Ely, UK-based Jardin Corrugated Cases installs the first high-speed, digital printer for corrugated packaging. The FastJet™ press, jointly developed by Inca Digital Printers (Cambridge, England) and Sun Chemical Digital™, a recently created division of inkmaker Sun Chemical (Parsippany, NJ), can reportedly turn out up to 60,000 sq ft of board per hour, printed in four colors with a spot varnish at a resolution of 300 dpi.

The 41-in.-wide FastJet has 480 printheads fixed in stationary arrays. The board makes a single pass under the arrays and emerges fully printed by UV-inkjet inks from Sun Chemical's SunJet™. The inks, developed specifically for this application, are said to avoid nozzle dripping and to achieve full cure at very high speed.

The press installed at Jardin Corrugated Cases is a prototype for testing the technology's reliability in an industrial environment. However, Jardin managing director Kevin Hennessy said he plans to immediately use the press for regular production. One job had already been produced before the printer was shipped from Inca. "Many of the prints we have seen are of superb quality, and we have already produced images that can even be used as displays," Hennessy says.

Sun Chemical plans the first installation of commercial digital presses at the end of 2006 in Europe and North America. They will cost about $3 million, which is comparable to the price of a multi-color flexographic press.