HUGO VOGELSANG, part of the Bilstein Group, supplies high-grade strip steel to leading manufacturers of circular, band and chain saws in Germany and beyond. At LIGNA 2019, the company is showcasing intelligent cold-rolled strip solutions such as direct printing on input material for saws. "We see LIGNA 2019 as one of the most important global forums for the wood processing industry,” explains Kai Hinz, Sales Director at HUGO VOGELSANG. Highlighting one of the top trends in the industry, he adds: "High-quality industrial saw suppliers are keen to use printed strip steel to stand out from the competition."

HUGO VOGELSANG has responded to this market development and is at LIGNA 2019 with a solution that can be used to print on the input material for saws, meaning this material can in future be marked with a product label to suit customer requirements. "We're thus supporting customers not only by providing premium quality and optimum service, but also by contributing to customized sales strategies for the highly competitive international market," says Hinz. An industrial printer and indelible, oil-resistant ink is used to carry out one-color printing directly on the strip steel. The current standard color is black, but alternative colors can be offered if customers wish. According to HUGO VOGELSANG, virtually all the technical options associated with conventional inkjet printers can be achieved with this new process, from TrueType fonts, Unicode support, alphanumeric text, barcodes, 2D codes, Data Matrix codes and logos to variable data such as dates, times, sequential numbering, shift codes and database content. The high-resolution HP Thermal Inkjet printer used in the process prints on unlubricated steel, with each print head covering a maximum printing width of 12.7 millimeters and exhibiting a resolution of up to 600 dpi. Up to four print heads can be cascaded, which means labels can feature a printing height of 50.8 millimeters.