Kalas Packaging, the Boston, UK-based packaging converter, is introducing an online personalised gift bag and bottle box service for consumers, with its recently installed digital folding carton printing line, featuring an HP Indigo 30000 Digital Press integrated with a TRESU iCoat 30000 flexo coater.
On the new one-stop web-to-print service, Vanilla Reindeer, consumers may order premium-quality bottle cartons and rope-handled bags, in a wide range of format sizes, for numerous special occasions, in addition to matching greetings cards. The website offers delivery within 48 hours of ordering.
An easy-to-use interface lets customers decorate products by uploading their choice of high-definition images and creating messages, based on a wide range of colourful and appealing designs.
Kalas is a leading supplier of plastic packaging for horticultural and food products. Its existing manufacturing equipment comprises sheet-fed dry offset presses, lamination, cutting and creasing, and folding carton gluing.
Jonathan Padley, managing director of Kalas Packaging, comments: “Personalised gifts are so popular because they give us something unique – they make us feel special. A one-of-a-kind package, marked with the recipient’s identity, is bound to be as well-appreciated. But demand has not been met because bag and box converting is too complex for ordinary printers to consider.
“With our long and varied converting industry experience, we already have the post-print facilities in place, perfectly suited for roped bag and box-making. The addition of the HP Indigo and TRESU digital printing and coating line, with variable data capability, means we are uniquely positioned to provide an immediate premium-quality personalised service that is certain to complement any special occasion.”
The HP Indigo press and integrated TRESU coater provide a single-pass printing and coating line with minimal waste and setup times for gift boxes, while bags are digitally printed then laminated near-line.
Featuring seven colours, the HP Indigo 30000 press can reach 97 per cent of the PANTONE® Colour gamut. The TRESU iCoat coater applies UV and waterbased coatings for a full or selective gloss, matte or velvet-touch finish. The integrated line featuring both units has a maximum speed of up to 4600 sheets per hour (3450sph in four colours), handling substrates of maximum format 750mm x 550mm in paperboard and metallised boards between 250µm and 600µm thickness.
The TRESU iCoat 30000 unit’s automatic chamber-cleaning and fast sleeve-change capabilities enable varnish change-overs within approximately 10 minutes. Kalas also uses the TRESU iCut 30000 digital sleeve cutter for fast, on-demand imaging of sleeves that are used on the coater. After coating, the automatically stacked sheets are manually transported to cutting and creasing equipment nearby.
Padley comments: “After closely researching the digital printing market and assessing the capabilities of the technology, we chose the HP Indigo 30000 press together with the TRESU iCoat 30000 coater because they provided the first productive solution for quality on the wide range of formats and material thicknesses needed in gift packaging. The installation of the line provides the opportunity for growth and the possibility to develop what until now has been a virtually untapped market.”
