September the 12th and coinciding with Print 17 Landa Digital Printing invited selected prospects and press/analysts to their VIP event in Israel, to witness the first Landa Press to go into operation at the Israeli packaging printer Graphica Bezalel.
Landa made a big splash by announcing their nanography technology at drupa 2012. Almost everybody in the printing industry eagerly awaited to see the first installation. Without doubts, the start has been bumpy and the date of the first install has been moved several times, but that can be said about almost every piece of truly new technology in the graphic arts industry. Finally, the day arrived by shipping the first Landa S10 press to Grapica Bezalel in July 2017. After a month of installation, the press has been in operation for two weeks at the date of this event.
Landa S10 at Graphica Bezalel
Graphica Bezalel is a family owned packaging printer focussed on folding carton and label printing for the cosmetics, food and beverage industries. The company is active in packaging for more than 50 years, owning 3 offset presses including prepress and converting departments. Noticing that already 70% of all jobs have run length up to 5,000 sheets and that run lengths keep on declining the company decided to invest into their first digital press. Since the mainstay of the company is B1 printing and one aim is to be able to shift jobs between offset and digital production, Graphica Bezalel waited for a B1 solution to come to the market and found the matching press in the Landa S10. It certainly helped that the Landa plant is less than 20km away to ensure excellent support in the start-up phase. Graphica Bezalel plans to use the press for folding carton applications and runs up to 5,000 sheets, but imagines doing proof prints for their offset presses as well. Moreover, several customers already voiced interest in personalised packaging and variable data – a market Graphica Bezalel would like to explore.
The Landa S10 at Graphica Bezalel is obviously a beta site installation. It still is a 4-colour version with a maximum speed of 6,500 B1 sheets per hour. Also, the automated quality management system (AQM) is not implemented yet. However, the press is scheduled to be upgraded, likely with AQM coming first within a few weeks, the 7-colour option early 2018 and the higher speed of 13,000 sheets/hour at a later stage.
Piles of prints of several typical customer jobs were on display at the site. Even without AQM active samples demonstrated good results. According to Graphica Bezalel first prints from the S10 are on the way customers for final use. The company successfully tested boards from 60 to 600 microns – the same types as used on their offset presses. Also, the same finishing set-ups are being used, including die cutting and hot foil stamping.
Sample products printed on the Landa S10 at Graphica Bezalel
Print Samples Landa S10
A more detailed write-up on the Landa VIP event will soon be available for subscribers to the Keypoint Intelligence services.
