Impress goes print-on-demand with digital technology

The Canmaker
March 2008

Canmakers are excited about the potential offered by digital printing systems for revolutionising the way in which they market and sell decorated fancy cans.

Impress has revealed a system called dPrint and Crown, which first talked of its plans three years ago, is expected to show off its technology soon.

Digital printing systems are expected to enable canmakers to sell decorated cans economically down to volumes no larger than dozens where once the minimum run was thousands.

And that completely changes the supply chain in the business, says Woep Möller, managing director of the Impress Specialities Division which after a number of years of research and development has set up its first digital printing operation at its plant at Leeuwarden, in the Netherlands.

"This is a new world," said Möller, "and dPrint provides a new tool for the concept and marketing of decorative cans. But dPrint is just one step in what will be a new supply chain structure. And the market for this is quite big. We feel we are head of the competition.

"The process time from artwork to the final printed product can be reduced to a few hours. This will enable us to bring really short lead times for small lot sizes which will perfectly fit our customers' requirements for speed and personalisation," said Möller.

"The digital printing process also supports the company's sustainability objectives, making on-going reductions in the environmental impact of canmaking."

Impress says its customers will benefit greatly from the numerous advantages of dPrint, such as flexibility and order-on-demand.

Impress's dPrint system comprises a tinplate sheet loading and unloading system and a structure for feeding the sheets beneath the printing heads.
Möller said that the process uses conventional CMYK imaging and its resolution, which he would not reveal, would be doubled in the next few months. He said that tests are being carried out for a large customer.

Key to the commercialisation of digital print systems for metal cans is the development of large-scale ink-jet printing heads, controlling their motion above the sheets, UV-cured inks suitable for metal substrates and managing the imaging software, which enables a variety of label designs to be assembled on one sheet.

The Canmaker has talked to the manufacturers of large-scale digital print heads and it is understood that imaging speeds will be about one metre per second, and that the scope of the colour gamut is 90 percent of the Pantone range.

While the print speed is about half of what a conventional line might operate at, the flexibility of operation and speed of make ready is what provides value to the canmaker.

For further Information, please contact:

Impress
t: +33 2 4348 5100