Bobst has formally entered the hybrid printing market with the launch of Master DM5, a platform combining its flexo expertise with Mouvent UV inkjet printing technology.
Announced earlier this year, the digital capability of Master DM5 is built on the Mouvent Cluster, a compact printhead design with all-in-one fully integrated inking, conditioning and electronic circuits. Bobst’s DigiFlexo technology has automated key parts of flexo in an effort to ‘digitise’ the process. The new Ink-on-Demand (IoD) system is available as an optional extra for DigiFlexo print units, which replaces conventional inking reservoirs with a single rubber pipe that dispenses 30g of ink to the print unit. The system eliminates ink trays and chambered doctor blades and performs fully automated washing of the print unit in less than one minute.
Bobst CEO Jean-Pascal Bobst confirmed, ‘Master DM5 is our first ever fully digitally integrated hybrid press and represents a new era in the production of self-adhesive labels with totally new standards of productivity and profitability.’
Moreover, by combining Mouvent’s inkjet technology with Bobst’s DigiFlexo analogue process, Master DM5 is said to combine the best of both worlds.
Federico D’Annunzio, hybrid printing programme manager at Bobst, said, ‘Two of the greatest benefits of the Master DM5 are productivity and reliability. It represents a total flexo-digital-converting integration, with non-stop productivity, and the highest press uptime in the industry. It prints at speeds of up to 100m/min at the highest quality, 1200 x 1200dpi. Full digital automation means that only one press operator is needed to print high added value label jobs, in short and medium runs. Job changes on-the-fly, without stopping the press, are possible for flexo, digital, die-cutting and stripping processes. All analogue tools (print cylinders, flexible dies) are changed automatically. Waste stripping is also fully automated. Eliminating traditional analogue bottlenecks, the Master DM5 is the very first digitised ‘non-stop’ label press.’
