The Scodix Ultra 5000 can print on boards up to 675gsm and a size of 600 x 800mm
Adding more than value
There was a time when whenever an enhancement to a product or sheet was needed, you either had a specialist department within larger businesses or smaller printers would have a long list of companies that could undertake this work for them.
This had advantages as you could rely on the network of in-house staff to produce what was needed, but a major disadvantage was cost. Should a client want embossing or foiling, the dies and foiling formes would need to be produced at significant cost. These costs would need to be passed onto the client pushing up the overall price, and in turn a client would typically pass this on.
Secondary to the issues of cost, each product would have needed to be the same and follow the design throughout the print run, so this can be a limiting factor. Generally, whilst a designer or customer would have liked to have eye-catching metallic colours and tactile forms, they would have been forced to forego the option.
However, as with all aspects of our industry, the technology has marched on tremendously over the years and now Scodix has a series of digital enhancement presses which can add a wide range of enhancements to any printed sheet, and a real game changer is that each sheet can be matched and personalised to suit the client. It is all
digital , so no costly formes or dies are needed.
There are six presses in what Scodix categorises as the Ultra Series, each with a certain market. As one would assume, as the number of each model increases from 1000 to Ultra 6000, the scope of the product, mainly in size and board functionality, increases.
When looking to produce packaging products, the Ultra 5000 and Ultra 6000 machines are where any print business working with large sheets up to B1 needs to look”
Each has in turn a specific market it fits best, be it general, commercial, B2B or B2C, web-based, or carton and packaging markets. For the purpose of this article, we chose to focus on the Ultra 5000 and Ultra 6000 presses. The Ultra 5000 model is most likely to be selected should you be in the B2 rigid board and carton market whereas the Ultra 6000 model is the ultimate offering from Scodix and will fit the B1 market.
Touching effects
The two machines reviewed have a large selection of effects which are trademarked products developed by Scodix. There are nine in total and on the Ultra 5000 and 6000 presses, five come as standard and the other four are options.
Both the Ultra 5000 and Ultra 6000 models can be equipped with Scodix Braille
The standard effects included with the presses are Scodix Sense, Foil, Metallic, Glitter, and Spot.
Scodix Sense when applied produces raised glossy embossed forms or textures, the rest are fairly self-explanatory in what they apply to the sheet. You can add metallic finishes to printed materials, glitters without the mess and waste associated with these products, spot varnish, and other enhancements. Some of the applications such as Scodix Foil can be applied over Scodix Sense to produce an embossed and foiled product. Further to the standard product line, the two machines can be specified with Scodix Braille, VDE, Cast&Cure, and Crystal.
Scodix VDE stands for ‘Variable Data Enhancement’ meaning each of the individual products can be printed due to specific requirements. This can be done sheet after sheet in the form of different barcodes printed on each sheet. This means fonts, layout, and the design of each image you would like the individual end-user to have is there at the touch of a button.
Scodix Cast&Cure when based on Scodix Foil can produce outstanding high impact and 3D Holographic effects. Scodix Crystal is just what it says on the tin – you can recreate an actual crystal effect on a sheet, removing the need to do this manually with real or imitation crystals.
Regardless of the effect you are applying, the Ultra 5000 and Ultra 6000 enhancement presses use UV-cured technology to apply the glitter or metallic additions meaning the challenges of heat and pressure are not an issue with the Scodix Ultra presses.
Substrates are no problem
The Scodix Ultra 5000 and Ultra 6000 being designed for the carton/folding box and B1/B2 market need to be capable of handling almost any substrate and all the presses in the range can. As stated before, the main differences in the presses reviewed are their size and function.
The Ultra 6000 model is the ultimate offering from Scodix and fits the B1 market
The nine enhancement effects available through Scodix can adhere to and be cured on any printed materials which include offset, HP Indigo ElectroInk, inkjet, lamination, or toner-based inks and papers. This means the scope of the presses is wide and very varied.
To ensure each sheet is in the right place on one or two of the large cast iron vacuum tables inside the press, Scodix uses its RSP (rotate, scale, position) registration technology. The correct position and alignment of the sheet is achieved with the use of four CCD (charged-coupled device) cameras mounted in the press. A CCD camera is a video camera that contains a light sensor on an integrated circuit.
In order to check and correct the sheet placement prior to the application, the presses use one of three methods. Scodix OPA uses a printed dot on the sheet to align it via the cameras, whereas Scodix ARP uses marks on the sheet such as tick marks in the four corners. Finally, the press can also register on the corner of each sheet for a final method of securing the correct place.
As for size, the Scodix Ultra 5000 can print a board up to 675gsm and a size of 600 x 800mm and this machine is specifically specified and designed for the B2 carton industry. The Scodix Ultra 6000 can print up to the same calliper of paper or board as the Ultra 5000, but goes up to an impressive size of 760 x 1,060mm which fills the B1 market.
The series of presses are designed for all markets including commercial printing, web-to-print, publishing, and folding carton. The task is for print-service-providers to decide which of the six presses suits their business best.
Regardless of your market, the enhancements available from the nine Scodix applications can ensure you can do away with the list of specialist suppliers to support you. You can complete one-off products or hundreds of the same version with foil, embossing, 3D images, and crystal effects all through one simple and operator-friendly interface.
Brian Sims Principal Consultant, Metis Print Consultancy, www.metis-uk.eu
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