educed ink and solvent consumption, less production waste and a lower expenditure of energy: Südpack’s innovative SPQ technology (Sustaina-ble Print Quality) significantly improves the carbon footprint of package printing – and also impressed the specialist jury of the renowned German Packaging Award in 2021. This makes the holistic solution provider in the field of high-performance films and package printing one of the four win-ners in the economic efficiency category.
Südpack sets standards in the market not only with its high-performance and sustainable film solutions, but also in package printing. Its innovative SPQ technology provides considerable advantages in terms of sustainability, efficiency and quality.
“The fast pace of the food industry in particular results in an increased de-mand for smaller batch sizes and requires increased flexibility while retain-ing the same high quality. As a market and technology leader with extensive expertise in the field of package printing, we consider it our responsibility to continuously improve the carbon footprint of both our products and pro-cesses – which allows us to make a contribution to achieving the sustainabil-ity objectives of the packaging industry,” explained Carolin Grimbacher, Managing Partner of Südpack.
SPQ – a milestone in flexo printing
Within the scope of a joint project with GOLDSTEIG Käsereien Bayerwald GmbH, Südpack successfully reduced ink and solvent waste by more than 60 percent in the implementation of several printed images by applying SPQ technology. It was also possible to further optimize the print quality. “This is an important step towards a much more sustainable future,” remarked Josef Wagner, Senior Manager of Sales and Marketing for the cheese spe-cialist located in Cham in eastern Bavaria.
Südpack’s SPQ technology uses a set color palette. In the pre-press stage – much like with offset or digital printing – all designs are automatically and re-liably set up using a standardized color palette. “The implementation of con-sistent process stability is the indispensable basis for optimizing efficiency, sustainability and quality. It was also the greatest challenge posed by this development project,” summarized Carolin Grimbacher.
The set color palette also reduces set-up time – an aspect that has a particu-larly positive effect when dealing with frequently changing batches. At the same time, fewer color changeovers lead to a reduction in ink consumption and waste. And last but not least, standardized color management leads to a substantial increase in the level of quality. The printing adjustments and on-site print approval that had once been necessary become obsolete and the amount of material needed for proofs is minimized.
Additional effects of the innovative solution
The reduced consumption of ink, solvents and energy as well as less film waste have a direct impact on the carbon footprint of the printed packaging films. The optimized printing quality also clearly differentiates products at the POS.
Thanks to smart SPQ technology, the previous conflict between efficiency and quality in the field of flexo printing has now been solved. “What this re-quires, however, is complete standardization of machine and process pa-rameters as well as consistent color management along the entire process chain,” said Carolin Grimbacher.
As for the additional effort and higher costs involved in the implementation of SPQ, they can be compensated for with the savings that are generated. Südpack’s declared objective is to position this sustainable and high-quality printing process in the market at no additional cost.
Just launched and already award winning
In late July, a jury of 24 experts from the fields of business, research and education honored the revolutionary solution with the German Packaging Award in the economic efficiency category. “We are delighted to have re-ceived this special award,” shared Carolin Grimbacher.
