KBA has applied its years of keyless inking development to a new system for printing on metal cans.
The waste-saving keyless units were used in anilox letterpress, flexo and offset web presses of the 1980-1990s, and are in use in today's Cortina waterless newspaper press and Genius 52 UV sheetfed.
Now Stuttgart-based KBA-MetalPrint is showing the technology in a new system for mass beverage can production, which will debut at the Metpack trade show in Essen. It was engineered with fellow subsidiary KBA-Digital & Web Solutions in Würzburg and is now to be marketed under the new CanSolutions brand.
An indirect letterset system with ten keyless inking units, automatic plate and blanket changers is "set to redefine the standards in beverage can decorating", the company says. The unique ten-unit press answers a trend towards increasingly colourful and more complex can designs.
The CS MetalCan expands a portfolio of printing solutions from MetalPrint which includes drying systems to provide complete solutions for the two-piece market segment. It complements an existing offering in the production of three-piece cans.
Keyless inking units have been adapted to the demands of beverage can decorating, with high-performance motors the basis for a maximum rated speed of 2,500 cpm.
Pictured: Operator side of the CS MetalCan with its ten keyless inking units and automatic plate and blanket changers