With the trend - and against it
Print finishing Steinemann Technology recently presented its print finishing machines at an open house.
Print finishing Steinemann Technology recently presented its print finishing machines at an open house.creativity and design are one way to stand out in the competitive advertising media market - high-quality production paired with special effects is another approach. The combination would probably be ideal if creative people were to make better use of the opportunities associated with high-quality production. This is at least the view of finishing specialist Steinemann Technology AG (Steinemann). This is probably one of the reasons why the St. Gallen-based mechanical engineering company has decided to draw the attention of advertising agencies and industry - for example in the cosmetics and pharmaceutical sectors - to the opportunities offered by print finishing, in addition to finishing companies and print shops. Oliver Jentschke, Sales Manager for the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) at Steinemann, explained in the run-up to an open house event that agencies are not sufficiently aware of the possibilities in the area of finishing. In many places, there is a lack of knowledge about the many possibilities, which means that the many advantages of print finishing often go unused.
Reacting to trendsChristof Stürm, CEO of Steinemann Technology AG, believes that print shops should differentiate themselves more from the competition through finishing techniques: "The ability to finish printed matter is becoming a strategic competitive factor for print shops." According to him, this includes unique effects that invite you to feel, smell and/or take a closer look or that protect the surface of the printed product.
Overall, there are actually many reasons for enhancing print products. Increasingly fierce competition, coupled with the fact that products are being sold more and more via their label and the brand or design behind it, means that advertising or the corresponding packaging needs to be a touch more creative and of a higher quality than that of a no-label competitor, for example.
Laminating with the SyriusThe company has apparently also noticed a shortcoming in terms of attracting attention, at least in the DACH region. Although Steinemann Technology can be described as an innovative and globally successful company, the machine manufacturer from Eastern Switzerland has been rather quiet so far. The company now wants to change this with marketing activities.
At the Open House event at its headquarters in St. Gallen, Steinemann presented an innovation in the form of the new Syrius laminating machine. With its production speed of up to 100 m/minute or 10,000 sheets/hour, according to Reto Stibi, Head of Technology at Steinemann's Graphic Division, it sets new standards in the industry.
A new standard in productivity. The Syrius laminates sheet formats from 280 mm ¥ 310 mm to a maximum of 1060 mm ¥ 1450 mm and grammages from 100 g/m2 to 600 g/m2. The machine is also particularly flexible in terms of the laminating films that can be used. The most common film types (OPP, PET, PVC, thermo and acetate) can be processed in thicknesses from 10 µm to 100 µm. These laminating films can be glossy, matt, coloured, transparent or metallized and can even contain holograms. The new generation of Syrius machines will be available from the end of the year.
Coating with the HibisIn addition to the presentation of the Syrius, the greatest interest at the Open House was shown in the Hibis 104 coating machine - probably also because coating effects are more fascinating than laminating, where the focus is on protecting the printed product.
The Hibis enables finishing or effect coating in screen printing. The rotary coating process achieves speeds of up to 7300 sheets/hour and thus offers two to three times the performance of conventional screen printing machines - both for full-surface coating and spot coating. Thanks to the particularly stable mesh used in the cylinder mould, coatings up to a thickness of 125 g/m2 can be applied with register accuracy, allowing maximum gloss effects or special effects to be achieved.
At the end of 2005, Steinemann also introduced a new, optional flexo unit with chambered doctor blade for the Hibis 104. This allows the press to be converted from a screen to a flexo press in a very short time. This flexo printing unit is particularly recommended when cost aspects are a priority. However, the coating application quantity is significantly limited here - it is only just
4 to 7 g/m2 and is therefore significantly lower than the application quantities in the screen printing process. A new feature is that partial coatings can also be realized in the flexo unit by using a photopolymer plate. "With these innovative additional options, we have once again significantly strengthened the market-leading position of our high-end rotary screen printing machine Hibis 104. In our research and development department, we are working on numerous other innovations with which we want to overcome the previous limitations of print product finishing and make even better use of the possibilities of offline finishing of print products," promises Stibi.
Initial successes in the DACH regionThe installation at Ruesch Druck in Rorschach proves that systems such as Hibis also pay off for customers. The print shop, which is not far from Steinemann, uses Hibis consistently and is also a model company for Steinemann, explained Christof Stürm. This is also because the company has opted for offline finishing as a traditional print shop and not as a finishing company.
The potential for machine installations remains high. In addition to a German packaging company and Ruesch Druck, Steinemann is currently only in negotiations with other companies in the DACH region. Apparently, the market for high-quality finishing technology still needs to be developed. In other countries, above all Spain and Mexico, the picture is much more positive.
Jürgen Franck
Reacting to trendsChristof Stürm, CEO of Steinemann Technology AG, believes that print shops should differentiate themselves more from the competition through finishing techniques: "The ability to finish printed matter is becoming a strategic competitive factor for print shops." According to him, this includes unique effects that invite you to feel, smell and/or take a closer look or that protect the surface of the printed product.
Overall, there are actually many reasons for enhancing print products. Increasingly fierce competition, coupled with the fact that products are being sold more and more via their label and the brand or design behind it, means that advertising or the corresponding packaging needs to be a touch more creative and of a higher quality than that of a no-label competitor, for example.
Laminating with the SyriusThe company has apparently also noticed a shortcoming in terms of attracting attention, at least in the DACH region. Although Steinemann Technology can be described as an innovative and globally successful company, the machine manufacturer from Eastern Switzerland has been rather quiet so far. The company now wants to change this with marketing activities.
At the Open House event at its headquarters in St. Gallen, Steinemann presented an innovation in the form of the new Syrius laminating machine. With its production speed of up to 100 m/minute or 10,000 sheets/hour, according to Reto Stibi, Head of Technology at Steinemann's Graphic Division, it sets new standards in the industry.
A new standard in productivity. The Syrius laminates sheet formats from 280 mm ¥ 310 mm to a maximum of 1060 mm ¥ 1450 mm and grammages from 100 g/m2 to 600 g/m2. The machine is also particularly flexible in terms of the laminating films that can be used. The most common film types (OPP, PET, PVC, thermo and acetate) can be processed in thicknesses from 10 µm to 100 µm. These laminating films can be glossy, matt, coloured, transparent or metallized and can even contain holograms. The new generation of Syrius machines will be available from the end of the year.
Coating with the HibisIn addition to the presentation of the Syrius, the greatest interest at the Open House was shown in the Hibis 104 coating machine - probably also because coating effects are more fascinating than laminating, where the focus is on protecting the printed product.
The Hibis enables finishing or effect coating in screen printing. The rotary coating process achieves speeds of up to 7300 sheets/hour and thus offers two to three times the performance of conventional screen printing machines - both for full-surface coating and spot coating. Thanks to the particularly stable mesh used in the cylinder mould, coatings up to a thickness of 125 g/m2 can be applied with register accuracy, allowing maximum gloss effects or special effects to be achieved.
At the end of 2005, Steinemann also introduced a new, optional flexo unit with chambered doctor blade for the Hibis 104. This allows the press to be converted from a screen to a flexo press in a very short time. This flexo printing unit is particularly recommended when cost aspects are a priority. However, the coating application quantity is significantly limited here - it is only just
4 to 7 g/m2 and is therefore significantly lower than the application quantities in the screen printing process. A new feature is that partial coatings can also be realized in the flexo unit by using a photopolymer plate. "With these innovative additional options, we have once again significantly strengthened the market-leading position of our high-end rotary screen printing machine Hibis 104. In our research and development department, we are working on numerous other innovations with which we want to overcome the previous limitations of print product finishing and make even better use of the possibilities of offline finishing of print products," promises Stibi.
Initial successes in the DACH regionThe installation at Ruesch Druck in Rorschach proves that systems such as Hibis also pay off for customers. The print shop, which is not far from Steinemann, uses Hibis consistently and is also a model company for Steinemann, explained Christof Stürm. This is also because the company has opted for offline finishing as a traditional print shop and not as a finishing company.
The potential for machine installations remains high. In addition to a German packaging company and Ruesch Druck, Steinemann is currently only in negotiations with other companies in the DACH region. Apparently, the market for high-quality finishing technology still needs to be developed. In other countries, above all Spain and Mexico, the picture is much more positive.
Jürgen Franck
