KBA and Heidelberg sign joint letter of intent

At the Fogra User Forum on 9 November, KBA and Heidelberg unveiled a joint initiative to standardize UV and hybrid applications with a view to enhancing the reliability, safety and predictability of the associated consumables. The two companies have signed a letter of intent to draft, define and introduce:

• Universally applicable public standards in the form of certification and accreditation for UV and hybrid inks,

• Universally applicable public standards in the form of certification for press-compliant printing aids and consumables

• Universally applicable public proofing forms and norms for UV and hybrid inks.

Jrgen Veil, KBA’s sheetfed marketing manager, and Jens Arne Knbl, head of product management applications at Heidelberg, have been working together on this initiative for the past eighteen months. With print finishing becoming ever more sophisticated and the choice of consumables ever more bewildering, KBA and Heidelberg believe they have a joint responsibility to their UV and hybrid customers to introduce greater transparency. This includes standards of approval and the certification of suitable consumables to safeguard process reliability and safety. Veil and Knbl are appealing to consumables manufacturers to join the initiative and register with Fogra, the impartial body that will conduct the tests on behalf of KBA and Heidelberg. The following steps have been agreed:

1. Joint status evaluation with Fogra
- Ink series that comply with norms ISO 2846-1 and ISO 12647-2
- Fount solutions with non-critical properties within dampening  tolerances
- Development of suitable test forms
- UV-resistant, process-compatible blankets
- UV-resistant, process-compatible roller materials.

2. Joint drafting and definitions
- of universally applicable (public) standards based on mandatory test
  specifications for the certification of UV and hybrid inks
- of universally applicable (public) standards based on mandatory test
  specifications for the certification of press-compatible printing aids
  and consumables.

The third step will be to extend the accreditation and certification process to paper, board, non-absorbent substrates and UV coatings. There are also plans to draw up standards for food packaging in collaboration with the food-processing industry.