The ceremony for the “100 Betriebe für Ressourceneffizienz” (100 Companies for Resource Efficiency) took place in October of this year under the auspices of Minister President Winfried Kretschmann. Among the companies were packaging manufacturer August Faller GmbH & Co. KG. based in Waldkirch and Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg), which together developed an environmentally friendly offset printing application for folding cartons.

The “Allianz für Ressourceneffizienz” (Alliance for Resource Efficiency) was established in 2014 in Baden-Württemberg by the Federal Ministry of the Environment and the leading trade associations as well as the state Chambers of Industry and Commerce. A key initiative of this alliance is “100 Companies for Resource Efficiency”. Its purpose is to showcase how resource efficiency can be successfully implemented and the kinds of economic and ecological successes that can be achieved, using 100 companies as examples.

August Faller GmbH & Co. KG manufactures folding cartons for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries and was one of the first packaging print shops to recognize the potential of the Anicolor technology in 50 x 70 format from Heidelberg. The company was looking for a cost-effective process to address the increasing trend towards short runs, while also taking into consideration the constantly changing spot colors specifically required for folding cartons. The Anicolor unit is a zoneless inking unit that needs just two rollers rather than the up to 17 rollers required in conventional offset printing. Faller worked closely with the specialists from Heidelberg to pilot the adaptation of the Speedmaster XL 75 Anicolor for the production of folding cartons. Up to then, the press was mainly used for commercial printing in 35 x 50 cm forma.

The pilot phase ran from the start of 2014 until the middle of 2015, with impressive results: the Speedmaster XL 75 Anicolor enabled paper waste to be reduced by 71.5 percent compared with conventional offset printing, which is equivalent to a saving of 163 metric tons of cardboard and around EUR 155,000 per year. The environment also benefited, with savings of around 37 metric tons of CO2 and around 80,000 kilowatt hours per year.

All of these technical adaptations have now been incorporated into the Speedmaster XL 75 Anicolor, and 40 percent of all Anicolor presses supplied are now being used in packaging print shops. An enhancement of the Anicolor press, Anicolor 2, was presented at drupa 2016 with an even wider range of applications and new uses, particularly in packaging printing . Examples are 7-color printing with Multicolor technology and UV printing for achieving an even glossier result. The Speedmaster XL 75 Anicolor 2 with the new design has been in production since November of this year, and is supplied with all the other drupa innovations.