The Guiding Light for the Future Development of Printing Enterprises - Green Printing

　At this year's drupa exhibition, the theme of green printing was omnipresent, not only on the exhibition stands but also at various conferences and workshops. Recently, Werner, manager of a German printing company, believes that sustainable development is not only beneficial to the environment but will also lead companies to reconsider and establish perfect business processes.

　　Equipment suppliers focus on green themes

　　Green printing is one of the hot topics at drupa, and it is more prominent now than ever before. Nowadays, many companies are not only committed to using letterpress (flexographic printing) to produce their products as environmentally friendly as possible, but are increasingly incorporating sustainable development into their business philosophy. Therefore, at this year's drupa exhibition, almost no exhibitor ignored the theme of sustainable development, whether it was printing press, CTP plate making machine, digital printing machine, post-press equipment manufacturer, or equipment supplier.

　　The strategic partnership established between leading printing press manufacturers and Bennylanda is sufficient proof that this imagination has great potential. The possibilities of nano-printing will be seen effectively implemented at the next drupa. As the first company in the world to install the new Heidelberg XL106-5 color + coating and the new Speedmaster SX52 offset printing presses, these devices are now in production, and both printing presses are carbon neutral. At this year's drupa exhibition, there have been many new developments in printing consumables such as inks inks , coatings and films, which are of great interest to companies with strong print finishing capabilities. The problem now is that many companies lack the necessary investment funds and sufficient human resources.

　　Ecology and economy are closely intertwined

　　Printing companies should understand that only a comprehensive sustainable development plan can lead to the long-term success of the company, including economic success. The question is how to take the necessary measures to reduce energy and resource consumption, thereby saving a lot of money. In order to combine environmental protection with economic benefits, paper is one of the important regulating factors for printing plants: reducing waste paper means saving raw materials and reducing costs. Modern machinery and equipment are also important factors. Today's printing presses ensure that energy and water consumption are greatly reduced, significantly improving the utilization rate of consumables, which also improves production efficiency.

　　In order to minimize resource and energy consumption, within the scope of the integrated ecological environmental technology project in North Rhine-Westphalia, multiple feasibility tests were conducted over 12 months. A series of measures were formulated, including printing press dampening solution filtration, energy-saving lighting concepts, installation of photovoltaic power generation equipment and heat recovery systems (for workshop and office heating and hot water treatment).

　　By adopting the Inton printing plant workflow, we not only achieve efficient and economically sustainable production processes, but also reduce pure waste paper by 20%, which means that paper waste is reduced simply through pre-press and printing workshop process optimization. In addition, since 2010, we have used ecological electricity, and the carbon dioxide emissions from both heat and electricity are now almost carbon neutral.

　　What are the benefits of sustainable development?

　　On the one hand, companies have obvious economic advantages: simply by participating in the integrated ecological environmental technology project and its measures, we reduce about 734 tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year and save 53,000 euros. On the other hand, sustainable development has become an important differentiating feature in brand competition. Therefore, a corporate strategy oriented towards sustainable development has become an entry ticket for bidding and an important selling point in competition. In short, this not only involves maintaining as small a carbon footprint as possible, highlighting the company's advantages in competition and reducing costs, but also involves actively protecting the environment.

　　In addition, sustainable development can promote corporate innovation and must meet the changing requirements of customers. This not only involves the feasibility of carbon-neutral printing production, but also the services and consulting provided by the company.

　　Furthermore, the direction of sustainable development will lead to rethinking and redefining the entire business process, and establishing the entire business process from order placement to delivery in the sense of lean production. Within the company, a sustainable, employee-oriented corporate culture will lead our employees to exert more creativity and efficiency in a positive work environment, which also continuously promotes innovation.