Highcon will be showing new versions of its digital finishing equipment at this year’s Drupa show, including the latest Euclid 5 and Beam 2 series, as well as the flagship Beam 2C machine targeting the corrugated board market.
Highcon is fairly unique in offering a digital laser cutting and creasing system and they include a lot of flexibility. Thus users can adjust the laser cutting depth for full cutting, half cutting, perforation, or etching and adapt the crease height to suit the substrate thickness and stripping to suit the layout.
Both platforms are based on the same technology for both creasing and cutting, and the latest versions run on the same software architecture. Aviv Ratzman, co-founder and CMO of Highcon, explains: “The Euclid series is a good match for small to medium companies and the speed and substrate thickness are limited. The Beam series are more for medium to large companies with medium run lengths and requirements for 2-3 shifts and increased gamut of substrates.”
Ratzman says there have been many improvements made to both platforms, with over 60 Engineering Change Orders for the Beam and a further 40 for the Euclid. He adds: “Most developments have been regarding predictability, reliability and quality. The new Euclid software introduces laser editing capabilities so the operator can really do last minute changes, like editing nicks on the layout. The JET (Job Estimation Tool) for both the Beam and Euclid allows the user to make more accurate estimations of job production time and cost and can also be used by the planner as it is a SaaS program.”
He says that both platforms have come a long way since the versions shown at the last Drupa, adding that for the Beam this includes the HIDS (Highcon Integrated Digital Stripping) which is designed to support any layout without additional tooling and which now has adjustable ribs so that the entire system can be controlled from within the User Interface. Meanwhile the Euclid series has gained the User Interface from the Beam machines.
Also, Highcon has beefed up the paper handling system in order to tackle the corrugated market and by the end of this year will introduce a non-stop configuration. Highcon has already installed two of the Beam 2C models at Orora Fibre Packaging Australasia (www.ororagroup.com) and THIMM Group (www.thimm.com) which is mostly based around Eastern Europe.
Martyn Johnson, General Manager Technical at Orora, explains: “We have been working with Highcon on digital finishing for corrugated for three years and are constantly discovering more benefits of this innovative technology. We are seeing great Interest and excitement from large brand owners in the potential of digital finishing which will offer them far more capabilities than normal diecutting both in terms of the cutting and also the ability to produce both short and long runs rapidly without waiting for a die cutting tool, thus substantially improving overall manufacturing efficiencies.“
Both the Euclid 5 and Beam 2 series are already available and you can find more information on them from highcon.net.
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