Part 1 of 3
By Cassandra Balentine
UV print is one method for printing to corrugated board. We discuss this in depth in the September issue of Industrial Print magazine. Here, we share UV printers well suited for printing directly to corrugated.
Canon U.S.A., Inc.
Canon’s Colorado M-Series with UVgel Packaging Factory is great for high-margin, short-run packaging via a roll-to-roll preprint workflow. Its patented UVgel technology jets specialized ink for durable, flexible, scratch-resistant output on uncoated or kraft stocks with minimal dot gain. Key benefits include automated quality control features and FLXfinish+ option, which enables simultaneous gloss and matte finishes in one pass without extra varnish printheads.
Canon’s Arizona Flatbed Series with FLOW Technology of stationery flatbeds are well suited for precise packaging prototyping, design proofing, localized structural samples, and intricate multi-layered displays.
Canon also offers the Digitech Texas LT3 Series.
Digitech
The Digitech True Flatbed accommodates double-sided applications. The TruFire LT3/X2 and LT3/X3 can reach speeds of 4,000 and 7,000-plus square feet per hour, respectively. Both come standard with an auto-unloader and fully adjustable power on the vacuum table. The inks are also designed to hold up beautifully to creasing and bending.
Durst Image Technology US
The P5 range of printers all leverage the same printheads, ink delivery systems, inks, curing systems, firmware, and software. This means customers can inventory a single ink set and use it across multiple platforms. Operators can move amongst systems as needed and maintenance and support is delivered more efficiently.
Excelitas
The Excelitas Phoseon FireLine FL400 and 440 UV LED curing systems are its leading-edge products for corrugated printing. FL400 provides the company’s highest irradiance light source in a compact package. FL440, with its 40 millimeter window, offers the most dose of its water-cooled lineup, which is an important and often overlooked parameter in high-speed printing.
Mimaki USA, Inc.
Mimaki offers an integrated corrugated printing and finishing workflow built around the JFX Series UV LED flatbed printers and CFX Series flatbed cutters.
Mimaki Complete Packaging Solution partners the JFX and CFX Series machines with EngView Systems parametric design software. The combination gives print providers the ability to move from design to finished display or package within a digital environment including being the user interface for the CFX.
The JFX200 Series provides an accessible platform for short-run corrugated packaging, prototypes, displays, and versioned production. The JFX600 Series is designed for higher volume environments, with production speeds reaching approximately one standard board per minute in selected configurations. The extended-bed JFX600-2531 also supports continuous production strategies through its Toggle Print functionality, allowing operators to load or unload one area of the table while the other is being used.
For corrugated applications, LUS-120 ink provides a valuable combination of image quality and flexibility. This is particularly important when printed boards will be creased, folded, or assembled. Mimaki users can also select from white, clear, and primer configurations where required for specialty applications and different substrate conditions.
After printing, the CFX Series can digitally cut, crease, and route a variety of corrugated and display materials. Its capabilities include precise depth control, and up to 30 kg of pressure. Variable pressure settings can be used to account for differences in flute direction, helping produce more controlled folds and cleaner finished structures. Camera-guided registration, skew detection, and back-side processing further support accurate finishing of printed sheets.
One important differentiator is the scalability of the CFX platform. Customers can begin with an 8×4-foot configuration and expand the system in the field as production requirements grow. Combined with EngView structural design and workflow capabilities, the JFX and CFX solution connects package design, UV LED printing, and digital finishing.
The primary advantage is not simply the speed of an individual machine. It is the ability to create a coordinated workflow on an OEM printer/cutter combination that supports prototypes, versioned graphics, short-run production, and repeatable manufacturing without requiring new plates or cutting dies for every design. That gives converters and print providers greater flexibility to responding to changing customer demands while expanding the range of work they can produce internally.
Mutoh America, Inc.
Mutoh offers a hybrid UV printer, the Value Jet 1638 UH II that features a 64-inch width and can print onto half-inch thick media.
Mutoh also offers a hybrid printer that simulates GCMI colors and the look and feel of flexographic and offset print methods. The ValueJet 1628MH uses a non-UV ink but a hybrid solvent ink that absorbs into the material simulating the look and feel of traditional print. This allows high-end corrugated printing presses to have a full size or near full-size contract proof on actual material. Its white ink produces one of the closest GCMI 91s on the market without having to have plates or run a job on a press.
It also offers rigid and flexible ink.
Vanguard Digital Printing Systems
Vanguard offers industrial flatbed and hybrid UV printing platforms designed for high-quality production across rigid and flexible applications, including corrugated board, display graphics, packaging prototypes, short-run packaging, and retail display work.
It designs its systems with production flexibility in mind. Customers can choose configurations based on their application needs, whether the priority is speed, ink versatility, automation, or future scalability.
For corrugated producers, Crawford says the key advantage is the ability to move beyond sampling and short-run work into efficient, repeatable production with the flexibility digital UV printing provides.
Sep2026, Industrial Print Magazine
