At this year’s Labelexpo Europe, BST eltromat International and Nyquist Systems showcased new options for web monitoring and 100% inspection with the systems in the TubeScan family. Nyquist Systems has been part of the BST Group since the beginning of 2019. Under the slogan “perfecting your performance,” BST eltromat and Nyquist exhibited the results of their collaboration with Hybrid Software at two exhibition booths in hall 5 (booths D23 and E05).

Hybrid Software is a global provider of products for PDF-based prepress-stage workflows and linkups to management information systems (MIS). The collaboration has enabled the two companies to simplify and speed up setup processes in label printing (including quality assurance). Visitors in Brussels also saw the latest options for the QLink workflow, which integrates quality assurance into the prepress stage, printing and assembly. More detailed technical options and features for the TubeScan product range were shown at the Nyquist booth. Alongside 100% inspection, the BST eltromat booth will also be presenting the company’s entire range for quality assurance in narrow-web processes—from web guiding, web monitoring and register control to color measurement, color management and workflow solutions.
 
“At Labelexpo Europe, we want to talk to our customers and interested visitors in detail so that we can explore their individual requirements and show them the latest options for quality assurance,” says Nyquist Systems CEO Stephan Krebs. He invited visitors to join him in in-depth technical discussions around the latest trends in label and packaging production using narrow-web production systems.
 
The new option of PDF comparison for print jobs directly in the printing machine was just one of many developments produced by the close collaboration with Hybrid Software. With the PDF option, machine operators can ensure that their printing systems produce enhanced quality instantly. Machine operators will no longer have to scan proofs and then compare them to the specifications from the prepress stage. Trips to the scanner and back—and the time involved in that process step—are things of the past. Label producers are printing faster than ever, and reducing the amount of waste they generate at the same time. This is possible because the PDF files for print jobs that the prepress stage creates using Packz from Hybrid Software containing all the relevant parameters, including the requirements for inspecting the jobs that need to be printed. This also applies to repeat lengths, N-up allocation and defining the inspection zones.

The prepress stage is also able to define different inspection requirements for each zone, making them more or less stringent as necessary. For example, selected zones can be inspected in more detail than less critical zones. A highlight: All objects can now involve dynamic, variable data such as different bar codes or alphanumerical—even randomized—sequences. During the setup process, the actual print results are compared to the specifications in the PDF files right in the printing machines and corrected by the machine operators as required. Nyquist Systems has demonstrated these options at Labelexpo Europe using a workstation and a bidirectional assembly machine that fulfilled pharmaceutical industry requirements.
 
The latest versions of the QLink workflow and TubeScan systems were presented live on rewinders at both booths. The main topics there were integration with customer ERP systems, the expanded options offered by the new 4k high-resolution area scan camera and the new Contour Light illumination option. This laterally directed light source can be used to make the outlines of transparent labels visible on paper or plastic carriers. The TubeScan range is known for diffuse standard background illumination, background illumination through the web and UV illumination for security features, etc. In addition to the new contour light, it also features three other independent illumination sources that cover a number of different web monitoring and 100% inspection requirements.
 
“Thanks to its integration into the BST Group, Nyquist Systems now has access to additional resources for continuing to evolve the TubeScan range in collaboration with BST eltromat. This will generate a continuous flow of new opportunities for our customers to optimize their production processes and in turn, cater to the latest requirements of their own customers with forward-looking solutions for quality assurance. That is also a message that we would like to pass on at our two exhibition booths at this year’s Labelexpo Europe,” explains Anne-Laureen Lauven, head of marketing at BST eltromat.