Highcon announced on 21 February 2108 at its headquarters in Yavne Israel, the launch of the Highcon Euclid IIIC for cutting and creasing corrugated and fluted substrates from 1 mm up to 3 mm (40-120 pt). The Highcon Euclid machine has been working with corrugated board at LxBxH in Switzerland since the end of 2015, and is now being made commercially available in the market.
According to Silvano Gauch, president of LxBxH, “We have been using the Highcon digital cutting and creasing technology to produce high-quality, short-run packaging on demand for our customers. The ability to produce small to medium size batches just-in-time with low entry cost, allows our customers to order what they actually want.”
Aviv Ratzman, Highcon chief executive officer and and co-founder, added, “We realized the potential of the corrugated market in B1 and B2 (42 and 28-inch) formats and have been encouraged by the success that LxBxH have had in this market. Box compression tests that have been performed by comparing the digitally produced boxes with conventional ones have proven that boxes produced with the same substrate on the Euclid are stronger than those produced on conventional machines. This creates an opportunity to attain the same strength with reduced material usage and, as a result, reduced costs. The potential of adding lamination and high-quality print to the flutes also opens up a world of packaging that is both visually and structurally effective.”
The integration between digital cutting and creasing of corrugated cartons and online ordering fits the trend in the industry towards optimizing packaging size to reduce over-packaging and shipping costs. The Highcon Euclid IIIC not only saves on the production and storage of die-cutting forms but also adds the flexibility of digital technology, which enables JIT production, short runs, customized perforations with cleaner edges and easier opening, and variable data etching for customization or personalization down to the level of serial numbers. The Euclid IIIC will handle single wall, laminated, N F G E and B-flute materials from 1 mm to 3 mm (40-120 points).
Our view
Packaging converters interested in seeing the machine at work are invited to attend a Highcon VIP event to be held at LxBxH on 16 April 2018. Since there are several inkjet presses in the market or being developed for corrugated boxes, the idea of a short run laser die-cutting and creasing machine with perforation makes sense for this packaging segment. Although it is rated faster than sample-making tables with a speed of 1500 sheets an hour for the B1 model and 2000 sheets an hour for the B2 machine, the question is its capital cost. Will it compete with digitally driven cutting and creasing sample makers from the likes of Esko-Kongsberg, Zund and several others that are increasingly being fitted with in-feed and delivery stackers?
