Since investing in the Bobst MAster DM5, I.B.E. S.r.l. has experienced significant benefits in a wide range of applications. 

The press, which features both UV inkjet and flexo technologies, offers priming, printing, lamination, embellishment and converting in a single pass. For the Italian printing house, the modular solution has turned out to be more than just another label press, as well as producing high-quality print, it is successfully addressing the challenging space between short and long runs by offering fast setup, high flexibility and cost-effective production. 

“For us the biggest advantages of the DM5 are, firstly, that it is very competitive on the medium – and most requested – runs from 2,000 to 8,000 meters. This means it is bridging a gap which I felt was there before, although to be fair, we are able to embrace all kinds of run lengths with this press,” states CEO Roberto Spreafico. “Secondly, flexibility. You can produce any kind of job required by the market, from the most complex to the simplest label, in a single pass thanks to the versatility of the press and the excellent integration between digital and analogue printing technologies.”

As part of the Spreafin Group of five companies, which employs over 250 people, I.B.E. was established in 1998 in Merate, in the province of Lecco in northern Italy.  The company produces self-adhesive labels, multi-layers labels and shrink sleeves for a wide variety of customers mainly in the food, wine and oil, household and personal care, and industrial sectors, both in Italy and internationally. Production capabilities include offset, flexo and digital printing technologies with constant investments made in new products to keep pace with the fast-moving market.

“The label sector has always been accustomed to short time-to-market demands, maybe because the label is one of the last things you put on the packaging. Speed is therefore key to success in this market,” explains Spreafico. “We need fast turnaround capabilities to meet these expectations. Sometimes we deliver labels in just two or three days, and this is where digital technology and automation play a huge role.” 

The I.B.E. team first saw the Bobst Master DM5 in action at Labelexpo Europe in 2019. Impressed with the native resolution of 1200 dpi and running speed of up to 100 m/m, the decision was quickly made to select this machine.

“The modularity of the press meant that our company was able to install a unique configuration matching our specific needs, while the high degree of automation has contributed to cost, time and waste savings,” says Spreafico. 

“A major advantage of the DM5 is the inline embellishment, which adds value without creating a bottleneck in production,” he adds. “We chose to include all kinds of finishing and embellishment options to print high-quality labels in one single pass so we can best serve all sectors and industries – for example, the cosmetics and wine label verticals, which require the highest level of embellishment.” 

The Bobst Master DM5 has been designed with automation in mind, with each module operated by digital technologies. The success of the press is due to the fact that most of the manual steps usually associated with flexo printing have been automated with Bobst technology, such as DigiFlexo for full digital registration and printing pressure setting. This also takes care of registration between the digital unit and the flexo stations, both before and after digital printing, which means the operator can trust the machine to keep registration and work autonomously. The result is a fast setup time, high press uptime and excellent repeatability. 

“One of the reasons we chose the DM5, in addition to the digital part, relates to the automation in the traditional printing,” says Spreafico. “The flexo groups are well integrated and have automatic register control camera technology on each station. The press is also very easy to operate and features job changes on the fly, non-stop semi-rotary diecut change and waste matrix system that can make even the most complicated shapes requested by our customers.”

He added that the setup times achieved were comparable to those experienced in standalone digital printing, despite the multi-process nature of highly embellished jobs.