Xaar and Kammann’s decade of collaboration

Leading printhead and inkjet technologies manufacturer, Xaar, is celebrating a decade of successful collaboration with innovative decorative print machine manufacturer Koenig & Bauer Kammann (Kammann).

Headquartered in Loehne, Germany, Kammann is a specialist within the Koenig & Bauer Group for the high-quality decoration of glass, plastic and metal containers, including spirit and soft drink bottles, drinking glasses, cosmetics and hygiene packaging, cans and containers for a variety of other industries worldwide.

The business began looking at developing a digital printing machine back in the early 2010s. Already known for its flexibility, precision and innovation, when searching for a partner in digital inkjet, Xaar’s reliable, durable and high-quality printheads made it the obvious choice.

Over the last 10 years, Xaar’s printheads have enabled Kammann to deliver the quality and results its customers demand from their decorative digital print applications. This continues today, with Xaar’s latest printheads, including the Xaar Nitrox, meeting the digital print needs for Kammann’s K15 and K20 product family of decorative packaging machines.

Kammann’s digital printing process allows the application of individual, personalized, and photorealistic print images on a variety of often challenging substrates and product packaging shapes, including round, oval, conical, flat and square. Articles with a diameter of up to 120 mm and a length of up to 450 mm can be decorated with a maximum print height of up to 210 mm. Beyond these standard options, Kammann also offers individual solutions for customers to expand the article size range of printability. 

The contactless digital print process enables printing on many different article surfaces, which cannot be decorated with a screen-printing process. Xaar’s printheads deliver high quality results through their precise placement of ink drops, providing the very high-quality print for customers’ premium packaging applications. 

Xaar’s printheads’ compatibility with inks from a wide variety of suppliers offers complete versatility to Kammann’s digital print. In addition, Xaar’s High Laydown Technology, is helping drive Kammann’s digital print innovation. This includes its digitally printed relief features, which enable the creation of embossed effects on glass bottles and other packaging at a height of up to 3 mm, all whilst maintaining the fine details of the embossing and sharp contour edges. Digital processes such as this are opening new possibilities for individual designs, which traditional printing methods cannot deliver. 

Kammann’s managing director, Matthias Graf, said: “Our long-standing relationship with Xaar goes beyond that of customer and supplier. The past decade of innovative collaboration has allowed us to develop our digital printing solutions to achieve outstanding print quality for packaging.

“The combination of Xaar’s printheads with our machines has helped drive the innovative and revolutionary process of digital printed relief that our customers now benefit from, for the exceptional embossing of their premium packaging.”

Graham Tweedale, COO at Xaar added: “Xaar is incredibly proud to have been a trusted partner of Kammann for over 10 years. Our collaboration is pushing the boundaries of digital print technology in packaging. 

“We look forward to continuing to develop our relationship, providing our world-class printheads, technologies and support as part of Kammann’s innovative digital decorative packaging solutions.”