rlc | packaging group and manroland opt for IPA-free printing

Leading the Way in Alcohol-Free Printing
rlc | packaging group and manroland opt for IPA-free printing

　　How printers can use alcohol-free printing to boost their quality and efficiency and at the same time produce in an environment-conserving way is shown by the rlc | packaging group with its Leunisman factory together with the manroland company at the symposium on IPA-free printing conducted by the Forschungsgemeinschaft Druck (print research community) on November 11, 2008 in Osnabrück, Germany.

　　Alcohol-free printing offers printers far more than environmentally compatible production. In addition to saving a company several tons of IPA additives, eliminating IPA makes it possible to standardize pressroom machinery for consistent quality and high production efficiency.

　　In 2008, the 630-staff company in its Hannover-based Leunisman plant started to produce high-quality packaging for brand advertisers of the body care and cosmetics industry totally without the use of alcohol. And doing so to high-quality standards. Because the plant produces packaging not only in conventional printing but also by UV process, printing on different substrates like paper, board, plastic and foil. Besides process colors, special colors are frequently used. From 1996 to 2003, Leunisman reduced its IPA consumption from 16 to 7 percent by converting its presses via individual manroland equipment packages. With new presses and new measuring technology as well as personnel training, Leunisman has since achieved alcohol-free production throughout. Converting a printing company to IPA-free production takes time and depends on good partnership with customers and service providers. manroland supported Leunisman in its changeover with groundbreaking equipment packages such as rollers in the dampening unit, modern measuring technology for the circulation of fountain solution, and with certified printcom products.

（Ecologic = economy through ecology, manroland’s motto has proved its worth at Leunisman, too.“50 percent of what it takes to operate completely without alcohol is the equipment of the machinery, the other 50 percent is a combination of expertise and the team’s motivation,” sums up Hasan Esen, plant manager at Leunisman）

（Rainer Gebhardt, Vice President Technology Trends manroland: “We are happy to be able to accompany our customers so effectively on their way into a sustainable future with our products and services. We let them experience that manroland has the fifth color: CMYK plus green.”）