Stora Enso and Pfäffle Cooperate

Stora Enso provides the board materials for Europe's first digital printing press dedicated for manufacturing chocolate and confectionery boxes.

Stora Enso provides the board materials for Europe's first digital printing press dedicated for manufacturing chocolate and confectionery boxes. The packaging printer is Pfäffle GmbH & Co. KG, from Stuttgart region in Germany. Digitally printed confectionery boxes were showcased at Stora Enso's stand at ProSweets 2015.

Pfäffle has just started up a new HP Indigo 30000 digital printing press in January 2015 with 100% focus on folding carton applications for the chocolate and confectionery segment. A number of leading chocolate producers and retail brands were involved in the trials during the recent months. Stora Enso's technical and R&D experts were consulting the trials to ensure perfect runnability and print quality of the specified substrates, which include Ensocoat, Performa, Tambrite and CKB boards from Stora Enso. The sheet size of the printing press is 75 x 53 cm.

"The feedback from our customers has been very positive and some products are already in the shops. We are happy to have brands like Lindt, Galeria Kaufhof, Hachez etc. aboard," says Detlef Behrens, MD of Pfäffle. "With digital printing, we are able to produce small and medium quantities in as good quality as offset at a very competitive price. Beside quality and price, time to market and personalization will be the main drivers for this growing business. Our future plan is that our customers can expect delivery times and services that go beyond litho printing. We are talking about 48 to 72 hours for samples and small series and 7 to 10 working days for normal production."

Confirmed quality and safety
Mr Behrens underlines the ability to meet food contact regulations also in digitally printed packaging. "All the inks we use on our HP 30000 are food safe. Beside the certificates from the supplier, we have done our own tests in cooperation with a Swiss laboratory, and we are happy to say that we can provide digitally printed boxes comparable with litho quality in accordance with food regulations."

With delicate products such as chocolate and confectionery, odour and taste neutrality of the packaging material is an absolute must. Stora Enso's board materials are safe and neutral thanks to the purity of the baseboards, barrier properties of proprietary polymer coatings, track record over many years and thorough in-house testing, research and development.

Source: Stora Enso