The machine from Canon joins a fleet of offset presses and will provide short- to medium-length runs for customers including global brand owners and local German brands. Leupold offers a complete range of services for folding cartons, point of sale displays and presentation boxes.
Joh Leupold managing director Bernd Assmann said: "During discussions with brand owners it became evident trends such as declining run lengths and increasing use of versioned products will become major challenges in the packaging value chain.
"Brand owners want shorter turn-around times and faster campaign execution as well as waste and cost reduction. We have carefully analysed the market. That is why we are taking advantage of a completely new press category – the fastest in the industry - in digital folding carton production."
The Océ InfiniStream is based on an electro-photographic liquid toner technology that is said to match offset in relation to productivity, print quality and substrate versatility. It has a roll-fed, modular print tower design enabling users to choose from four to seven colours.
Canon confirmed that there were currently no other test sites in Europe, Asia or North America.
European sales & marketing director, Commercial Printing Group at Canon Europe, Reinhold Frech, said that while the company was focusing on the folding carton market initially, the InifiniStream would "eventually be used for other applications other than folding cartons".
It was possible there would be a UK installation in the next 18 months said Frech, "but our priority is to complete our current order book," he added.
"We are in talks with many customers. There is a lot of interest in the technology, and we have already taken several UK printers to see the technology at our showroom and testing facility in Poing, Germany."
The InfiniStream runs at 120m per minute and can produce up to 14,400 B2-sized or 7,200 B1-sized sheets per hour on a 28 inch-wide web. The technology has the potential to be extended to even larger formats, exceeding the productivity and format flexibility of current digital presses for cardboard production.
Compared with offset and depending on the specific job parameters, Canon claim the InfiniStream would deliver a cost advantage for run lengths up to 3,000 to 4,000 B1 sheets. InfiniStream handles standard offset cardboard substrates up to a thickness of 600 microns.
Canon commercial printing group head for EMEA Peter Wolff said: "Our new InfiniStream technology, which already matches the productivity of sheetfed offset presses, ideally positions us to enter the growing packaging market."
