"Nilpeter is best known for flexo, offset and combination presses, but also our previous digital printing solutions", says Nilpeter COO Peter Eriksen. "By only displaying the PANORAMA line at this year’s LabelExpo, Nilpeter strongly stresses its commitment to this new digital product line. Nilpeter has developed a very strong digital platform that deserves full attention, which was rewarded by a fantastic feedback from the market.

Nilpeter's new PANORAMA digital solution was one of the major attractions of LabelExpo Europe. It combines the company's expertise in web handling with one of the industry's most advanced single-pass InkJet printing unit and workflow management system. The press has a maximum printing width of 322 mm (12.67 inches) on a 350 mm wide web. It prints at up to 50 m/min. (164 ft/min.) on a variety of paper and filmic substrates from 90 to 350 microns.

The name 'Panorama' reflects the wide range of converting and finishing options. This complete digital solution uses the company's proven web handling and converting technology based on adapted modules. They include Nilpeter's QC-Die, a smart stripping unit, and hot/cold foiling.

After extensive evaluations of printheads and inks, Nilpeter chose Kyocera piezo printheads. With a resolution of 600 dpi. the piezo printheads offer four-level greyscale imaging. A minimum droplet size of 3 picolitres gives mall-dot halftones to achieve near-offset quality of reproduction.

The EQUIOS digital front-end eliminates many repetitive manual tasks and automates the planning and step-and-repeat routines. Information is fed back live to a digital dashboard displaying production data, printing speeds, and meters printed for all scheduled jobs. Its text resolution function, which reduces ink spread across the entire job, offers high-definition sharpness, with text down to 3 points.

Both systems offer high levels of reliability, nevertheless the PANORAMA digital printing unit, the DP-3, features advanced on-line diagnostics to greatly reduce the need for service calls. An advanced feature already fitted on Nilpeter's range of UV-flexo and offset presses.

Nilpeter will target existing users of digital label presses, many of which are expected to come from its loyal customer base. "There is no winning technology that covers all applications," says Jakob Landberg, Nilpeter's Sales & Marketing Director. "This factor reflects the complexity of the label and packaging market, which contributed to the fact that Nilpeter always has been spearheading combination printing. Now we can add reliable and highly productive digital printing and finishing applications, which meet global brand-owners' expectations, to the menu.”

In general, lower consumable costs are expected to follow wider usage of InkJet printing. In terms of performance, inks with a higher opacity are available with PANORAMA, which, combined with the latest printheads, have allowed the universal use of White to complement CMYK.

Nilpeter's commitment to reliable and cutting-edge digital technology is backed by an equally strong commitment to its existing analogue label and package printing technologies. In fact, a 420-mm wide FA-4* UV-flexo press gave live demonstrations producing candy sachets at the show's Packprint Workshop, demonstrating pitstop job changes.