Heidelberg adds opaque white to Gallus label presses

Heidelberg is to launch a brace of new units for its Gallus label presses that will add opaque white embellishing and rotary die-cutting capabilities.

Both units will debut at Labelexpo in Brussels, which takes place on 24-27 September.

The first is the Digital Printbar, an inkjet printing unit designed for digital insetting of opaque, digital white that is compatible with a range of Gallus machines. The second, a rotary front-loading die-cutting unit, will be showcased on a Gallus Labelmaster Advanced.

Gallus head of marketing Matthias Marx said: “A label printing company has to be flexible in today's fast changing label market. In this regard it is essential to give label printer and converters the choice depending on the respective requirements.

“For this reason, the Digital Printbar is one more option for narrow-web print shops to print white with a very high opacity because the demand for opaque white is still very high and not that easy to reach.

“Our new die-cutting unit meets the need to change die-cutting formats in under a minute; the fast change of die-cutting format is a growing demand on the label market. Stability, quality and reproducibility are not only relevant for printing and converting, but, for sure, also relevant for die-cutting.”

With a 430mm printing width, the shiftable Digital Printbar has been designed so that its inkjet-based digital output can compete with conventional screen printing.

It will run in Brussels on a Gallus Labelmaster but can also be integrated onto systems such as the Gallus Labelfire or the Gallus RCS 430. It can be integrated into a workflow using ethernet and USB connections and prints at a resolution of 600dpi.

The rotary die-cut unit is designed for all types of narrow web systems and boasts a format-change speed of under a minute, according to Marx.

Last month, Heidelberg launched a new online platform providing advice for label printers in collaboration with Gallus.