Labelexpo Day 3: Bobst claims new era with non-stop hybrid Master DM5

Bobst has launched a new a hybrid digital and flexo label press, the Master DM5, which it says is the industry’s first non-stop digital label press and heralds a new era in label printing.

The Master DM5 has the company’s Mouvent inkjet digital technology inside, and is designed for flexibility for high added value labels, with short job setup and fast return on investment.

Carsten Wendler, managing director of the Bobst ANZ distributor Print & Pack said, “This is a fully integrated digital and flexo label press. Its digital printing is based on the Bobst Cluster technology.

“Two of the greatest benefits of the Master DM5 are its 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 100 m/min at 1200 x 1200 dpi. 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, Jean-Pascal Bobst, CEO of Bobst, says the Master DM5 “is the first digitised non-stop label press”.

“The 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.

“Bobst can now offer the full range of digital, hybrid and digiflexo solutions, which are integrated, interchangeable and scalable to all present and future needs,” he said.

The Master DM5 has what Bobst says is the smallest footprint in the industry, with user-friendly access to digital print heads, and the automated set-up of multi-process operations. The digital print engine inside the Master DM5 is made up of Mouvent’s proprietary Cluster Technology – integrating Fujifilm Dimatix Samba print heads – which is the innovative basis of the entire range of digital printing machines developed by Mouvent, Bobst’s digital printing competence centre.

The Mouvent Cluster heads are compact and simple to change for easy and accessible maintenance, and have all-in-one fully integrated inking, conditioning and electronic circuits for the highest print heads reliability.

Bobst says the Master DM5 has the widest digital colour gamut in digital printing, and the most accurate and easy to achieve digital colour matching. It has an exclusive screening and digital front end (DFE) solution.

Ink-on-Demand (IoD) is an optional extra for DigiFlexo print units, a solution that replaces conventional inking reservoirs with a single rubber pipe that dispenses 30 grams 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.

It also has a full range of added value capabilities, including coatings, varnishes, tactile effects, 3D effects, hot stamping, cold foil, embossing, die cutting, punching, silk screen, flexo, and digital variable data printing (VDP).

A fully digitally integrated label press like this has never been invented before, according to Federico D’Annunzio, product owner, Hybrid and Label Printing at Bobst.

“The benefits for printers and converters are significant, and we are planning to demonstrate the full capabilities of this highly innovative press at Labelexpo,” he said.