Visit us at Stand 4E36

PPSI displays industrial inkjet technologies

09.19.16

The DICEweb system adds high-resolution UV color inkjet printing to existing roll-to-roll equipment.

Prototype & Productions Systems (PPSI) held live printing demonstrations with three distinct examples of its DICE inkjet technology at Labelexpo Americas 2016. The DICEweb system adds high-resolution UV color inkjet printing to existing roll-to-roll equipment.

It converts almost any existing flexo press to a hybrid printer that combines the best of flexo printing – for special colors, whites, pre-coats and varnishes – with up to six colors of digital print. The technology also allows printers to use their existing investments in finishing equipment, registering the digital print to inline diecutting or sheeting equipment, without the need to move rolls.

A custom DICEpress printer is also being displayed as an example of PPSI’s ability to design inkjet print systems that are tailored to a customer’s individual requirements. The DICEpress printer on display features 12.5" (317mm) wide CMYK printing, expandable to 15" (381mm), on an 18" web, with servo-driven unwind and rewind modules. The printer includes an accumulator that allows the web to back up to avoid wasting material, and a lamination station. The modular design of the DICEpress allows the easy addition of coating or flexo print stations, and semi-rotary or rotary diecutting systems.

Electron Beam (EB) drying technology from ebeam Technologies (formerly PCT Systems) is being featured in a proof-of-concept demonstration of food-safe digital printing of labels and packaging. A DICElab printer that uses EB-curable inkjet inks to print onto a multi-layer flexible packaging film is being shown together with an ebeam Inkjet Dryer unit. By avoiding the potentially harmful photo initiators used in UV-curable inks, EB printing has the potential to allow short-run, variable-data printing of food packaging materials.

According to company president Chuck Raymond, “Many of our projects are for large consumer goods companies who prefer to remain anonymous, so it’s always a pleasure to be able to show our inkjet integration capabilities at Labelexpo.”