Japanese manufacturer Konica Minolta is launching a cardboard inkjet press, the PKG-675i, on the European market. Manufactured by the Portuguese Mtex NS Group, the PKG-675i is a flatbed press that prints directly onto corrugated board, flat board and kraft board, both sheet-fed and pre-cut. This digital machine is designed for the production of short-run packaging and single units, for small runs or packaging models.
Prototyping, an important aspect of e-commerce packaging
"The growth of e-commerce is one of the key trends for the packaging industry in the future, and this will have a major impact on the players in the corrugated packaging sector, explains Edoardo Cotichini, Professional Printing Manager of Konica Minolta Europe. In particular, they must be able to react quickly and be able to develop specific packaging designs for on-line sales that address the problems inherent in postal delivery, which are different from those in the retail sector
He goes on to say: "Demand for versioning and customization is also on the rise. The creation of high-quality concept prototypes and individualized short-run batches is ideal for the PKG-675i digital inkjet printer."
Five Memjet print heads
The PKG-675i is equipped with five Memjet printheads (CMYK). This compact machine (61x130x100 cm) has a printing width of 1?067 mm and no length limit. The PKG-675i handles cardboard media from 0.5 mm up to almost 16 mm thick.
The flatbed printer, which prints in high resolution at 1600 x 1600 dpi, uses FDA-approved water-based inks for indirect food contact. Its printing speed can reach 18 m/min. Its feeder is manual.
The PKG-675i, presented at Fespa 2018 in Germany, has already been on sale on the American market since 2019. The European market launch also marks the arrival of new functionalities: this flat table for cardboard is equipped with a cleaning system for the surface to be printed, for better printing and to extend the machine's service life.
