Launched to the North American market at Printing United, where Vanguard shared a booth with parent Durst, the machine is an automated combination of Vanguard’s VK3220T-HS flatbed printer and cutting table manufacturer Colex’s Sharpcut digital flatbed cutter. Boards are fed automatically through the system by conveyors.

“We’ve been working on this for a while now, trying to bring something to market that helps automate the whole workflow for our customers,” said Austin Bennett, Vanguard’s technical services director.

Speaking at the show last week he said the combined machine, which is primarily designed for rigid substrates, had been received well by visitors.

“It’s been very busy – when we turned on the machine, and started going through the boards at around 40 seconds to print and offload, we had tonnes of people outside the booth getting videos,” he said.

Working with Colex had been “amazing”, he added.

“It’s been an amazing partnership, and once we came together and started matching the machines and pairing them together, it was fairly simple.”

The machine is destined for European markets following its establishment in the US market, with Vanguard’s European subsidiary handling distribution.

Vanguard was exhibiting alongside parent company Durst, which acquired the Atlanta, Georgia-headquartered manufacturer in 2020.

Durst’s machinery on display at the show included its P5 350 HSR roll-to-roll, Tau RSC label printer and P5 Tex iSub models, despite it simultaneously exhibiting at Chicago’s Labelexpo event, which this year fell on the same dates as Printing United.

Labelexpo's opening saw the North American launch of Durst's latest press, the hybrid flexo/digital KJet 430, developed in partnership with fellow manfuacturer Omet, which was unveiled at Drupa.

Christian Harder, vice president of sales at Durst Group, visited both shows, telling Printweek he was very happy with how both had gone.

He said: “We’re happy: it’s the biggest show for us in the US [Printing United], and the US is our biggest single-country market, and it’s extremely important for us. This is the show where we have to have a presence, present our solutions, and meet our customers.

“It’s not just a selling show – it’s truly a coming together and a place to discuss possible solutions for the future. It’s really a meeting point for the industry, just the same as Fespa is in Europe.”