For more than 172 years, Friedrich Wilhelm Knopp Offsetdruck, a company based in the German town of Wittlich, has produced high-quality printing products for private individuals, companies and institutions. The company’s customers greatly value the quality of the work, the swift, reliable processing and qualified consultation on the topics of set, layout, printing and further processing. Walter Knopp became the sixth generation to manage the tradition-steeped family business when he took the helm in 1996. The company has been on a successful path ever since, boasting an extensive range of products as well as a team of experts that is always equipped with state-of-the-art technology.
Knopp made its debut in the digital printing industry two years ago. Situated in a wine region, the company has held contracts to produce bottle labels since the very beginning — and until now, that meant sheet-fed offset printing. The time was now ripe for the company to consider whether it would be better to process small to medium-sized orders digitally and in a self-adhesive version. Walter Knopp and Assistant to the Managing Director, Stefan Rogowski, had previously seen Konica Minolta’s colour narrow web colour digittal label press bizhub PRESS C71cf at the Druck+Form 2016 trade fair in Sinsheim — and they were inspired. "The roll-based production and high-resolution print image combined with integrated colour management were enough to convince us", explains Walter Knopp. With the successor model AccurioLabel 190 now also on the market, Knopp decided to get back in contact with Konica Minolta.
Knopp visited Konica Minolta’s German headquarters in Hannover-Langenhagen to inspect the system before giving Konica Minolta the go-ahead to install the AccurioLabel 190 at Knopp’s site at the end of April 2018. This ushered in a new era of label production at Knopp. Knopp selected Druckhaus Münster GmbH from Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler as its partner for fi nishing the labels cut in webs, and has been working with the company ever since the installation. Münster GmbH owns an Italian roll stamping machine and, in addition to hot stamping, also off ers such fi nishing techniques as cold stamping, relief stamping, image stamping, laminating, screen printing, varnishing and relief varnishing.
Christian Münster, Managing Director of Druckhaus Münster GmbH and the person responsible for the fi nishing programme, knows that there are very few labels which do not undergo some manner of fi nishing. “The full program is the usual choice, i.e. relief varnishing with hot stamping,” he confi rms. For Knopp, the synergy eff ect arising from the collaboration with Munster off ers more benefi ts than production on their own “Tiegel” (platen) press. In addition, the cooperation allows both customer groups to be supplied with fi nished, digitally printed labels while enabling both companies to retain their individual expertise. The combination of digital printing and fi nishing is creating new opportunity for growth, as it is not only beverage, wine and liquor manufacturers that are interested in attractive self-adhesive labels — the pharmaceutical industry is also constantly on the lookout for eye-catching labels such as these.
Knopp’s roll-based production has been such a big hit with customers that none have left. Even when combined with the fi nishing service provided by Druckhaus Münster GmbH, both companies still have ample capacity left over, which – needless to say – they have been able to off er on the market while still providing complete customer protection.
“The service and technical support during the delivery, installation and commissioning of the system were excellent. Konica Minolta not only sold us the AccurioLabel 190; they also provided support for the production process from the very beginning. Our team is now perfectly equipped to produce printed labels”, confi rms Walter Knopp, discussing the comprehensive service provided by Konica Minolta. The cooperation with Druckhaus Münster GmbH has now given rise to unique labels, which Walter Knopp and Christian Münster are able to present to their customers with a certain sense of pride.
Since the end of April 2018, Knopp has been using the AccurioLabel 190 from Konica Minolta to print small and medium runs of self-adhesive labels, most of which are then embellished by Knopp’s partner company Druckhaus Münster. The precision-guided paper web of the AccurioLabel 190 allows printing speeds of up to 18.9 m/min.
We benefit from user-friendliness, flexibility in production, a high level of throughput and the features for variable data printing offered by the AccurioLabel 190
Walter Knopp
Managing Director