Gallus upgrades ECS340 and launches press-to-MIS link

The ‘Plus’ package includes a screen print unit, a more powerful UV drier – optimized for curing low migration inks and handling a wider range of substrates – a rail system, and new unwind/rewind units with a tension range optimized for thinner films. The press also benefits from a new user interface which will now be common to Gallus’ full range of machines.

Bachstein also introduced Gallus’ Print Shop concept, which allows digital and conventional print process to be combined and optimized depending upon job characteristics. ‘We have always said each print method has its own strengths, so we can add additional value with each process,’ said Bachstein. ‘We have now added digital to the list of print processes. It needs centralized MIS software, provided in this case by CERM, which helps you decide which route a job will take.’

Bachstein launched Gallus’ Press Link software which connects a press directly to the CERM MIS. Currently this allows metadata to be downloaded, such as job and file name and the number of labels to be produced. ‘But it is still only v1.0 and we are working on other parameters which can be transferred,’ said Bachstein.

Other Print Shop elements on the Gallus stand include a Heidelberg Linoprint L inkjet press (running at 48m/min at 600dpi), and the Gallus ECS C digital converter, which can be run in or offline with the Linoprint L.

Bachstein delivered Gallus’ positioning on LED UV curing, saying that the technology has come on greatly since Gallus first demonstrated LED curing on the varnish station of an ECS340 at Labelexpo Europe 2009.

Phoseon LED UV lamps delivering 16 W/cm can now be integrated onto all Gallus presses, said Bachstein. The company has been testing Siegwerk LED UV inks on a press at company headquarters in Switzerland.

‘The range of inks available now is already at a decent level and it was not in 2009,’ said Bachstein. ‘LED technology will play a major role, but we still have some hurdles to overcome – the investment in the lamp systems is still very high. So we have to find applications where it makes sense, and those applications are there.’ Gallus has 25 LED UV installations in the market, but only on digital presses.