Heidelberg and Gallus focuses on digital future at Labelexpo

Heidelberg and Gallus are showcasing a range of digital technology at Labelexpo Europe 2023. The systems support increased automation of the entire print ecosystem, with the aim of facilitating ‘smart, connected printing’ to address shortage of skilled labor, increase productivity, and reduce waste.  

For Heidelberg, digital label printing is an attractive market to grow in the digital printing segment, as it has a growth rate of around 6 percent per year and is, therefore, increasingly turning to digital solutions. The latest innovations from Heidelberg and Gallus underscore their commitment to boosting this digital transformation.  

‘The new solutions that Heidelberg and Gallus have developed together address the most important challenges that stakeholders market-wide are facing every day, such as the shortage of skilled labor and the demand for more productivity,’ commented Dr. Ludwin Monz, CEO, Heidelberg. 

Labelexpo has marked the European debut of the new Gallus One digital label press. Launched in August 2022, the Gallus One was specifically designed to remove the total cost of ownership (TCO) barrier for the adoption of reel-to-reel digital labels with high level of automation and cloud-based technologies.  

Further optimizing the TCO benefits, Gallus recently launched the new Gallus One with converting. This new press brings everything inline, featuring a digital printer with an inline flexo station, a semi-rotary die-cutter that can change a job within one minute and process up to 70m a minute, and vision inspection systems. 

At Labelexpo Europe, Gallus will highlight the newly available digital printing unit (DPU) for the Gallus ECS 340 flexo press. Launched this summer as part of the inaugural Gallus Experience Days, the DPU transforms a traditional Gallus ECS 340 into a Gallus Labelfire 340 hybrid press – but crucially, without the additional platform investment.  

The trade show is also providing a platform to showcase the new Heidelberg Customer Portal (HCP), which was recently unveiled at the opening of the Gallus Group’s new industry facility – the Gallus Experience Center – and which automates almost every customer touchpoint. The future iterations of the solution will also provide predictive capabilities utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to provide recommendations to drive productivity, reduce maintenance, and boost profitability. The new platform is expected to save customers, on average, up to 35 percent in both time and money, Heidelberg claims.   

For high-volume applications, experts from Heidelberg will also showcase a complete production workflow for in-mold label production.  

Dario Urbinati, CEO, Gallus Group, said: ‘Labelexpo is always such a positive and inspiring arena, and we’re thrilled to have the opportunity not only to showcase our latest products at the show, but also to connect with stakeholders market-wide and continue to share our vision for the industry’s future.’