Heidelberg offers innovative solutions for the growing label market with its Gallus brand.
Heidelberg is one of the world’s leading providers of industrial, digital and offset printing solutions for commercial, packaging and label printing companies. Heidelberg has expanded its range of label printing solutions with its Gallus brand, an acknowledged manufacturer of label printing equipment based in Switzerland. Heidelberg now offers a comprehensive product portfolio that supports label printers with digital and conventional equipment for success in the growing label market.
This successful machine system performs impressively across the board thanks to its unique modular design. Label printers around the world trust in the high productivity of Gallus RCS machine systems that help them set quality benchmarks in label printing. What’s more, Gallus has achieved another technical milestone with the RCS 430, thanks to its cutting-edge units for UV offset printing.
The Gallus RCS 430 harnesses unrivalled application and process flexibility for label printers. The press can handle any substrate with ease – from extremely thin monofoils that are just a few micrometers thick to tube laminates up to 450 micrometers.
Fast, straightforward and without separating the web
The Gallus RCS 430 supports six printing processes and is thus redefining the future of label printing. Offset printing, flexographic printing, screen printing and hot foil embossing can be easily integrated at any position in the press in a matter of just a few minutes – without having to separate the web. Similarly, secondary processes such as cold foil embossing, laminating and reverse-side printing can be integrated quickly and easily anywhere on the secondary rail system.
The consistent platform concept, modular design and high degree of automation ensure cost-effective and eco-efficient production to the highest standards in printing quality. When working on repeat orders, the job data memory can be used to call up machine setting data from the main memory as required.
The new generation of Gallus machine systems features the latest control technology and unlocks potential synergies for label printers that are using a range of Gallus machine systems – as you would expect from a standardized technology platform and operating concept. Additional benefits include the intuitive user guidance system of the press, which is based on a state-of-the-art touchscreen panel. Numerous technical modifications have been made to the hardware – such as improvements to the web transport and enhanced register accuracy – based on feedback from Gallus RCS users and their experience with the machine system. What’s more, the optimized inking units in the offset printing unit of the new RCS 430 now exhibit even better color stability.
By using Flying Imprint for flexographic printing, operators can change texts and motifs without interrupting production. And, thanks to optimum end-to-end automation, the Gallus RCS 430 supports extremely short job changeover and setup times with minimal waste. The format variability of the Gallus RCS 430 also ensures the machine is completely flexible when it comes to printing methods, substrates and job structures.
The inking and wetting units on the Gallus RCS 430 are driven separately, which means the press can achieve the necessary ink/water balance before the actual printing process itself starts. The startup sequence allows the offset unit and format cassette to rotate at setup speed, with the web moving at only 1 m/min. This ensures that printing quality can be achieved very quickly with minimal startup waste. In conjunction with ink zone presetting, the Gallus RCS 430 sets a new and cost-effective benchmark for label printers using offset printing.
Using the Gallus RCS 430, label printers can achieve print results to the highest possible quality standard while maintaining the best possible performance in terms of output and cost-efficiency. The robust design, state-of-the-art servo drive technology and intelligent user interface ensure optimum print quality. Thanks to its high degree of automation, the Gallus RCS 430 achieves offset printing results in a quality that matches that of sheetfed offset.
Equipped with the latest, configurable servo direct drives, the Gallus RCS 430 supports continuous production. The temperature of the inking unit is constant and the quantity of ink is adapted continuously to the operating speed. What’s more, the wetting unit fountain roller and doctor roller are fitted with direct drives. The motorized printing units are quick and easy to adjust, which ensures consistent and precise reproduction of print results. Thanks to the use of an independent drive controller for the doctor-roller drive, the ink/water profiles of each individual offset printing unit on the Gallus RCS 430 can be customized, saved and then easily called back up at a later date via the job data memory.
The inking and wetting unit of the Gallus RCS 430 incorporates 21 rollers that ensure consistent, outstanding and reproducible printing quality, very short setup times and reduced waste. As in modern sheetfed offset presses, the wetting solution is applied via a separate forme damping roller. Three inking rollers transfer the ink to the plate cylinder. A bridge roller connects or disconnects the wetting unit to/from the inking unit. It can be applied for rapid inking-up or washing and for printing without the wetting unit (e.g. varnishing of solids). Separation of the wetting and inking unit is also advisable when working with metallic inks.