Miyakoshi launches water-based inkjet press for flexible packaging

The press uses water-based ink, claimed safe for food packaging. It comes in a 30in (750mm) print width and runs at 50m/min with a print resolution of 1,200 x 1,200 DPI. The 5-color press features CMYK+WW, and can handle materials between 12-100 micron. The press features integrated unwinder, corona treatment, pre-coater and rewinder.

Optimized production features include the ability to batch print a variety of jobs on the same web and printing of barcodes to manage post-press equipment. Automatic registration control and missing nozzle compensation minimize printing errors.

‘Currently the printing of flexible packaging is dominated by traditional analog printing technologies such as gravure and flexography, which enable very high productivity at low cost for long run printing jobs,’ said the company in a statement.

‘The challenge for these analog solutions today is that marketing focus has shifted from mass production to a more personalized approach. This requires brands to create an ever increasing variety of products produced in smaller quantities. This trend has led to a constant reduction in the size of production lots for which analogue devices are not well suited.’