Esko partners with BOBST to deliver incredible efficiency gains with innovative smartGRAVURE system

Aground breaking innovation that more than halves color matching time, reduces downtime by 70% and super charges efficiency for gravure printers has been developed in a new collaboration between Esko and BOBST.

smartGRAVURE has beencreated by BOBST, one of the world’s leading suppliers of substrate processing,printing and converting equipment and services, who partnered with Esko, theglobal provider of integrated software and hardware solutions that acceleratethe go-to-market process of packaged goods, for the pre-press and in-line colorreading element of the solution. The result is a new tool that enables gravureprinters to benefit from a fully digitalized workflow, optimally producingexceptional and consistent quality, minimizing waste of substrates and inks andmaximizing efficiency across the print process.

DavideRossello, BOBST Competence Center Manager & R&D Process Manager,Gravure, said the project began in 2019 when Esko was undertaking exciting workin Extended Color Gamut printing in prepress. “In Bobst Italy we alwaysmanufacture gravure,” he said. “Ink control is the final step on this journey –but while this process began in prepress, it has now moved to the end of theprinting process.

Simplifyingcolor adjustment processes
“Wewere looking to introduce something new. Gravure is a stable technology withless variables compared to others and is always the reference point whenevercomparing print quality results, and our focus is on delivering improvements inproductivity, management and efficiency.”

Davideexplained that the fragmentation of orders, with the varying number of jobs andchangeovers, means that gravure printers traditionally face challenges whenchanging the cylinder for each color, with the color adjustment processrequiring a lot of time to achieve the highest quality.

“AsBOBST did not have a color matching tool, it was left in the hands of thecustomer,” he said. “We decided to look at the setup time and say ‘ok, let’ssimplify all our customers’ presses, and digitalize this process’. Whenprinting in ECG, we knew we needed the optimal technology to check the printregister so as to simplify color adjustment. We needed first class prepresscolor software, and faced the challenge of combining that in the machine, tofix the color in a proper way. This is where Esko enters the game.”

DavidNaisby, Business Development Director with Esko, explained how the keytechnology in developing a solution was its AVT SpectraLab system - the marketleading technology first launched in 2012, of which SpectraLab XF is the thirdand latest generation.

“ThisISO certified measurement device took many years to refine. and today we areproud to be able to measure both media strip and within the printed imageduring press start-up and during the printing process,” said David. “This is anenabling technology for any press manufacturer to take advantage of, and BOBSTclearly understood how they could turn this into an advantage for theircustomers to improve productivity, reduce environmental impact and ultimatelyincrease profit.”

Theteam at BOBST evaluated several technologies and determined that Esko had thefull solution to address their technological needs. “Working together, the twocompanies’ R&D departments developed software that simplifies the operatorinteraction with the AVT SpectraLab XF and allows live density and colorinformation to be displayed on the BOBST user interface,” said David. “Testingduring 2022 produced very good results and we are now able to match thereadings from the press to the X-Rite eXact Spectrophotometer to be within oneDelta E, the industry accepted tolerances.

“Withthe trend for shorter run lengths, color matching and the associated waste andtime creates a major bottleneck which leads to unacceptable costs for theconverter,” he said. “With smartGRAVURE, we have taken a major step forwardwith this solution.”

BOBST’sDavide Rossello added: “Essentially, Esko gave us the recipe for how we coulddigitally fix the color in the machine. As a result, we now have 100% controlover what is happening in the press with smartGRAVURE. With this new tool,users can address any misregistration, tone value increase (TVI) differencesand color control, all in line. Delta E tolerances are guaranteed, and it alsoenables the adjustment of process colors, which we can measure in case of anydeviation, effectively closing the loop on color matching in the press itself.

“Interms of controlling production, this means that repeatability can be assuredas everything is digitalized. The machine is now doing the adjustments to bringeverything in line with the benchmark,” he said. “This is a new technology thatcan be implemented in a gravure press to give output for a customer that isfully controlled from the first meter to the last meter.”

Wit haround 50% of time spent on setup and 50% on production, the development experts at Esko and BOBST analyzed the data and determined where the bottlenecks in the gravure print process were.

“We recognized that the customer was spending anywhere from 45 minutes to two hourscolor matching,” added Davide. “Obviously that’s a significant amount of timeto lose. Because we are machine manufacturers, we never really looked at thechemical composition of the inks being used in spot colors. We have anexcellent relationship with Esko and as we needed a partner from the prepressworld, an expert in software, and preferably a solution that integrated withthe Esko Automation Engine workflow solution to read both composition andcolor, it made perfect sense to work together.”

Eskowas a key part of the project from day one – in fact, the first fingerprint wasactually printed with an Esko logo. Esko’s David Naisby explained: “The dreamof all converters is to be able to run a press automatically, without having toadjust color. With this partnership, we are proud to be able to empoweroperators to achieve their goal.

“Thefundamental part of this process is the accurate measurement of color, aseverything in the workflow depends upon this,” he said. “Secondly, the colordata workflow has to be simplified. You cannot have press operators enteringcomplex target density and color values press-side. To achieve this, theSpectraLab XF is connected to the X-Rite ColorCert product that resides in theEsko S2 cloud solution. Specific job color target information is sent to thepress and sets up the SpectraLab XF automatically with the correct values foreach printing unit.”

Measuringat high frequency during high production speeds, Esko’s AVT SpectraLab XFensures perfect color matching and consistency to a brand’s specification,assisting in reducing waste by alerting for color density deviations andassisting operators to get back to needed color tolerances. With the new colorcontrol abilities from BOBST, this ability is translated into an automatedclosed loop color solution.

“Ourfirst test was in 2019, and now we have it finally set up on a machine in ourcompetence center,” added Davide. “In terms of the difference smartGRAVUREmakes, it is simply better. It makes automatic adjustments, for the base andcolor extenders, to bring the color to the target density.

“Intests, 94.6% of the extended color gamut have been achieved using smartGRAVURE,with the lowest still an impressive 89%,” he said. “A range of 89-95% issurprisingly high, with only some very specialist colors missing.”

Ensurecolor quality, save time, reduce waste
“Whatuntil today has taken hours can now be significantly reduced to under 20minutes, depending on the job and colors involved,” said Davide. “To replacethe cylinder, from the moment the machine stops, it is now just a fewmechanical changes and we don’t have to wash anything. For a new job, coloradjustment should not be needed so we can change the cylinder much faster andbe back up and running on the new job in less than 20 minutes.”

DavidNaisby said that in terms of actual savings and benefits, the numbers are asimpressive as they are staggering. “The increased efficiency means that idletime is reduced by as much as 70%, with what used to take 90 minutes or soreduced to less than a half an hour,” he said. “This clearly creates additionaladvantages in terms of the availability of presses and an overall improvedproductivity.”

Inorder to measure color, gravure operators need to print a test run – whichinvolves starting and stopping several times as they achieve color matchingspeed, printing around 300-350 meters each time before testing and repeatinguntil the color is perfect. “That’s a lot of printed material wasted, both interms of substrate and ink, as well as energy and time used,” said David. “WithsmartGRAVURE, this can now all be achieved with one single stop and start,meaning as much as a 60% reduction in materials saved at the changeover.

“Notonly does this deliver big benefits in terms of material gains, but it alsofurther prevents wastage by enabling print customers to recognize a problemearly in the run rather than when the whole reel is complete.”

Interms of color quality, Davide explained that a Pantone validation testreturned the first ‘Print totality of colors’ rating to ever be attained by agravure printer. “This was in one run, on the RS 6003 press in our competencecenter, with 2,369 colors, where we achieved a 92.1% rating,” he said.

“Withthis new tool developed by BOBST and Esko, gravure printers can enjoy anend-to-end digitalized process – enabling them to meet and exceed the highestindustry standards with ease.”