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In the battle for consumer attention, many companies are focussing on increasing packaging finishing. This trend is leading to a demand for more complex printing presses. The Würzburg-based company Koenig & Bauer is now installing sheet-fed offset presses with up to 19 tools.
For special applications, such as the finishing of cigarette packets, the company supplied Koenig & Bauer In the past, the company used to deliver sheetfed offset presses with 17, 18 and 19 printing and finishing units and a total length of up to 35 metres - primarily Rapida sheetfed offset presses in 3b format. Other branches of industry are now also following the economic need for long, customised systems for product finishing.
Trend towards complex machines
According to the company, four areas of application stand out: Perfecting presses with varnish before and after printing and cold foil finishing, primarily for the production of pharmaceutical, cosmetics and cigarette packaging; Perfecting presses with printing units after varnishing, for example, in the area of cardboard packaging for the food industry (especially for packaging for baked goods and confectionery) but also in the area of general packaging; Turning machines with printing and coating units before and after turning, suitable, according to the company, for packaging in the cosmetics and confectionery industries; and finally Perfecting machines with multiple coating on the front of the sheet, Printing and varnishing on the back, suitable for a wide range of products, especially food packaging.
The days of six-, seven- and eight-colour presses with coating or double coating applications dominate packaging printing today and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. However, the trend towards highly complex printing presses that are precisely customised to the respective end products is increasing.
Source: Koenig & Bauer
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