Heidelberg has unveiled a new Boardmaster developed for high-volume folding carton printing. The first systems are already being installed by large packaging customers.

Heidelberg said this flexo web press, with a machine availability of up to 90 per cent and a maximum printing speed of 600 meters per minute, doubles the productivity and dramatically reduces the total cost of ownership in industrial packaging production. 

Heidelberg CEO Dr Ludwin Monz said, “With the world premiere of our Heidelberg Boardmaster, we are responding to key customer challenges in the packaging market – cost pressure, the skills shortage, and the need to optimise productivity and sustainability”.

The new machine is especially suited to the food and beverage sector’s folding carton applications, which are becoming increasingly popular due to a growing global demand for packaged products.

Heidelberg packaging sector executive vice-president Christian Steinmassl added, “The Heidelberg Boardmaster enables industrial packaging producers to reduce their operating costs significantly. 

“With its numerous benefits for customers, the Boardmaster also provides an attractive alternative for many users who have so far opted for very large format – sheetfed offset printing.”

The Boardmaster was developed entirely from scratch at the Heidelberg competence centre at the company’s Weiden site in Germany in close collaboration with international packaging customers. It also factored in their key challenges – cost pressure, the skills shortage, and the need to optimise productivity and sustainability. 

The printing speed is up to 600 meters per minute, corresponding to around 38,000 print sheets in format 6 (sheet width 148 centimetres) per hour. It can handle substrates with grammages between 70 and 800 grams per square meter.