Looking back at the design of Gallus presses, the production of labels and packaging in a single pass is in the DNA of the St. Gallen-based press manufacturer. This did not change even when electrophotographic digital printing processes and production methods with stand-alone machines made their way onto the label printing market.
The basis of current hybrid solutions Gallus brought a hybrid digital flexographic printing system onto the market when it first entered the field of digital printing, with the Labelfire in 2016. In the years that followed, it underwent significant further development and is now used by high-performance users in 24/7 continuous operations. The demands of brand owners in the tobacco sector have significantly shaped the development of machine systems. In today’s market, the Gallus Labelfire is used equally for labels, folding cartons and special packaging. Having reached this stage, the company can look back on three development phases that it has gone through in the design of hybrid machine systems.
Phased development of digital printing The first phase, which Gallus describes as the innovation phase of digital solutions, involves the challenge of integrating inkjet printing into a hybrid digital/flexographic printing system. The starting point for development was the initial lack of performance consistency of inkjet, compared to conventional processes. This made it necessary to integrate improved print head technology into the machine concept. With their integration, Gallus then succeeded in significantly expanding the process window in which inkjet print heads function reliably.
