Corrugated packaging production has been a core business of BOBST for decades, leading innovations in flexo printing, litho-lamination, folding & gluing, and die-cutting. BOBST portfolio of services supports all steps of the production workflow, from preparation to the finished product. Digital solutions, field technicians’ expertise, parts and upgrades, and process optimization programs will increase packaging and printing production performance.
At IndiaCorr Expo, Venugopal Menon, Zone Business Director BU Printing Converting- Indian Sub-Continent Venugopal for Bobst, spoke about their offering to the corrugation industry.
He said, ‘ICCMA is the premier show in the corrugated industry. Bobst has a full range of solutions for the corrugated board industry, which is why we make sure that we are part of this show. In the last 8 to 10 years, the perception of the corrugation industry has changed drastically, and customers are adopting the latest technology and moving towards automation. The high-quality demand by brand owners emphasizes the convertors adopting better technology like Bobst. We are the world leader in offering solutions to the corrugated board industry.’
The Impeccable – FFG machine
‘It is the right platform where we can meet our existing customers and new customers. We sold our first FFG machine ten years back, and in less than ten years, we have more than 30 installations of Flexo Folder Gluler in India.’
‘This is the machine where you put the corrugated board (in 3-ply or 5-ply) in the machine, and it will convert the whole sheet into a final box. It will print, slot, die-cut, folding-gluing, bundle, and in-line strapping in a single pass. It is a complete in-line machine. Before this machine, customers used multiple offline processes that required much more manpower and were time-consuming. Now it can go in one line with much fewer people, so that turnaround time is much less. Quality of the output is much better.’
The in-line flexo folder gluers (FFG) represent a complete box-making solution. The basic purpose of the flexo folding and gluing in-line process is to produce regular slotted cases (RSC’s) from sheets of corrugated board in a single pass. A flexo folder gluer will incorporate several complementary units that feed and flexo print the board in several colors, then die-cut, fold, and glue it to produce a finished box.
The Masterline DRO
About Bobst offering to the corrugation industry, he added, “We have two roots to offer to the corrugated industry; first is an in-line machine like the FFS; secondly, offline machines, where we provide sheet-to-sheet high graphic flexo machines. Depending on the brand owner’s requirement, the customer can adopt which kind of process to convert the box, so we give the customer a whole gambit of solutions.”
“Recently, we have launched a new Masterline DRO, the state-of-the-art machine where you can print high graphics. What is unique about this machine is that you can print on both sides in one pass. The e-commerce industry demands such machines in the US and Europe. It was launched globally last year.”
The Up-coming Installations
‘We have quite a few installations in India coming up in the next six months. One is at the East India packaging in Kolkata; there is an installation lined up in Kandla; next year, we will have a few installations in the western part of India and one in South India.’
‘The corrugation industry is one of the fastest growing industries; even during the Covid, e-commerce was driving the corrugation industry. People were buying food products from online platforms. In India, there is a huge potential, I see the top 50-100 players will have a significant market share in the coming 5 to 10 years, and this is where we want to partner with the customers.’ concludes Menon.
