Inkjet & Digital Printing

Greater flexibility through inline printing

Tuesday 18. October 2022 - With the DIGILINE Vario Atlantic Zeiser presents for the first time a system for full-colour inline printing of flexible narrow web materials such as films for closure applications or flexible laminates for pouch or tube production.

– This makes manufacturing processes for pouch or tube packaging, for example, much more flexible and agile.
– Even the smallest batch sizes can be produced with the DIGILINE Vario in an economically viable manner and with a brand-consistent appearance.
Building on decades of experience in digital inline printing, Atlantic Zeiser will be presenting a system for full-colour printing on flexible narrow web materials for the first time at PACK EXPO in Chicago, USA (Booth 2501, South Hall). The new DIGILINE Vario thus allows the advantages of on-demand printing and late-stage customisation to be exploited for materials from the roll. In widespread packaging processes, for example for flat, stand-up and tubular pouches or stick packs, the costly stockpiling of pre-printed material variants can thus be significantly reduced or avoided. At the same time, brand owners, converters, CMOs and other users benefit from significantly increased flexibility and agility, as even the smallest batch sizes can be printed efficiently and in a visually appealing manner. The time to market for new products can also be significantly reduced. To enable the DIGILINE Vario to be optimally integrated even into existing systems or processes, it is available as both an inline and a nearline version. An offline version (“reel-to-reel”) is also available.
No reference image required for inspection
Thanks to the new ProFlo inkjet technology, the DIGILINE Vario achieves particularly vivid colours and top print quality even with the smallest details in the form of graphics, fonts, coding or serialisation. At the same time, the ProFlo inkjet technology used there stands for unparalleled reliability and availability; the associated new drying technology also significantly reduces the amount of energy required. The DIGILINE Vario also has a pre-validated unit consisting of the printing and camera systems; both use the same PDF workflow. This simplifies the technical integration of the camera into the workflow and significantly reduces the time required for set-up and validation. A reference image does not have to be generated, the control is based solely on the original PDF and includes the entire print image, the printed data and codes, the grading and the colours. “This also results in significantly less work for the creation of artwork, for format adjustments and for qualification on the lines,” says James Freer, Head of Product Management at Atlantic Zeiser. “Overall, this means less project complexity, lower costs, lower risk and less validation effort.”
With its clearly structured, intuitive user guidance, the OptiMate HMI makes the DIGILINE Vario particularly easy to operate, reduces the necessary familiarisation time and makes it easier to train operators. With the DIGILINE Vario from Atlantic Zeiser, consistent brand presentations with maximum process reliability and, if required or desired, the prerequisites for the best possible traceability are thus created on a wide range of roll materials.