Koenig & Bauer (KBA) has pioneered the keyless inking technology for many decades. Waste-saving keyless inking units, which do away with cumbersome roller trains, were already used in anilox letterpress, flexo and anilox offset web presses in the 1980s and 1990s. In the field of waterless offset, they are today to be found in the sheetfed Genius 52 UV and in the quality-acclaimed compact newspaper press KBA Cortina.
The know-how which has been accumulated over many years of practical implementation is in future to benefit also the metal packaging branch. At the METPACK 2017 trade show in Essen (Hall 3, Stand B 39), Stuttgart-based KBA-MetalPrint GmbH is presenting the CS MetalCan, a new printing system specifically for mass beverage can production, which was engineered together with fellow subsidiary KBA-Digital & Web Solutions in Würzburg and is now to be marketed under the new label Can Solutions. With its 10 keyless inking units for an indirect letterset process, automatic plate and blanket changers and many further innovations, the CS MetalCan is set to redefine the standards in beverage can decorating.
