St-Luc to use first WS6600 for flexible packaging

Belgian label converter St-Luc Labels & Packaging has said it will use its new HP Indigo WS6600 Digital Press to produce flexible packaging and folding cartons.
 
St-Luc bought the first HP Indigo WS6600, which was launched at Labelexpo Europe 2011, as it looks to enter the digital printing market.  As well as application in St-Luc’s traditional markets, the seven-colour digital press will be used to produce flexible packaging and folding cartons.  The company runs French subsidiary Microbox Packaging, which focuses on cardboard packaging.  St-Luc said it is confident that the HP Indigo WS6600 Digital Press will be used for producing trial packaging and short runs to complement Microbox's production.
 
As well as moving into digital printing, St-Luc uses HD Flexo and was the first Benelux label converter to receive the EskoArtwork HD Flexo Certificate.
 
Niko Dhondt, managing director of St-Luc Labels & Packaging, said: ‘We've always invested in the best available technologies. When we learned about HD Flexo, which could improve screening technology and further refine printing results, we decided to make the move.
 
‘The next step was to ensure a uniform quality for short runs.  The answer: digital printing.  HP Indigo WS6600 performs at this high-end quality level, makes frequent job changes possible and is complementary to our HD Flexo process.’
 
HP Indigo said the WS6600 Digital Press boasts a range of hardware and software upgrades on previous models, including a production speed up to 40m/min (compared to 30m/min for the WS6000 Digital Press) and an in-line primer unit to facilitate substrate treatment, reduce production times and cut stock inventories and associated costs.
 
Dhondt added: ‘The in-line primer unit will be of great benefit.  It makes running the same paper-based substrates for digital and flexo runs possible, so we won't have to handle additional stocks.  Also the ease with which the in-line finishing can be configured is of great importance to us.  We will simultaneously install a Digicon finishing line from HP finishing partner, AB Graphic International.  In case of simple finishing, we will run the jobs in-line.  For more complex jobs, requiring more elaborate processes, we will run the finishing device in an off-line configuration.’