At interpack 2023, Heidelberg unveiled a world premiere for the growth segment of high-volume folding carton printing with the completely new Heidelberg Boardmaster – a flexographic web printing system with a machine availability of up to 90% and a maximum printing speed of 600 meters per minute. According to Heidelberg, the press delivers double the productivity and thus reduces the total cost of ownership in industrial packaging production.
The printing speed of the press is up to 600 meters per minute, corresponding to around 38,000 print sheets in format 6 (sheet width 148 centimeters) per hour. It can handle substrates with grammages between 70 and 800 grams per square meter. Each print deck has two print units. While one unit is busy with production, the second one is being readied for the next print job. Depending on the configuration, a machine availability of up to 90% is possible in production.
As the global demand for packaged goods continues to grow, packaging and label printing is experiencing structural growth, making it an important core segment for Heidelberg. “With the world premiere of our Heidelberg Boardmaster, we are responding to key customer challenges in the packaging market – cost pressure, the skills shortage, and the need to optimize productivity and sustainability,” says Heidelberg CEO Dr. Ludwin Monz.
Heidelberg Boardmaster reduces total cost of ownership in high-volume folding carton production “The Heidelberg Boardmaster enables industrial packaging producers to significantly reduce their operating costs. With its numerous benefits for customers, the Boardmaster also provides an attractive alternative for many users who have so far opted for VLF – very large format – sheetfed offset printing,” says Christian Steinmassl, who is in charge of the packaging segment at Heidelberg.
The Boardmaster was developed completely from scratch at the Heidelberg competence center for high-volume flexo folding carton printing at the company’s Weiden site in Bavaria.