The Bobst K5 Expert runs at speeds of 1,200m/min and is an update on the current K5000 model. Live demonstrations will be taking place at the open house on 18 October.

Bobst global head of sales and marketing Juan Cano said: “This is a product we have been working on for the last three years. Our R&D engineering team were at work to not just improve the existing metallizer but come out with a new machine that will be the highest productivity vacuum metallizer in the market. 

“We felt we needed that as a competitive advantage and we used all our resources and innovation to come up with a machine that would actually outperform any other metallizer out there.

“In the last three years, engineers have been thoroughly testing key elements of that machine, such as vacuum seals and bearings, and all of these mechanical parts were thoroughly tested with a number of design options and materials considered.” 

The metallizer will be available for purchase worlwide straight after the open house, when a number of its unique features will be revealed. 

Cano said he anticipates it will sell best in India and South East Asia, and that the UK market for these machines will probably be quite small. 

He highlighted the lower environmental impact that the K5 Expert will have over other metallizers on the market.

“On vacuum metallization, the highest operational cost is electricity, so we have designed this machine with unique energy-saving features, which will reduce the carbon footprint when operating it,” added Cano.

The Expert will be priced at approximately 10% more than the current K5000 costs. The K5000 list price is dependent on its size.

Bobst will also use the Open House to launch Alubond, a new process feature to obtain high metal addition on metallized films. It is said to resolve the issue of weak bond strength of aluminium against polymer during metallization. 

Bobst used Drupa to launch a number of new printing and converting kits.