The Thimm Group's Christiansen Print division (Ilsenburg) has officially inaugurated the first HP T1100S digital PageWide web press in Germany. The company is thus strengthening its printing expertise with digital pre-roll printing. Customers from the corrugated board and branded goods industry can benefit from the new possibilities for printing packaging and displays.
The Thimm Group has invested around 15 million euros in this project. „Thanks to the innovative Multi-lane printing process (MLPA) opens up completely new application possibilities. The paper rolls can be divided into individual webs. This allows us to produce different print jobs in a wide range of formats and batch sizes in parallel. This gives us a high degree of flexibility, efficiency and cost-effectiveness,“ describe Henrik Jensen and Rainer Wilke, Managing Directors of Christiansen Print. In this business unit, the Thimm Group bundles pre-printing for packaging and displays.
According to the company, the plant has a Working width of 2.80 m and reaches Speeds of up to 30,600 m²/h. Printing is done with water- and pigment-based CMYK inks, which are ideally suited for use in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector.
„With a native resolution of 1,200 nozzles per inch, we achieve first-class quality that is on a par with the offset printing process. At the same time Wide range of papers from recycled products to coated virgin fibre papers with a weight of 80 to 400 g/m². Automated winders and unwinders as well as in-line humidifiers and in-line coating make the system unique in terms of its equipment,“ explain Jensen and Wilke.
Small print runs in a wide range of formats, individual and personalised customer approach
This should result in a wide range of added value, particularly for customers from bricks-and-mortar retail and mail order: Shorter lead times in the order and the Variable order processing lead to an accelerated work process and the fastest delivery response. Each packaging can be provided with a unique identity, for example in the form of individual advertising on parcels in the mail order business, personalised approach the customers or limited editions. This has a positive effect on consumer brand loyalty. What is already familiar from label printing can now also be realised with corrugated board packaging.
In addition, specific labelling and protective features can be applied in order to Product and brand safety to increase. In addition to orders of up to 50,000 m², even the smallest print runs can be realised cost-effectively. This is ideal for daily displays and sales decorations or seasonal sales campaigns.
The digital printing system will be fully commissioned this month. Together with state-of-the-art belt and centre-cylinder flexo printing presses, Christiansen Print now has three perfectly complementary printing technologies and a total production capacity of around 450 million m².
