The Varioman c:line will be installed at a greenfield site in Germany for a new operation that is currently operating as ‘Project Rosa’.
The highly-specified press will be used to print frozen food packaging and is expected to be ready for production at the end of next year.
The Varioman c:line can print at up to 400 metres per minute, the equivalent of more than 2,500 pizza boxes every 60 seconds.
The move will be watched closely by other packaging groups.
“The project is a greenfield, new market for this customer. Of course, when getting with a web press of this large web width into folding cartons, many people will follow this with a lot of interest. It's very exciting for Manroland Goss to be part of this,” said Theo Buchmeyer, MGWS vice president for business development and product management.
“This press can really compete with big sheetfed carton presses. It could be a game-changer.”
The c:line can print on board from 100-700mic thick. The project Rosa configuration includes an automatic winder with web storage and splicing with no overlap.
It has a special infeed, five offset printing units, a flexo unit, electron beam curing and an inline rotary die-cutter.
Maximum web width is 1,300mm and MGWS said that the press was also suitable for “economical production even with smaller batch sizes” as sleeves with a different repeat length and plates can be swapped over in less than four minutes.
Separately, Netherlands-headquartered group Em de Jong is poised to add an 80pp web to its press battery – the only web size currently missing from its setup.
The 80pp Lithoman will be installed at Belgian subsidiary Mercator Press and is expected be running by mid-2021.
Em de Jong said that the new press would be in addition to the existing presses at Mercator, and was “the only press type that was still missing from the [group’s] machine park, which currently consists of 8, 16, 24, 32, 48, 56, 72, 84, 96 and 120pp presses.”
“The new press we are announcing is a 72pp machine but with a wider reel width of 225cm. This makes it capable of producing an A4 80pp product, finished in-line,” explained UK sales manager Craig Hall.
The unusual 56pp, 84pp and 120pp formats are all short-grain presses.
Em de Jong is one of the biggest producers of door drop advertising materials in Europe, and prints for UK customers as well as retailers across the continent.
MGWS’ Buchmeyer added: “It’s good to have some positive news in a year like this when everyone is downsizing.”
Earlier this year MGWS also completed the installation of the new 32pp Lithoman IV at Warners Midlands.
