The MedJet 470, which uses technology based on Hapa’s Webjet technology, is designed to be compact and integrate easily onto continuous or intermittent motion packaging machines. The single-colour UV inkjet, which is designed for the medical packaging industry, uses solvent-free UV curing inks.
The unit is suitable for printing onto a wide range of substrates including aluminium foil, paper-backed foil, PVC, medical paper and Tyvek. It is targeted at the production of blisters, deep-draw blisters, trays and pouches.
Hapa director of sales for healthcare James MacKenzie said: "In the medical packaging sector, topics such as serialisation and the need for greater flexibility are driving factors in a trend toward the use of digital printing technology on-line.
"The digital drop-on-demand technology allows printing of fixed and variable information in a single pass."
He added: "Although cost is very dependent on configuration and application, the typical ROI on a machine is 18 months with savings from logistics and costs associated with analogue printing technologies."
Also new is the BlisterJet CMYK for printing text and graphics in four colours. This unit, which is also suitable for two-colour printing, is focused on printing onto blister and deep-draw blister products and is used to aid late-stage customisation of pre-filled packs.
The fully digital UV system provides sharp print quality in a single pass and is suitable for printing onto aluminium foil, paper-backed foil, PVC and Tyvek.
"When you think of blister packaging, you typically think of a foil laminate or other sealing film printed with one colour of text, usually black, if any at all. A new breakthrough blister packaging option opens up a whole new colourful world of digital printed blisters for brand owners," said MacKenzie.
"This machine is designed for pharmaceutical companies who pack products in blister packs and need to manage a high degree of order-size volatility.
"The machine decouples the production of blisters from the packaging of blisters. As a result, the utilisation of the blister lines is increased dramatically since the frequent machine changeovers associated with small-volume production is no longer at issue."
He added: "Cost again is very dependent on configuration and application, but the average ROI on a machine is 12 months with savings from logistics and costs associated with analogue printing technologies."
The two new units are available with immediate effect and UK customers can purchase them directly from Hapa.
Hapa, which is headquartered in Zurich and has sales and service centres worldwide, also manufactures UV flexo and hybrid units.
Additionally, it has an ink division, Hapa Ink, which develops and produces low-migration, solvent-free UV drop-on-demand inks that mitigate the risk of diffusion and set-off migration. The inks are specialised to each customer’s substrates, application, and production processes.
