Swiss engineering excellence has developed over hundreds of years, and while most people associate watches with the country, those of us in the packaging industry think of Bost, Geras and possibly Polytype's equipment, as well as Muller-Martini and Gerber in commercial printing. Experts know that Hapa is moving into the healthcare digital packaging space, while CAPrint is developing its inkjet bottle cap and cap printing system.
They all continue a tradition of Swiss engineering excellence. Bost is a CHF 1.84 billion giant that provides printing and post-press systems for labels, folding color boxes, corrugated boxes and flexible packaging. It developed an inkjet corrugated paper post printing device, but was unsuccessful, and then changed its strategy with the development of Mouvent, which also offered inkjet devices. The resulting hybrid and inkjet narrow-web presses have achieved very significant sales among large and small label processors, with more developments showcased at the European Label Show 2023.
A key driver of processors' use of hybrid machines, and Bobst's sales growth in 2022, is the use of less labor in the single-channel production process. The company, which recently entered the digital labeling space, now has more than 100 machines in operation. The main R&D and production site is the former Kidu plant in Florence, where the company uses the resources and digital expertise of its Swiss parent company to enhance its product offerings.
The company has improved sprinkler cluster technology, including titanium 3D printed heat exchangers that regulate ink temperature before it enters Fujifilm's samba jets. In May, Bobst acquired Duke Robotics, a strategic acquisition aimed at creating end-to-end production systems to help realize its vision of all production being connected and more automated.
Bost is further developing its Accucheck system, which it claims will make zero-defect labeling and packaging a reality. This is an inspection system integrated into new printing and processing equipment to detect registration, color fidelity, printing defects, and more for each package. Unlike operators, the system detects every print and is increasingly linked to automatic adjustments. The technology will replace many manual quality checks, driving the potential for lights-out automation to share real-time information through links throughout the supply chain.
According to CEO Jean PASCAL Bost, the company is developing further digital printing solutions with announcements at Labelexpo, Open days, the Fefco technical workshop in October, and next year's Drupa show.
Geras is a Swiss company, but shares digital development with its German parent company Heidelberg. Geras has been selling hybrid label presses for many years and opened a new customer experience center at its St. Gallen headquarters in June 2023. CEO Dario Urbinati pointed to several factors adversely affecting customers in 2023, including a shortage of skilled labor that is increasingly affecting processors, as well as significant increases in substrates, inks, plates, energy and distribution costs.
The company rewrote its vision and mission statement to support the new business direction, introducing inkjet narrow-band web presses that can be used for stand-alone printing and integrated into existing flexo production lines. Mr Urbinati says Geras is changing. "We are excited to look beyond graphic arts to other industries and learn how they are leveraging new technologies to embrace the new digital age and cater to the next generation, so we can modernize and improve the label and packaging industry even further."
The company previously launched the Gallus One and has since added the option to upgrade the existing Gallus ECS 340 flexo press with a digital printing unit (DPU), effectively converting the traditional flexo press into a Labelfire hybrid press. This is a much lower level of investment than a new hybrid press and can extend the life of an existing asset.
Urbinati said: "Adding hybrid technology in this way means a lower investment, as the cost can be significantly reduced by simply purchasing Dpus for existing legacy components." We offer our customers a choice as modular flexo printing sources can be removed or added, and cold pressing, die cutting and scrap removal can be done as required. It's an easy way to get the highest performance that is fully proven and industrialized."
When adding a DPU, the user can specify the number of inkjet colors as needed - CMYKOVG+W or less. So far, three customers have chosen to add inkjet functionality to their existing lines, and more companies are likely to follow suit, providing customers with additional flexibility and agility.
Hapa, part of the Italian Coesia Group, is also a leader in narrow-band inkjet printing. Hapa specializes in post-production customization and on-demand printing solutions for pharmaceutical packaging. It holds a market-leading position in blister packaging, making it more flexible, less complex, more cost-effective and less wasteful. There are single-color, multi-spot color and full-color plus white rotary presses, as well as specialized machines such as BFS-Jet, which are specially designed to print on blow-sealed unit dose vials.
It uses a modular Redcube UV piezo inkjet system that can employ pre-processing technology and use an optional vision system to detect the quality and integrity of each print. Defective products will be removed by the built-in rejection mechanism. With up to two spot color printing units, BFS-Jet is marketed as an "optimal cost saving solution" for post-production customization. Hapa offers the system as a GMP-compliant printing system for internal use by pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Hapa also supplies technology to other manufacturers. One of them is CAPrint, a small engineering firm based in Bruge, outside Bern. It uses a Redcube Plus printing unit that is integrated with the feed sorter to load and align the seal onto the transport unit. The CP1.0 machine includes a pre-treatment unit, five-color inkjet printing using Hapa low migration inks, UV curing and conveying. It can print 1,600 caps per minute and has a jet steering system for sampling and inspection.
One of the early installations was the two-line Corvaglia bottle cap factory in Eshlikon, with the printing press running 24/7. They are located behind the injection molding machine that produces PET bottle caps and can be operated without a specialized print manager. CAPrint claims that "CP1.0 is a complete solution for digital bottle cap printing with an integrated inspection system - an efficient way to print bottle caps, precise and extremely flexible."
Another plastic printer developer is Wifag Polytype, based in Fribourg. The company manufactures dry offset embossing machines and UV inkjet presses for drums, cans, jars and cups. This direct form printing is powered by Polytype's so-called "Calmar" technology, which includes the ability to optimize print results, and the system enables fully variable data printing, including data processing software, networking, nozzle electronic control systems, and ink supply systems.
For metals, Polytype's system can print up to 120 pieces per minute and is suitable for two-piece cans, aerosols and tubes. With Mall Herlan manufacturing molding equipment, Polytype added analog printing systems and now digital printing systems. Wifag's proprietary Calmar inkjet technology, which is used in the presses it manufactures and sells to OEM partners, uses printheads from Konica Minolta, Ricoh, Cel and Kyocera.
All in all, it's not just cuckoo clocks and chocolate. Switzerland is a leader in the field of digital labels and packaging, where precision engineering technology is a key component of successful production.
