MAN Roland, Agfa, and Others Give Global View of Package Printing

Published: March 22, 2002, By PRESS RELEASE

OFFENBACH, GERMANY—According to MAN Roland, almost 1,000 packaging printers from all over the world converged at its graphic center in Offenbach, Germany, in late January. "[They were here] over a two-week period and [received] a hands-on perspective on the latest generation of prepress, press, and finishing technology," says MAN Roland.

MAN Roland reports it joined with Agfa Deutschland GmbH to assemble 20 technology providers to create a virtual world's fair of packaging innovations that included: computer-to-plate (CTP) solutions; digital printing systems; and a variety of offset printing options. The co. says visitors to the invitation-only event also were exposed to the newest substrate varieties, coating possibilities, press accessories, die-cutting systems, rollers, drying systems, and material handling devices.

Says North American attendee, David M. Wolff, VP of sales, General Press Corp.: "It was my first time over there, and I found it to be very educational — not only the seminar, bu the plant tour and the visits to a couple of German printing facilities. It was very enlightening." According to Man Roland, General Press Corp. is a packaging and commercial printing company located in Natrona Heights, PA, USA.

Prepress Performance
The stars of the prepress show, reports Man Roland, were solutions from Artwork Systems and Agfa. "Artwork demonstrated a digital workflow system that automates all prepress functions and is optimized for package printing. The results were produced on two Agfa platesetters, an Xcalibur and a Galileo."

The DICOpack
A digital package printing presentation featured Man Roland's DICOpack, says the co. The press was linked to a digital pattern system that enabled it to print short-run, on-demand packaging throughout the event, which ran from January 21 through February 5.

Visit Man Roland at manroland.com. More information about products from Artwork Systems and Agfa is available at artwork-systems.com and agfa.com.