Canon demonstrated its commitment to become a significant, trusted partner to the label and packaging markets, showing a new digital press and concepts that confirm its clear progress towards that goal. Indicating the importance of labels and packaging as strategic areas for growth, a dedicated zone on the Canon stand featured live production of multiple label, corrugated and folding carton applications.
Labels
The new LabelStream 2000 digital label press had its first showing outside Japan at drupa. Based on innovative Canon technologies and designed for industrial-scale label printing, the LabelStream LS2000 is Canon’s first water-based inkjet label press. The device prints CMYK plus white on self-adhesive substrates, with a new ink set designed to comply with food safety standards. Visitors were able to see live label production on paper and film media, with the labels printed on the LabelStream LS2000, ready for varnishing, die-cutting and slitting on a nearline converting device, the Grafisk Maskinfabrik DC330Mini.
Corrugated
As evidence of its commitment to expand into the corrugated printing market, Canon introduced its concept for a single-pass, industrial-scale digital corrugated printing system, targeting corrugated packaging converters and designed to combine offset-like print quality at a 1.7 m print width, productivity of up to 8,000 m²/hr and new levels of cost-efficiency. A 3D model, print samples and technology animations of the system, which is already in development, were shown on the stand.
Visitors interested in digital printing on corrugated saw live production of packaging prototypes and short-run promotional packaging on large ‘format Arizona and Colorado printers. These solutions enable personalised, short-run, on-demand packaging production for packaging producers and print service providers. The new Arizona 2380XTF FLXflow technology flatbed printer will print a variety of display and packaging applications on a wide range of media, including corrugated. White, varnish and the opportunity to print elevation up to 4 mm with PRISMAelevate XL give full design freedom for high-quality packaging and packaging that can be ‘read’ by the visually impaired.
A UVgel Print Factory, comprising a Colorado M-series roll-to-roll printer and a Fotoba Jumbo Roll JRL 170 feeder and JRR 170 Rewinder, was shown printing on a liner material for later lamination to a corrugated base to create a high-quality printed package, as a digital alternative to conventional litho lamination. Replicating the litho lamination process with digitally printed liner material offers short-run, high-quality packaging that can be personalised or versioned, while the durability of UVgel prints means that additional top coat lamination is not always necessary. With FLXfinish+, customers can achieve a premium look and feel without any extra cost to the print service provider.
Folding Carton
Thanks to its 2022 acquisition of Edale, Canon has started to establish a presence in the folding carton market. At drupa, an inline folding carton production process was shown, taking preprinted reels which were then embellished live on the Edale FL5-Single-Pass Carton Production Line, adding either cold foil, cast and cure or varnish. The carton then moved inline to the Edale FDC600 flatbed die cutter for cutting, creasing, braille/embossing, and waste stripping, ultimately delivering finished carton samples in a single pass.
The Edale FL5-Single-Pass Carton Production Line on the Canon stand
According to James Rodden of Rodden Graphics, the distributor for Edale products in ANZ, many visitors were impressed by how this solution complements the conventional sheetfed production of folding carton boxes. “Attendees were also impressed by the high quality of the Canon products with their emphasis on automation and smart workflows, which is an emerging trend for the industry,” he added.
Captions:
Luke Harris, Nicola Reynolds, Darron Shimmons, Sarah Rodden, Darren Pickford and James Rodden in front of the Edale FL5-Single-Pass Carton Production Line and the Edale FDC600 flatbed die cutter