Agfa, Interprint and Koenig & Bauer Partner for Digital Décor Printing

01 October 2021: Interprint recently invested in a third RotaJET system, their second one of the latest generation. Both of these are now running on the same Agfa ink set. The cooperation between the three parties has made it possible for Interprint, which already became an industry pioneer when it adopted inkjet printing on décor paper as a key strategy for growth, to expand its digital printing range with first-rate laminates. Because of the consistent and interchangeable prints on both lines, Interprint can roll out a wide variety of designs, from the early sampling phase right to the full production.

“We are excited to be able to show full flexibility in designs thanks to digital décor printing”, says Robert Bierfreund, Managing Director of Interprint GmbH. “The cooperation with Agfa and Koenig & Bauer during the start-up phase of the RotaJET lines has been very professional and resulted in a consistent print process that enables us to serve our customers with a huge freedom of design choices and superior print quality.”

Over the past years, Agfa has invested heavily in the design and production of water-based inks to print on décor paper for the production of laminates (floorings and furniture panels). The pigmented inks deliver consistent prints with a wide color gamut and low metamerism (for wood designs). As they are tuned to the existing lamination processes, they allow for a straightforward replacement of gravure prints by digital prints.

With the RotaJET range, Koenig & Bauer has developed a top-class single-pass print system that meets the demands of the laminate industry. With various print widths and a linear print speed up to 135 m/min, it can handle production jobs that would have been printed in gravure before, as well as quickly ánd economically print very short consecutive runs.

Koenig & Bauer and Agfa cooperated closely to validate the performance of the Agfa ink set for use with the RotaJET print solution. “Koenig & Bauer extensively tested the Agfa ink set on the RotaJET print solution at its Customer Technology Centre in Würzburg”, says Christoph Müller, member of the management board of Koenig & Bauer. “The fine-tuning of ink to the print system was managed carefully by both parties. This has resulted in the RotaJET running in a very controlled manner, delivering excellent image quality and overall performance.”