Added value through finishing
Finishing At the 2007 Hunkeler Innovationdays, the focus was on solutions as well as European and global innovations.
Finishing At the Hunkeler Innovationdays 2007, the focus was on solutions as well as European and global innovations For four days at the beginning of February, Lucerne was the global center of modern paper processing. The focus of the "Innovationdays" exhibition organized by Hunkeler AG at the Allmend Exhibition Centre was on the presentation of technical solutions for printing-on-demand, for data centers and mailrooms and for web finishing. Now in its seventh year, the event has evolved from an in-house exhibition to a leading industry gathering of international significance. A look at the development since the first edition in 1994 impressively shows the growing importance of Innovationdays on the international trade fair scene today. The number of visitors had multiplied tenfold by the time of the exhibition two years ago. The increasing demand from exhibitors ultimately led to the change of venue from Zofingen to Lucerne.
Paper processing and form finishingThe trade event aimed to demonstrate solutions. The exhibitors demonstrated ways in which printed matter produced using digital printing can be produced and further processed or enhanced inline. The event mainly focused on continuous feed digital printing and its finishing options, which are usually used to produce mailings, bank statements, invoices - known as transactional printing - or newspapers.
It is precisely in this environment that the expertise of the organizer Hunkeler lies, which was at the forefront here with innovations. The Lucerne-based company, which is the market leader in some segments, refers to these activities in the further processing of digitally printed products as paper processing. New components from Hunkeler based on the POPP-6 standard (POPP = Printer Online Paper Processing) - including unwinding and rewinding modules, high-performance cutters (for longitudinal and cross cutting as well as variable cut-out), stack deliveries and spiral folding, offset and transfer modules - enable the processing of papers or half cartons (from 40 to 300 g/m2) at speeds of up to 220 meters/minute (roll-to-roll production).
One highlight of the trade fair was the production of a mailing on a Variweb production line from Hunkeler, which demonstrated much of what is currently technically possible in this area. The mailing was punched inline several times in a single pass and from roll material: In addition to a die-cut shape based on the silhouette of an airplane, an address window was also die-cut. The perforation, trimming to the final format and subsequent folding were also carried out inline and therefore in a single operation. To monitor quality and completeness, an integrated video camera compares the mailings with the previously printed addresses.
Many of the applications on show in Lucerne are also likely to give new impetus to forms, which have often been declared dead. Intelligent forms fitted with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) labels are experiencing a renaissance thanks to new technical possibilities. These logistics forms equipped with corresponding transponders were produced in Lucerne on another Variweb line.
Digital printing trade fair includedSince Hunkeler offers and adapts its systems for various digital printing systems, these suppliers could not be missing. The participation of almost all leading digital printing suppliers impressively underlines the importance of this trade fair - as does the fact that more and more suppliers are exhibiting at Hunkeler.
Some of the companies that exhibited in Lucerne for the first time and, in particular, their new products are presented in alphabetical order (and without any claim to completeness) in the box on the right. Among them were further Swiss or even European premieres.
Hunkeler AGThe in Wikon, Lucerne
based company Hunkeler, which employs 250 people, is mainly active in the field of paper processing. This division (not included in the article or below is the disposal systems division, which is dedicated to paper disposal) offers complete solutions in the field of print output management and manufactures offline web finishing systems (systems that process printed roll paper) for finishing forms and advertising mailings. Customers use Hunkeler machines to produce customer and business cards, forms with multiple functions, mailings with stickers and integrated labels from paper rolls or continuous stacks. The company matches its digital paper processing machines to continuous feed and cut sheet high performance printers from Delphax, Océ, HP Indigo, IBM, Xeikon or Xerox for the transactional printing and mailing production segments.
Premieres of selected Agfa Graphics Herseller digital printing systems,
which attended the Hunkeler event for the first time, launched a new inkjet color printing system under the name :Dotrix TransColor. The Belgian company sees the system for printing transactional and transpromotional documents (e.g. invoice printing for large companies in connection with marketing) as well as for producing colorful and high-quality direct mailings. Thanks to the "Spice" printing unit (Single Pass Color Engine), almost 500 A4 pages per minute can be printed in color on both sides in one pass at a maximum paper width of 65 cm. Canon, also exhibiting at Innovationdays for the first time, presented the imagePRESS C1 printing system to the trade public as a Swiss premiere. The compact device can be used to print pre-prints or print-on-demand jobs up to SRA3 format (320 ¥ 450 mm cm). The color printing system, which is also very well suited as a proofing solution thanks to an integrated color management system, has an advantage over inkjet printing systems due to its significantly higher printing performance (14 pages/minute). The system, which features a range of new, leading technologies, can produce print products that are in no way inferior to offset printing. The imagePRESS C1 prints at true 1200 dpi and is equipped with various innovations, such as an oil-free fusing system. A transfer ribbon enables consistent print quality on a wide variety of media. The imagePRESS C1 can be used by companies in a wide variety of sectors: as an extremely precise proofing system, for short runs and print-on-demand jobs. It is also suitable for variable data processing in numerous sectors, including advertising agencies, in-house printers, copy stores and printing companies. According to Canon, the system, which has been on sale since November 2006, has been very well received. Over 70 ImagePress C1 systems have already been sold in Switzerland.
IBM announced three new digital printing systems in Lucerne with availability in March 2007. One of these, the Infoprint 5000 roll-to-roll color system, was on display. This inkjet printing system achieves print speeds of up to 64 meters/minute and can be used in PostScript/PDF environments. The high printing speed is provided by an inkjet system developed by Dainippon Screen. Last year, this Japanese manufacturer introduced a Truepress Jet520 color printing system with speeds of up to 64 m/min, which is equipped with ink heads from Epson.
Kodak demonstrated the production possibilities of digital newspaper printing with its Kodak Versamark VX5000 digital printing solution. Equipped with modules from Hunkeler AG, the Versamark enables cost-effective four-color printing of newspapers at remote locations or in short runs. In its standard configuration, Kodak is showing the Nexpress 2500, a printing system capable of printing up to 2500 A4 4/4-color sheets in one hour.
Océ presented the Swiss premiere of the Varistream 9230 - a web printing system that can print up to three colors on both sides. This makes the Varistream ideal for transactional printing, where corporate colors are to be used, for example. With the Varioprint 6250, the Dutch company also presented one of the fastest duplex single-sheet printers for the first time in Switzerland.
Xeikon presented its Xeikon 6000 printing system, which was only launched last autumn. The roller system prints up to 168 pages/minute (equivalent to 12 meters/minute) - in full colour and on both sides (duplex printing). A new toner is used, which has a more ideal particle shape and thanks to which better printing results can be achieved, especially when printing surfaces. It should also reduce toner consumption - a not insignificant cost factor in digital printing - by five to ten percent. The production of a so-called self-mailer was demonstrated in Lucerne; these are mailings that do not require envelopes or envelopes and are usually produced in a single operation.
Xerox presented the Nuvera 288 black and white printer, the fastest cut sheet printer currently available, which was announced last fall and shown in Europe for the first time. Corresponding software and hardware ensure that the two printing units work together as if they were one unit. Xerox also showed the Xerox 495 CF roll-to-roll printing system in production at the Innovationdays.
Jürgen Franck
Paper processing and form finishingThe trade event aimed to demonstrate solutions. The exhibitors demonstrated ways in which printed matter produced using digital printing can be produced and further processed or enhanced inline. The event mainly focused on continuous feed digital printing and its finishing options, which are usually used to produce mailings, bank statements, invoices - known as transactional printing - or newspapers.
It is precisely in this environment that the expertise of the organizer Hunkeler lies, which was at the forefront here with innovations. The Lucerne-based company, which is the market leader in some segments, refers to these activities in the further processing of digitally printed products as paper processing. New components from Hunkeler based on the POPP-6 standard (POPP = Printer Online Paper Processing) - including unwinding and rewinding modules, high-performance cutters (for longitudinal and cross cutting as well as variable cut-out), stack deliveries and spiral folding, offset and transfer modules - enable the processing of papers or half cartons (from 40 to 300 g/m2) at speeds of up to 220 meters/minute (roll-to-roll production).
One highlight of the trade fair was the production of a mailing on a Variweb production line from Hunkeler, which demonstrated much of what is currently technically possible in this area. The mailing was punched inline several times in a single pass and from roll material: In addition to a die-cut shape based on the silhouette of an airplane, an address window was also die-cut. The perforation, trimming to the final format and subsequent folding were also carried out inline and therefore in a single operation. To monitor quality and completeness, an integrated video camera compares the mailings with the previously printed addresses.
Many of the applications on show in Lucerne are also likely to give new impetus to forms, which have often been declared dead. Intelligent forms fitted with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) labels are experiencing a renaissance thanks to new technical possibilities. These logistics forms equipped with corresponding transponders were produced in Lucerne on another Variweb line.
Digital printing trade fair includedSince Hunkeler offers and adapts its systems for various digital printing systems, these suppliers could not be missing. The participation of almost all leading digital printing suppliers impressively underlines the importance of this trade fair - as does the fact that more and more suppliers are exhibiting at Hunkeler.
Some of the companies that exhibited in Lucerne for the first time and, in particular, their new products are presented in alphabetical order (and without any claim to completeness) in the box on the right. Among them were further Swiss or even European premieres.
Hunkeler AGThe in Wikon, Lucerne
based company Hunkeler, which employs 250 people, is mainly active in the field of paper processing. This division (not included in the article or below is the disposal systems division, which is dedicated to paper disposal) offers complete solutions in the field of print output management and manufactures offline web finishing systems (systems that process printed roll paper) for finishing forms and advertising mailings. Customers use Hunkeler machines to produce customer and business cards, forms with multiple functions, mailings with stickers and integrated labels from paper rolls or continuous stacks. The company matches its digital paper processing machines to continuous feed and cut sheet high performance printers from Delphax, Océ, HP Indigo, IBM, Xeikon or Xerox for the transactional printing and mailing production segments.
Premieres of selected Agfa Graphics Herseller digital printing systems,
which attended the Hunkeler event for the first time, launched a new inkjet color printing system under the name :Dotrix TransColor. The Belgian company sees the system for printing transactional and transpromotional documents (e.g. invoice printing for large companies in connection with marketing) as well as for producing colorful and high-quality direct mailings. Thanks to the "Spice" printing unit (Single Pass Color Engine), almost 500 A4 pages per minute can be printed in color on both sides in one pass at a maximum paper width of 65 cm. Canon, also exhibiting at Innovationdays for the first time, presented the imagePRESS C1 printing system to the trade public as a Swiss premiere. The compact device can be used to print pre-prints or print-on-demand jobs up to SRA3 format (320 ¥ 450 mm cm). The color printing system, which is also very well suited as a proofing solution thanks to an integrated color management system, has an advantage over inkjet printing systems due to its significantly higher printing performance (14 pages/minute). The system, which features a range of new, leading technologies, can produce print products that are in no way inferior to offset printing. The imagePRESS C1 prints at true 1200 dpi and is equipped with various innovations, such as an oil-free fusing system. A transfer ribbon enables consistent print quality on a wide variety of media. The imagePRESS C1 can be used by companies in a wide variety of sectors: as an extremely precise proofing system, for short runs and print-on-demand jobs. It is also suitable for variable data processing in numerous sectors, including advertising agencies, in-house printers, copy stores and printing companies. According to Canon, the system, which has been on sale since November 2006, has been very well received. Over 70 ImagePress C1 systems have already been sold in Switzerland.
IBM announced three new digital printing systems in Lucerne with availability in March 2007. One of these, the Infoprint 5000 roll-to-roll color system, was on display. This inkjet printing system achieves print speeds of up to 64 meters/minute and can be used in PostScript/PDF environments. The high printing speed is provided by an inkjet system developed by Dainippon Screen. Last year, this Japanese manufacturer introduced a Truepress Jet520 color printing system with speeds of up to 64 m/min, which is equipped with ink heads from Epson.
Kodak demonstrated the production possibilities of digital newspaper printing with its Kodak Versamark VX5000 digital printing solution. Equipped with modules from Hunkeler AG, the Versamark enables cost-effective four-color printing of newspapers at remote locations or in short runs. In its standard configuration, Kodak is showing the Nexpress 2500, a printing system capable of printing up to 2500 A4 4/4-color sheets in one hour.
Océ presented the Swiss premiere of the Varistream 9230 - a web printing system that can print up to three colors on both sides. This makes the Varistream ideal for transactional printing, where corporate colors are to be used, for example. With the Varioprint 6250, the Dutch company also presented one of the fastest duplex single-sheet printers for the first time in Switzerland.
Xeikon presented its Xeikon 6000 printing system, which was only launched last autumn. The roller system prints up to 168 pages/minute (equivalent to 12 meters/minute) - in full colour and on both sides (duplex printing). A new toner is used, which has a more ideal particle shape and thanks to which better printing results can be achieved, especially when printing surfaces. It should also reduce toner consumption - a not insignificant cost factor in digital printing - by five to ten percent. The production of a so-called self-mailer was demonstrated in Lucerne; these are mailings that do not require envelopes or envelopes and are usually produced in a single operation.
Xerox presented the Nuvera 288 black and white printer, the fastest cut sheet printer currently available, which was announced last fall and shown in Europe for the first time. Corresponding software and hardware ensure that the two printing units work together as if they were one unit. Xerox also showed the Xerox 495 CF roll-to-roll printing system in production at the Innovationdays.
Jürgen Franck
