gives a good idea of what the technology can deliver. This particular wine bottle label was printed offset in ve colors. The substrate then passed through a exo printing station that delivered the trigger image. Finally, in the EcoLeaf module, the metallization was executed. According to Dario Urbinati, Chief Sales and Marketing Of cer at Actega Metal Print, the location of the EcoLeaf module depends on what effects the converter is seeking to accomplish. “It can be metallize rst and print next. Or print and then metallize. Or print, metallize, and overprint to achieve different color variations. We’re also looking into the possibility of mounting the EcoLeaf module on a rail system so that it can be moved according to requirements.” 13 EcoLeaf technology from Actega is a new way of metallizing packaging materials that is said to be more sustainable and cost e cient than currently available options. The metallization module shown here can be integrated into any analog press, digital press, or fi nishing equipment. Digital3Fer.indd 13Digital3Fer.indd 136/22/20 3:23 PM6/22/20 3:23 PMFlexible. Scalable. Adaptable. We know you are confronted with rapidly evolving challenges within your business. WestRock wants to assure you that we are ready and able to help you navigate these changes. Whether you need redesigned packaging structures or automation for greater efficiency we can help you get your product to market on time and at speed. Contact your Westrock sales representative or email corrugatedpkg@westrock.com. Connecting people to products. westrock.com/corrugated ©2020 WestRock Company. All rights reserved. 14 Urbinati believes that eliminating hot-foil and cold-foil from the print production process brings a number of benefits. “Because we only send pigments to the printers and not heavy rolls of multilayer material, the cost and effort from a logistical standpoint are reduced,” he points out. “Plus there are fewer machine stops due to the need to replenish the roll of hot- or cold-foil material. And finally, it means less polyester carrier material going into the solid waste stream.” And the key modification made by Actega when they purchased the Landa Nano-Metallography technology? Actega’s use of metal micro-pigments in place of Landa’s metal nanoflakes means the technology is no longer an example of “nanography,” which the National Nanotechnology Initiative defines as the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers. PW Your first choice in digital cutting. www.zund.com infous@zund.com T: 414-433-0700 – Modular, upgradeable – Single- and dual-beam systems available – Semi- to fully automated, robotic workflow solutions From protoyping to production... NOSCO A BIG BELIEVER IN DIGITAL Few converters of packaging materials have capitalized more successfully on what digital printing can offer than Gurnee, Il.-based Nosco. A specialist in cartons, labels, inserts, and flexible packaging for the pharmaceutical, natural health, personal care, and health care industries, the firm now serves more than 250 customers every month using digital printing. Among its more notable installations is an HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press for flexible packaging materials and a Karlville Pack Ready Laminator (shown left). Both systems contribute to Nosco’s ability to produce short runs and quick turns, an ability that will be further enhanced now that the firm has installed a Karlville KS-DSUP-400 Pouching Machine for making two- and three-side-seal pouches with optional zipper as well as standup pouches with optional zipper. For a look inside Nosco’s operations and its digital printing assets, visit pwgo.to/5648. PW Digital3Fer.indd 14Digital3Fer.indd 146/22/20 3:23 PM6/22/20 3:23 PMFlexible. Scalable. Adaptable. We know you are confronted with rapidly evolving challenges within your business. WestRock wants to assure you that we are ready and able to help you navigate these changes. Whether you need redesigned packaging structures or automation for greater efficiency we can help you get your product to market on time and at speed. Contact your Westrock sales representative or email corrugatedpkg@westrock.com. Connecting people to products. westrock.com/corrugated ©2020 WestRock Company. All rights reserved. Your first choice in digital cutting. www.zund.com infous@zund.com T: 414-433-0700 – Modular, upgradeable – Single- and dual-beam systems available – Semi- to fully automated, robotic workflow solutions From protoyping to production... Digital3Fer.indd 15Digital3Fer.indd 156/22/20 3:23 PM6/22/20 3:23 PMSince 1996 Virtual Packaging of Grapevine, Tex., has been providing shelf-appeal consulting as well as packaging prototypes to a wide range of U.S. and international clients. Now those clients want the firm to also produce commercial quantities in addition to prototypes. To do that, management realized they needed to invest in digital technology for both printing and finishing of folding cartons. “As capable as we were when it came to providing customers with prototypes, we weren’t able to help them when the quantities numbered in the hundreds or a thousand,” says Tara Duckett, VP Sales & Operations. “And we realized no one else was really able to meet requests in those volumes, either, so we knew it was a good opportunity. And the best fit, we felt, was the combination of Landa and Highcon.” And so it was that in 2019 the firm installed an S10 sheet- fed nanographic press from Landa Digital Printing and a Beam digital cutting and creasing system from Highcon. “We began looking at digital printing as early as 2000,” adds Virtual Packaging CEO Monty Patterson. “We began A First in All-Digital Package Converting By Pat Reynolds, VP Editor Emeritus DI G IT A L P R IN T IN G F O R L A B EL S & P A CK A G IN G 16 PW JU LY 20 20 This Texas converter is the first in North America to commercially operate a nanographic press for packaging. Just as impressive, carton creasing and cutting are digital, too. All four folding cartons shown here were printed on the Landa S10 and then creased and cut on the Highcon Beam, and the run lengths ranged from 2,000 to 10,000 units. VirtualPackaging.indd 16VirtualPackaging.indd 166/22/20 3:26 PM6/22/20 3:26 PMwith wide format roll-to-roll and flatbed printers. By 2005 we started looking for wider format, the B1 format. It took a while, but by 2016 we started talking with Landa and agreed to purchase a nanographic press in April of that year. And around the same time frame we made a deal with Highcon, too.” With the installation of the two new pieces of carton converting equipment, Virtual Packaging became what Patterson calls “the first all-digital B1 packaging site in North America.” When asked if it’s risky to wade into such uncharted territory, he has this to say. “It can be. But we ran a lot of numbers and did a lot of analysis. Also, we like being challenged. So there was no doubt in any of our minds that this was the thing to do. We had enough information to know that there was some demand for this, though we couldn’t really attach a finite number to it. Now that we’re into production, the numbers are coming in pretty much where we thought they would. Sales started off a little bit slower than we’d hoped. But the margins were there from the start. And now we expect to see 10 to 20% increases month after month for quite a while.” First in North America While Virtual Packaging’s move is a big deal for a number of reasons, perhaps what’s most notable is that it represents the very first installation of a Landa S10 nanographic press in North America. The nanographic printing process, also called nanography, differs from other printing technologies because it uses an innovative system that employs Landa NanoInk colorants, a proprietary water-based ink with nano-pigment particles that measure tens of nanometers in size. Unlike ink-jet printing, where ink-jets put the image directly onto the substrate, nanography is essentially an offset process. The Landa NanoInk dispersions are ejected onto a unique heated blanket, and only then is the ink transferred from the blanket to the substrate in the form of an ultra-thin film. Substrates, it should be noted, can be of the off-the-shelf variety requiring no pre-treatment or priming. Landa claims that nanography offers unprecedented dot sharpness and color uniformity compared to ink-jet or offset lithography, because its high-resolution ink ejectors deliver 1200 dpi resolution, high coverage, multiple gray levels, and exceptional color definition. As for throughput, it’s an impressive 13,000 B1 sheets (1000 X 707 mm, 39.37 x 27.83 in) per hour, though at this point Virtual Packaging operates closer to 6,500 sheets as it awaits an upgrade. Like other Landa Nanographic Printing Presses, the S10 is equipped with Landa’s Active Quality Management (AQM). Developed by Landa with AVT, Techkon, and EFI, it’s a fully automatic solution that scans each printed sheet, identifies defects (color inconsistency, issues with print uniformity or registration, missing nozzles), and initiates corrective action where applicable—all without any operator intervention. Announced with some fanfare at drupa 2012, nanographic printing presses were originally scheduled to begin shipping in 2014. But it was more like 2016 or 2017 before the first S10 beta site, Israel’s Graphica-Bezalel, was announced. By summer of 2018, Germany-based Edelmann, a leading folding carton producer with 19 sites around the world, became the first beta site in Europe. And then came 2019. 17 From left to right in front of the Landa S10, Landa Field Technician Michael Harar joins Virtual Packaging’s VP Press Operator Jose “Pepe” Guerra, VP Sales and Operations Tara Duckett, VP Press Operator Rudy “Romo” Ramirez, VP Production Manager Rafael Guerra, and VP & Administration Jordan Patterson. VirtualPackaging.indd 17VirtualPackaging.indd 176/22/20 3:27 PM6/22/20 3:27 PMNext >