Federico d’Annunzio, President of Nuova Gidue, quotes: “Gidue ‘Revolutionary technologies’ have already changed our industry in the past 14 years: the world famous Flower flexo print unit, the Snowball stripping units with moving rewind shaft, the Digital Flexo Technology for digitally automated print pressure and register are already the new standards of productivity and efficiency. We are proud to confirm that the new Excellence technology will change the perception and the use of the flexo process in the Labels and Packaging industry.”

The Excellence concept installed on the new M5 and unlimited substrates press is based on a simple concept: Never stop the press running. All the print cylinders are prepared in the machine during the production of the “old” job without stopping the press; all the printing cylinders are changed “on the fly” without operator. The waste generated while changing 8 cylinders is less than 10 meters and the time is less than 1 minute, without stopping the press. Set-up performances and waste are comparable with traditional Digital Technologies.

The automatic exchange of printing cylinders (ExcelPrint) is integrated by the Digital Flexo HD-Cameras which immediately recognize the new job and adjust pressure and register settings digitally without manual intervention of the operator. In the die-cutting section, 2 die-cutting units are prepared to die-cut “old” and “new” job simply switching from 1 die-cutting unit to the other (ExcelDie).All die-cutting pressure, pre-register and register operations are digitally performed by the Gidue DigiGap technology which is reading the thickness of the substrate and adjusting the die-cutting without manual intervention from the operator. Exchange job from any “old” to any “new” labels and packaging, printing and converting is today possible in a fully flexo “digital” mode without manual intervention of the operator. A final 100% inspection camera provided by AVT allows four direct interactions between quality inspection and each M5 Excellence print unit. Quality is controlled with a “digital” closed loop between press and 100% inspection (Digital Flexo 4.0 ).

The M5 press was shown in combination with a Prati Star Plus TR330 non-stop turred rewinder to present a possible new vision of non-stop production flow for the labels and packaging industry. “The new M5 Excellence revolutionary technology changes the future of our industry in combination with Equinox Color Separation provided by Esko Graphics; in the near future new generation of flexo presses will not change anymore Anilox and Inks but only the print cylinders in a fully automated and digitally controlled work flow. Set-up times and waste is consistent, predictable and comparable to traditional digital printing technology with the further advantage of ‘all-in-line’ printing and converting production flow. With the new M5 Excellence Digital Flexo technology we estimate to be profitable Versus competing digital technology starting from a job-run length of 300 meters. Of course the new Gidue Digital Flexo presses show clear and distinctive advantages in terms of waste and ‘digital’ quality consistency Versus all traditional flexo technologies on the market”, says Maurizio Trecate, VP Sales.

Matteo Cardinotti, MD of Gidue, concludes: ”We know it is easy to use the term “Revolution”, but M5 Excellence in combination with our Digital Flexo technology changes the future of the Labels and Packaging industry by using the most ‘digital’ and traditional printing method UV Flexo: short ink-train, consistent color, immediate results in printing. The new era of Digital Work Flow adds a new substantial player: M5 Digital Flexo with Excellence “on-the-fly” digitally controlled, fully automated job change. Gidue experience in digital automation technology will guide a new revolution in our industry."