Online finishing of digital print

The Norwegian company GP Stratum AS, in the graphic design industry known as "GP-Printer", presents a new solution for online finishing of paper surfaces. This "Online Surface Finishing Solution" (SFS) for digital printing has been designed to be integrated in the process line, directly after the printing system. This allows a substrate refinement on demand (including the digital print itself), without the requirement of special papers. According to the manufacturer, the finishing solution is well suited for various applications, including in areas where product liability, protection against forgery, or aging proof are required.

The use of the surface finishing solution will also reduce disruption of the production process and minimize service and maintenance efforts. Formation of dust from perforated and pre-printed material as well as static friction and paper curling will be eliminated. The system controls the process parameters with tight tolerances and coats in several phases each substrate to be printed, either with a special emulsion, the "tune-up", or with lacquers. According to the manufacturer, the process steps already qualify for offline finishing today - including for digital printing - and are compatible with the standard products from GP Stratum AS, for example finishing of printed rolls. The online solution will be introduced at "Emergo" in Cologne on November 28th and 29th, 2006, in order to find clients for a first long-term test run.

German Printer No.32/2006
Published on 10.2006