Glossop Cartons installs world’s first Highcon Beam

The Highcon Beam is part of the next generation of Highcon’s digital cutting and creasing technology, and has been specifically designed to offer enhanced production capabilities, faster speeds, improved software and finishing capabilities for mainstream carton and commercial production.

Highcon Beam is intended as a finishing machine for mainstream production, and can run B1 sheets at up to 5,000sph. It can handle a wide range of substrates, including 2mm E-flute corrugated board. The platform for Beam has been largely redesigned, from the in-feed and registration to the cutting section, which features three 1kW lasers, in order to handle a wider range of substrates at higher speeds. Beam was introduced by Highcon earlier this year as part of its move to a portfolio proposition. Its product offering was previously centered on the Euclid, but has been added to with Beam, the 2,000sph B2 Pulse and Axis software, plus the Euclid III. Highcon has also introduced a new strategic vision to accompany its enhanced product portfolio, which is, ‘to bridge the gap between design creativity and production capability with innovative digital technology that unleashes the power of paper’.  

All of this will be shown on the Highcon stand at drupa 2016, as well as its 3D modeling concept.

Glossop Cartons was one of the first companies to invest in a Highcon Euclid, with the decision to become the beta test site for Beam based on its successful experience with the technology. Glossop Cartons has also recently installed a Xeikon 3500 digital press to extend its digital production capabilities. In late 2015 it acquired Stockport-based Contact Print and Packaging, doubling the size of the company and further bolstered its digital and production capabilities. In January 2016, the company re-located from the Padfield to Contact’s Stockport site.

‘We’re huge advocates of Highcon and absolutely delighted to have installed this innovative technology that will bolster our production capabilities at our new premises in Stockport,’ Jacky Sidebottom-Every, sales director at Glossop Cartons. ‘Together with the Highcon Axis web-to-pack solution, which we are also beta testing, we can bring huge benefits to our customers who are actively seeking differentiation on the shelf, together with faster turnaround, while at the same time streamlining our own ordering processes.’

The Highcon Beam will work alongside Glossop Carton’s Euclid , Bobst and Iberica cutting and creasing machines.

‘This is an exciting opportunity for our customers to benefit from this innovative machine which offers superior intricate laser-cut designs and is therefore ideal for a wide range of markets including added value luxury packaging, greeting cards, direct mail and stationery products in particular, along with conventional carton work,’ added Sidebottom-Every. ‘The possibilities are endless and we look forward to creating some incredible packaging solutions for our customers.’

Read more about the market for digital package printing in L&L issue 3, 2016