Bobst welcomed 80 guests to its North American Competence Center in Alpharetta, GA, USA, where the print machinery specialist provided live demonstrations, presentations and networking. In order to provide a more personalized atmosphere in a relaxed setting, Bobst held the oneLABEL open house across four days, from December 5-8.

The Digital Master series was on full display, as the company illustrated how to optimize production and future-proof the pressroom with Bobst’s All-in-one, All-inline solutions. The fully modular Digital Master series has been designed to meet market demand, regardless of where converters are in their digital journey. For example, converters can make a seamless transition from the LB702 to the Digital Master 340 as their digital business grows.

While Bobst offers a full portfolio of flexo, digital and combination printing solutions, digital was on full display for attendees.

“The Cluster technology at Bobst has allowed us to differentiate ourselves from everybody else out there,” commented Dean Haertel, business director, oneLABEL North America, Bobst. “We can print at 1200 x 1200 dpi and 328 fpm. For us, though, it’s the scalability. You can start with us at the LB701 or go to the Digital Master and get the same output. We help you deal with ultra-short runs all the way to ultra-long runs.

“The All-in-one is the bridge between pure digital and pure flexo, and it’s what makes us unique in the marketplace,” adds Haertel. “You can start with pure digital and scale it with multiple flexo stations. Our goal is to give you a lot more flexibility.”

The Bobst oneLABEL portfolio can handle everything from labels to flexible packaging, 6.7” wide to 21” wide. The Bobst Digital Master 340 on working display at the Alpharetta Competence Center comes in a hybrid configuration, with six flexo units upstream, a 7-color digital printing unit, two flexo units downstream, a combination unit, semi rotary and full rotary diecutting and more. The press also features AccuCheck, an inspection system built into the press, as well as automatic die changes.

Due to Bobst’s emphasis on the label and package printing market, the company will soon be moving to a 31,000 square-foot facility – an expansion from its current 6,500 square-foot facility in Alpharetta.

“We’re going to have a lot of space because of the growth potential of our business,” explained Matt Bennett, Bobst’s business unit director for North America. “It’s exciting that we’re able to make this move because of our growth and the projections of our business being so strong.”

Preparing for a digital future

Bobst’s latest product enhancements have been engineered with the future in mind. And according to CEO Jean-Pascal Bobst, that future will be digital.

“If you said what we’re currently doing digitally was doable 3-5 years ago, people wouldn’t have believed it,” states Bennett. “The mega leap in the ability to print digitally, flexographically and finish inline is absolutely amazing. When you think that just five years ago, buying a standalone digital press that ran at 80-90 fpm without a finishing device was the standard way to go in this business. Now you’re talking about buying a machine that can print digital and flexo and finish all inline.

“We have the best technology on the market today,” adds Bennett. “Now we have to get the word out and convince people – we have to prove it. But I believe we have the best portfolio in the business. We can make a case every day when we get in front of a label converter that we have the best solution, not only from a quality standpoint but a return-on-investment standpoint.”

In order to provide digital and hybrid technology, Bobst is not required to partner with other companies, either. All the technology exists under one roof.

“There are digital companies that come together with flexo companies and marry their technologies together. Our philosophy is to control every aspect of building and developing the technology,” said Bennett. “It’s one service call to us, and the onus is on us to resolve the problem – and we’re really good at that. Our business has been built on dealing with demanding customers.”

Bobst’s press design has been built on four pillars: digitalization, automation, connectivity and sustainability. Every product that Bobst develops and brings to market includes an element of these four pillars. From marketing to R&D and engineering, each one of those pillars must be represented.

The technology has also been designed to remedy the pain points for today’s label converters. “The biggest challenge for label converters today is labor. The supply chain issues are a problem today, but that will be overcome,” says Bennett. “Everywhere I go labor is the biggest issue, so converters have to do more with less. They have to be able to get more out of the equipment because they have fewer people, and it’s harder to depend on people so they have to accomplish it with automation and technology.”

Even though digital printing and automation are key to Bobst’s business philosophy, flexo will still play a pivotal role for the company moving forward. And flexo and digital function as complementary technologies.

“If you look at the breakdown of flexo to digital, around 15-18% is digital and the rest is flexo because there’s still a tremendous amount of long run work out there,” explains Bennett. “So, it still makes sense to run a lot of jobs on flexo machines. We’re bullish on the flexo market, too, and when you sell both, which we do, we have the best of both worlds.”