Inca Plan Four Colour Ink Jet First For Drupa.

A major technology launch will be seen in Printcity at Drupa 2004, where Inca Digital Printers will demonstrate the prototype of an inkjet system that allows full-colour, high quality printing in a s

A major technology launch will be seen in Printcity at Drupa 2004, where Inca Digital Printers will demonstrate the prototype of an inkjet system that allows full-colour, high quality printing in a single pass.

Inca has formed a partnership with Sun Chemical, who will commercialise the technology in the sheet-fed corrugated packaging market.

The machine demonstrated at Drupa will incorporate an array of inkjet heads that will enable a print width of 520mm, on to substrates up to 700mm wide and 7mm thick.

It will print four-colour images at 300 dpi.

"The new single-pass system will push CMYK inkjet technology to new limits in terms of quality, speed and format size," said Incaq's director of marketing, Heather Kendle.

"We're still developing the final equipment specification, but we anticipate that when we launch a commercial product during 2005 we will have the ability to print quality four-colour print continuously at 100 metres per minute," added Kendle.

That would mean that the new single-pass system could be printing 3,000 square metres an hour that would make the system a unique product that would profoundly affect the corrugated board converting industry, she claimed.

"What we are developing with Sun Chemical represents a significant breakthrough in inkjet technology," Kendle added.

Inca and Sun Chemical believe the ability to print full colour quality graphics - plus variable information in a single pass - will be attractive to companies that produce the primary packaging for high quality slow moving consumer goods, as well as secondary packaging for fast moving consumer goods such as wine.

"In the cash and carry sector, where suppliers have to make the transit packaging as appealing as possible to the retailer and the end user, we see a very large potential market for a system that enables the corrugated case to be printed in this way.

Generally this type of packaging carries only simple graphics, as better quality options are too expensive at low run lengths.

In addition, we believe the new system offers huge benefits to companies producing packaging for items such as mobile phones or stereos," commented Kendle.

With such technology, manufacturers would have the opportunity for mass customisation of products, as well as the option for print-on-demand packaging.

It would also provide improvements to just-in-time flexibility and the ability to economically handle short runs, or even fully customised prints.

Inca plans to have the system ready for beta tests in the second half of 2004 and is currently in discussion with companies willing to extensively test the technology in a working environment following Drupa.

They are likely to be packaging and converting companies using substantial volumes of corrugated board.

"Run lengths continue to reduce in every area, yet companies often have to pay a premium when they want only a few hundred packs, because of plate cost, make-ready times and the level of material wastage.

Inkjet technology largely overcomes these hurdles," Kendle further commented.

Inca had always looked for strategic partners for each new market entry, and it believed that Sun Chemical would provide an ideal route to take it into the corrugated sector.

Sun's technical knowledge, particularly in UV inks and its existing customer base in the corrugated market would ensure that Inca would receive the highest profile and support for its new system.

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