tones, and and perfect perfect crosswhich crossovers where each side was printed on a separate form. Today’s technology brings consistency and capabilities even better than traditional off set.” “B2 presses provide a very versatile and cost-eff ective solution for majority of all commercial print applications, photo specialty applications, production mail applications, book publishing application, prime label applications, fl exible packaging applications, and corrugated applications,” explains Avi Basu, director, marketing and business development, Graphics Solutions Business, Americas, HP. “In addition, many other specialty applications enabled by special inks, print eff ects, etc., are also produced on B2 HP press solutions.” Shorter runs, reprints, color quality Customers are continuing to look for presses that can produce quality color consistency and shorter runs. Basu says the trends geared toward the future indicate the continued migration of application volumes to B2 platforms based on an industry shift to short run, on-demand, increased personalization, and automation needs. HP off ers print service providers the HP Indigo 12000 Digital Press as just one of its B2 format presses in its catalog of options, The KBA Rapida PRO is a B2 sheetfed press equipped with QualiTronic/ErgoTronic Instrument Flight, which keeps gray is capable which capable of printing at 4,600 B2 sheets per hour sheets per hour. “Quality levels previously unobtainable with a digital platform that can be achieved today will continue to infl uence the adoption of inkjet technology,” notes Pierce. “Print buyers continue to see the reality of production inkjet technology and the benefi ts from the off set quality, durability, and consistency. More and more printed sheets will be coming off of B2 size production inkjet platforms.” Th e print market for packaging industry is poised for disruption based on digital press solutions, Basu says. “Th e critical mass of installed press continues to grow and brand owners are more aware of the capabilities. Th e market for labels, shrink sleeves, pouches, folding cartons, and corrugated boxes will rapidly adopt the value and benefi ts of digital,” he explains. Dan Maurer, VP of Digital, Heidelberg, notes that the adoption of folding carton printers seeking investment into B2 and B1 size digital and fast makeready off set presses is a trend he is seeing increase. Maurer poses the question: “Are they buying into smaller runs of localized and personalized products, or going to less SKUs for cost effi ciencies?” He says the ultimate driver of what a job is run on is based on the cost and potential profi t the printer can make; the most effi - balance, overprints, and single colors, mid tone TVI, and solid tones in balance. cient off set set printers are breaking even at 200 B2 off set sheets sheets against digital. In the B2 format market, Heidelberg off ers PSPs its sheetfed off set Speedmaster XL 75. The technology is not the driver ” set “Th e technology is not the driver,” Maurer, says, breaking it down like so: “On larger digital sheet sizes, you need to fi rst calculate if you can attain the volume required to fi ll the sub-200 run lengths. Secondly, does that volume really need a larger sheet, or can they be fulfi lled more economically using a smaller A3+ size digital press? For commercial applications, these unique larger sheet applications could include book covers, pocket folders, posters, 8-page or 16-page signatures for stitched or perfect bound books, or wet glue labels that can benefi t from being nested in more ‘ups’ per sheet. “Folding carton applications are another application where nesting on larger sheets gets cost benefi ts.,” he continues. “But, the fi nishing in all these applications needs to be considered because, with digital, the short run cost benefi t is negated if the fi nishing makeready time is long. Building on that, with fi nishing makeready a printer needs to run extra waste sheets, which is at odds with the entire idea of printing digitally. For folding carton, if the printer has the tooling for the diecutter already made, then the larger sheet size of B1 makes it consistent, but otherwise they need to invest in a B2 size diecutter with fast makeready features and comprehends the variability in image registones 12 Printing News ® February 2017 PrintingNews®com
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