The power of digital print and digital foiling combined
To demonstrate its capabilities in adding value to packaging, Birmingham-based PCL Digital produced a run of 180 folding carton boxes with a host of standout finishes as well as personalisation added.
Digitally printed on an HP Indigo press, the sparkling orange boxes combined gold and silver foiling, added by using the company’s Foliant Multi-functional Inprinting Unit bought with a Foliant Vega laminator from IFS last November. ‘We wanted to take advantage of the foil and show how it can work with variable data print,’ explained managing director Nick Westley-Smith.
PCL Digital began the process with HP SmartScreen technology. The file was printed on a 280gsm substrate on an HP Indigo with a Pantone orange as the fifth colour. The sheets were then soft-touch laminated; a black toner was laid down by the press and the silver foiling added. Another layer of black toner accommodated the gold foil design and text. The sheets were cut externally and finished by hand.
‘Currently packaging is under 10% or our business and I would like that to grow to 20 to 30%,’ stated Mr Westley-Smith. ‘This project really demonstrated what is possible. It gives our customers more options to offer their customers. We deal with a lot of trade business and we can help them with something a bit different. We can also offer prototyping to help end users to see what is possible.’
A compact industrial laminating machine, the Foliant Vega 400A (B3+) is designed for a heavy-duty digital outputs. It can automatically laminate at speeds of 2100 B3 sheets per hour, with many grades of laminate available from standard gloss and matt to soft-touch and textured films. The Foliant Multi-functional Inprinting Unit makes foiling and spot varnish fast and affordable for short run and personalised print. It runs a wide range of colours including gold, silver, red and green and a clear gloss for spot varnish.
