T-one – Packaging

Working with Meteor Inkjet has enabled T-one to meet the demands of the growing corrugated packaging printing market with a state-of-the-art digital inkjet press that is easy-to-use, offers enhanced print quality and has the ability to handle short runs at speed.

Key Facts

T-one manufactures corrugated paper packaging and printing equipment specialising in CNC automatic corrugated box high-line printing equipment and post-process production equipment.

The model T-GP2500 corrugated paper digital printer offers maximum linear printing speeds in excess of 100 metres per minute at 400 – 600 dpi and offers variable ink drop technology.

The Challenge

The recent boom in the corrugated packaging sector has been a welcome challenge for leading press manufacturer, T-one. Manager Xiong, marketing manager of T-one explains: “We have always been innovative and adapted to the needs of the market. The growth, not only in the use of corrugated packaging, but also in digital inkjet printing, led us to address the demand to offer a digital solution that could handle personalised printing and short runs with ease, and at the same time print at high speed and high quality.”

T-one had already begun work to increase the speed of its T-GP2500 corrugated paper digital printer, but when the press was tested in the early stages, it was found that this resulted in some problems, including poor ink drop formation, disrupted data transmission and an increased temperature in the hardware. In addition, the printer’s current production management system was disjointed and inefficient, with an operator required to always be on hand to provide data and feedback, which slowed down the printing process.
T-one decided to select a partner with expertise in this field to help them tackle the project. “We wanted a reliable and trusted solutions provider with a deep understanding of industrial inkjet printing that could partner us for the whole process, from the research and development stage through to testing the products – and in a short time,” continues Manager Xiong.

The Solution

T-one chose Meteor Inkjet. Manager Xiong continues: “We were already aware of Meteor Inkjet and we knew that bringing their engineers on board would enhance the expertise in our business. One of the first things we needed to address was our production management system; it required several operators, in different locations, for different parts
of the printing process, so it was inefficient.”

Meteor engineer’s suggested implementing MetPrint, a digital front end for single-pass printers with highly configurable interfaces and application-specific features for packaging.

Using MetPrint’s ERP interface (JSON over TCP-IP) T-one’s enterprise resource planning system (ERP) is able to communicate to MetPrint: sending jobs and reporting back status. As a consequence, all systems within the printer are under unitary control from a single monitor, with accurate, real-time reporting.

Meteor also enabled MetPrint to be operated remotely. This offered the benefit of operating the system from a computer in the office, which greatly improved the user experience.
Meteor Inkjet’s engineers also adjusted and optimised the ink drop driving waveform. They also upgraded the software to improve the downloading and transmission speed of data, and upgraded the hardware to solve the problem of the increased operating temperature in hardware.

The Result

T-one is now perfectly placed to meet the demands of the growing corrugated packaging print market.The T-GP2500 offers large format, multi-colour printing. Short runs can be printed at speed and at high quality, while the remote, centralised operating system ensures easy control of the whole system.