Project: Energy Cured Print (ECP): Training and Diagnostic systems to increase skills and productivity for print and packaging

The past economical crisis in the occidental world has hit the print industries with loss in the traditional print products using VOC solvents, that still represent the majority of global sales. But energy-curing print integrating ultraviolet (UV) and electron (EB) beam inks are rapidly changing the industry. Even if recession made 2009 a difficult year, some printer producers were able to recover their sales volume in areas like energy-curable products and other products using environmentally friendly inks._x000D__x000D_Pira International (Printing Industry Research Association) categorises UV and EB inks as environment friendly, as they have the lowest possible volatile organic compounds (VOC) levels. Of these two ink types, UV constitues over 95% of current and future market use._x000D__x000D_The packaging market is also rapidly changing the orientation of the print manufacturers as it is fast growing compared to commercial printing, and as the trends it will accelerate._x000D_Steve Metcalf from Air Motion Systems, at the PrintUV 2010 conference, confirms that UV technology is “really changing the landscape of commercial printing” and that it is “heavily used in packaging” as the issues that existed with new substrates and inks have been tackled. The technology is easier to use and is becoming a “digital processing” getting “into conjunction with the presses”._x000D__x000D_With this fast growth in packaging and new materials, print manufacturers are facing new challenges. They are adopting UV-curing technology as it is:_x000D_- more energy-efficient (no energy is used to dry the ink, only to polymerize it),_x000D_- more environment-friendly (no VOC solvents),_x000D_- more productive in the print process ,_x000D_- with higher quality (less scratch, gloss) for the product._x000D_- a major advantage in printing on "non-absorbant" substrates such as metal, rigid plastic, glass, etc._x000D__x000D_With the fast changing print world, print manufacturers, packaging converters and training centers are also facing human resources and training difficulties. There is no standard training, only on the job machine training. This shortens the employee's useful career and is very wasteful in energy and materials. There is no established training curriculum or environment, and no standardised models of print process problems, cause analysis and remedies._x000D_Energy-curing print could in the future be the object of standardisation work at the International Standard Organisation._x000D__x000D_In this rapidly evolving industrial context, the ENCUPACK project aims to create a full training environment for energy-curing print. The consortium is gathering 2 SMEs, SINAPSE, the world leader in print process simulation, based in France, and METAPRINT, a fast growing Estonian metal can manufacturer currently using UV offset printing. It is completed with PAGORA, the French print school of Grenoble that will bring academic expertise on substrates, inks and energy-curing processes._x000D_The project has attracted the interest of major players in the printing and packaging industries, willing to contribute their expertise and closely follow the project progress and interim results: these include Bötcher, UPM Kymmene and Zeller&Gmelin._x000D__x000D_The expected project results will be constituted of a UV-curing print process simulator, focusing on metalic substrate as it is technically the most challenging print support, with its dynamic and ergonomic interface, recreating a "flight simulator" for the UV offset print process. It will be completed by a customisable diagnostic system, helping expert and non-expert operators to identify a problem, analyse it and find the best correction._x000D__x000D_The Consortium will use a dual top-down (model-driven) and bottom-up (data-driven) approach to design the system and tackle the technical difficulties: top-down to design a generic model for UV offset print process on metalic substrate and bottom-up to use and analyse actual production data on print problems their causes and solutions for model description._x000D__x000D_It is estimated that the project results will bring 1% waste reduction for METAPRINT and that hundreds of simulators and diagnostic systems will be adopted around the world in production and training environents._x000D_Formalising this process model will help move towards inernational standardisation, quality control, norms and ISO definition.

Acronym	ENCUPACK (Reference Number: 5943)
Duration	01/05/2011 - 31/10/2014
Project Topic	ECP is a fast growing segment - can be printed on non-paper substrates, widely used in packaging. It currently has no way to train employees except by producing waste. ENCUPACK should be able to save the industry 30 M€ annually in Europe by waste reduction in training and production.
Project Results (after finalisation)	Project gave important development acceleration to grow the company's competitiveness on the metal decor packaging international market. The project is supported as a positive impact on the company, Estonian economy and the sustainability of the printing industry in general.
Network	Eurostars
Call	Eurostars Cut-Off 5

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
3	AGEFPI - Grenoble INP PAGORA	Partner	France
3	Metaprint Ltd.	Partner	Estonia
3	Sinapse Print Simulators	Coordinator	France