Gidue’s Xpannd offset unit obtains German SID certification

Gidue’s Xpannd offset print unit has met the requirements in terms of dot gain, color fading, slur and doubling, ghosting and streaking defined by the BVDM guidelines, the German Association for Printing.

The inspection of Xpannd took place in late April 2008 inside Gidue’s Graphic Arts Center. The examination was carried out by two members of SID, the Schsisches Institut fr die Druckindustrie GmbH. The tests of the web-fed hybrid offset/flexo label printing press were conducted on the basis of the technical manual for the inspection of commercial web-fed offset printing presses.

The test parameters taken into account were: color register, print quality and streaking. These elements were measured, analyzed and evaluated according to the BVDM (BundesVerband Druck und Medien) guidelines. The evaluation committee compared some special measuring printouts printed on the Xpannd 370 with five offset units and compared them to the given test parameters. The results were that the measured values were within the tolerated values of commercial web-fed offset presses.

‘These results represent a true source of renewed enthusiasm for us,’ stated Federico d’Annunzio, president of Gidue. ‘The Saxon Institute for the Printing Industry used its long experience in comparing the performances of printing presses and we are very proud of the results achieved by our Xpannd, mostly for what concerns the print quality. Some of the results were well below the strict tolerances adopted by commercial web-fed offset. This is a further proof of Gidue’s mission toward technological innovation: inside our wide product range, flexo and offset provide the same level of excellence. Our customers can obtain all the advantages of the flexibility of both processes for the in-line production of self-adhesive labels.’