Positive outcome of drupa 2024: LEONHARD KURZ impresses with revolutionary highlights and sustainable innovations

Fürth/Germany, July 05, 2024: From May 28 to June 7, drupa brought together experts, companies and decision-makers from all over the world in Düsseldorf to present the latest technologies, trends and innovations in the printing and paper industry. As a pioneer in the development of high-quality surface finishes and drupa Platinum Partner, LEONHARD KURZ presented numerous innovative solutions for modern finishing options, setting new standards for design, technology, efficiency and environmental friendliness. "Drupa was a great success for us. Not only did we sell several machines directly on site, but we were also able to hold numerous interesting discussions. This open, personal exchange is incredibly valuable for us," emphasizes Markus Hoffmann, Member of the Managing Board at KURZ.

SILVER LINE^®: New dimensions in packaging finishing

With SILVER LINE^®, KURZ presented a product innovation at drupa 2024 that redefines the boundaries of packaging and label design and was met with great interest by trade fair visitors. With achromatic 3D effects, SILVER LINE^® not only offers visual depth, but also relies on the exciting interplay between matte effects and glossy mirror surfaces to create a luxurious and high-quality aesthetic. Whether full-surface or in fine lines: The different silver-metallic designs and diffractive effects create a unique visual impact that presents the product in a classy way. As eye-catching examples, KURZ exhibited three different packaging samples at the stand, which demonstrated the versatile application possibilities and impressive aesthetics of SILVER LINE^®. On the other hand, a box with three different transfer product rolls invited visitors to try them out and offered the opportunity to see the benefits of the finishing line for themselves. SILVER LINE^® produces reliable and consistent application results in hot stamping, cold transfer and digital finishing and can be easily integrated into existing processes.

ECOFIN^®: When cost efficiency and quality form a symbiosis

At drupa 2024, KURZ dispelled the cliché that high-quality finishes inevitably come at a high cost. With ECOFIN^®, the thin-film specialist showed that attractive design and cost efficiency can go hand in hand. The product range offers the usual excellent embossing results and is available for both hot stamping and cold transfer in web and sheet-fed printing. It includes an exclusive selection of limited gold and silver shades. In addition to first-class quality, KURZ also attaches great importance to sustainability. The thickness of the transfer carrier has been reduced from 12 µm to 10 µm (hot stamping) and even to 6 µm (cold transfer, web printing). ECOFIN^® is produced in Asia and reaches customers all over the world quickly, efficiently and via the shortest routes - for example via the KURZ customer portal. "ECOFIN^® has been developed to meet the latest market requirements with customized, profitable and sustainable products", explains Stéphane Royère, Head of Business Area Packaging and Print at KURZ. An impressive application example for ECOFIN^® as a cold transfer solution is the new bottle labels from Flensburger, which were presented at the KURZ trade fair stand.

Sustainability at KURZ: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The specialist for high-quality surface finishes presented its comprehensive sustainability strategy at drupa 2024, which is based on the three pillars "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle". In addition to the already well-known reduction of the carrier material for KURZ cold transfer products to 6 µm, KURZ hot stamping products are now also being converted to an impressive 10 µm, thus ensuring a significant reduction in the material used. One of the main attractions at the KURZ stand was the impressive installation for the detailed illustration of the innovative technologies, processes and procedures relating to recycling at KURZ: RECOSYS^® 2.0. This innovative system makes it possible to take back used PET carriers from the customer and process them into recycled PET (rPET) in KURZ's own recycling plant in Fürth. Rolf Schmidtke, Project Manager of RECOSYS^® 2.0 at KURZ, emphasizes: "Our long-term goal is to close the loop by producing new carrier material from RECOSYS^® rPET and thus returning the valuable raw material to the original cycle."

KURZ also presented the company's other sustainability efforts, including the continuous expansion of photovoltaic systems worldwide and the further development of dry coating processes. At drupa, it once again became unmistakably clear that KURZ is actively committed to environmentally friendly production and is driving innovation to contribute to greater sustainability in the graphic arts industry.

The Digital Product Passport (DPP): Product information and digital service with counterfeit protection In collaboration with its subsidiary KURZ Digital Solutions, KURZ presented the Digital Product Passport (DPP) at drupa 2024, which companies can use now to prepare for the future EU directive. The Digital ProductPass combines all relevant product information and digital services via a scan on a smartphone. This gives customers the opportunity to quickly, easily and conveniently access information and functions directly on the product via their smartphone, such as origin, production processes, environmental impact and much more. The example of packaging with an integrated DPP on display at the KURZ stand showed how this works. It demonstrated how brand owners and manufacturers can promote awareness of product information, counterfeit protection and service, and build trust with their customers. Manufacturers benefit from every scan and can thus collect important new market data.

Trustworthy security: TRUSTSEAL^® and SCRIBOS ValiGate^®

In many industries, counterfeiting not only damages the image of brand owners and causes them to lose sales, but also poses a risk to consumer health. The cosmetics industry is a perfect example of this: Care products with uncertain ingredients can cause serious problems. This makes effective protection against counterfeiting all the more important. KURZ demonstrated what this can look like using the packaging for an anti-ageing cream. The combination of the TRUSTSEAL^® optical security mark and the SCRIBOS ValiGate^® diffractive security element effectively protects products and guarantees their authenticity. Visitors had the opportunity to experience the benefits of these innovative technologies for themselves at the stand - from simple authentication to complete customization to meet a product's individual requirements. The solution can be implemented both as a full label and in the form of hot stamping. The latest development is the first holographic security element that can be authenticated by anyone with a smartphone, without the need for additional adapters, apps or training. In addition, KURZ's technology can be seamlessly integrated into the workflows of print shops that use hot stamping processes.

Innovative digital finishing solutions for industrial requirements

With the DM-MAXLINER 3D, KURZ and its Swiss subsidiary Steinemann DPE presented a 3D finishing machine that impresses with its excellent production speed and unique efficiency. The 3D inkjet-on-substrate technology makes it possible to apply digital metallization, UV spot and relief coatings in a single work step. In a live presentation, a highly coveted KURZ drupa poster was completed at the stand and given to visitors as a free giveaway. Visitors were also able to follow the completion of various live jobs, including packaging, book covers, trading cards and Web2Print.

The world premiere of the DM-MAXLINER 2D at drupa marked another milestone in digital finishing. This machine, developed by KURZ and its subsidiaries Steinemann DPE and MPRINT, enables the production of high-quality digital metallization on a wide range of substrates - in particular open-structured uncoated papers - in a single pass and at full operating speed. Various customers were already convinced on site, so the machine was sold directly to several international customers.

Kurz subsidiary MPRINT, a provider of integrated or stand-alone solutions for the printing and packaging industry, presented its latest development in the field of digital printing systems at drupa. The MPRINT MGLIDE and MCUBE enable the high-precision application of text, numbers, barcodes, variable data and more on a variety of substrates. Not only personalized content is printed, but also security technologies such as the Digital Product Passport (DPP) from KURZ or SCRIBOS ValiGate^®. With its new machine design, the press impresses with its ultra-compact 4c digital printing and can be used flexibly for sheet-fed and narrow-web printing. The machine offers an integration solution (turnkey) for both new and existing machines, improving productivity and efficiency.

Both the live demonstrations of the various machines at drupa and the numerous exhibits at the KURZ stand demonstrated the diverse possibilities of finishing with KURZ technologies, true to the motto ‘Re:think what's possible’.

"A great deal of energy and passion went into the preparations for the trade fair - so we are all the more pleased that the presentation was a complete success. The trade fair days were characterized by open and valuable exchanges with customers, partners and interested parties. We can proudly say that - true to our claim ‘Re:think what's possible’ - we looked beyond the horizon together, rethought what is possible and opened up completely new perspectives for the printing and finishing industry," emphasizes Markus Hoffmann.