PETpla.net Insider 11 / 2020

CAPS & CLOSURES 38 PETplanet Insider Vol. 21 No. 11/20 www.petpla.net Digital printing of closures operating 24/7 IMDvista visit/CAPrint, Brügg/Switzerland We met: Martin Gerber, CSO, IMD Matthias Hermle, CEO, IMD Fridolin Maibach, CEO, CAPrint After five years in development, CAPrint is showing that its system for digitally printing caps has finally risen to the challenge and is now in production around the clock. The first units have now been delivered to customers. We were able to take a look at two of them at the Corvaglia cap plant. We spoke to Fridolin Maibach, CEO of CAPrint and Michael Krüger, CEO, Corvaglia. Interview with Fridolin Maibach, CEO, on the site of CAPrint Brügg PETplanet: Mr Maibach, print- ing can hardly be said to be a lucra- tive business. In most cases, the cap manufacturer must literally put printing on the top. What makes you think there is a market for such sophisti- cated technology? Maibach: Our CAPrint 1.0 system makes a significant difference in terms of cost reduction and marketing possibilities by using state-of-the-art quality prints. Digital printing opens up a new world in terms of printing excel- lence. Compared to pad printing, digital printing allows multi-colour and shading, which allows us to create realistic-looking pictures and graphics on the cap. We can go even further by creating an optical 3-D image or metallic looking effects by using smart processing. High gloss printing is also achievable. In the past, this would only have been possible with an addi- tional label. PETplanet: Realistic illustrations and different design motifs reflect the marketing aspects. Are there also arguments in favour of your technol- ogy in terms of cost? Maibach: Our cost advantages clearly lie in logistics and operation. Customers do not need specific staff, nor specific infrastructure. The overall energy consumption is also signifi- cantly below a mechanical printing solution. It is key to understand that our customers have almost no start up and exchange costs. The cap manu- facturer can store larger quantities of closures and, if necessary, process the closure for the bottler as required. The switch from one design motif to another takes place via the push of a button one piece at a time during the production process. This avoids lengthy switchover times and different caps being warehoused by the manu- facturers. By taking this one stage further and setting up the printing system with the bottler, we will be able to simplify logistics and storage issues even more. Another issue is automated opera- tion of the system compared to the labour-intensive pad printing process. The classic method involves ink being refilled and printing positions con- stantly readjusted. Even changes in design require a certain set-up time. Ours is an automated system, which gives us advantages over the cap manufacturer – it’s unmanned. Plus the print is 100% repeatable over time and place – receiving same results at different locations, avoid- ing any operator misuse. CAPrint 1.0 leads to less costs and comprehen- sive cost control which is key in our industry as you mentioned. Fridolin Maibach, CEO CAPrint Individual closures with printing