Five years of digital printing at Christiansen Print in Ilsenburg – an important milestone in the digitalisation of the supply chain

The requirements for packaging and its printing are becoming ever more stringent. In today’s fast-moving retail landscape even the smallest order quantities must be printed to a high quality and it must also be possible to deliver and personalise them at short notice. Christiansen Print has been providing the right answer to these developments for five years with its digital printing technology. In 2017 the company installed HP’s first digital PageWide Web Press T1100S in Germany at the Ilsenburg site, which at the time was also the largest digital printing system in the world. Since then Christiansen Print’s customers have benefited from the fast and agile digital printing production processes. These enable the production of high-quality print products which are adapted and delivered at short notice and can also be personalised and customised with an unlimited number of possible print images. For example, packaging can be printed with QR codes that give the end-user access to information about the product it contains and as there is no minimum order quantity, even small orders can be fulfilled using digital printing. This means that only the exact quantities required are actually produced which saves resources in the production process and avoids unnecessary waste. 

Over the last five years, digital printing has established itself as a successful printing process at Christiansen Print. “What was still an absolute novelty in 2017 is now an integral part of our print production. We invested very early on in digital printing and the associated opportunities. This has been worthwhile as the technology is increasingly in demand in the market. We are doubling our digital printing volume every year,” reports Michael Weber, Head of Corporate Strategy + Marketing at Thimm Group and Managing Director of Christiansen Print GmbH. The printing process is also a key component of Thimm Group’s digitalisation strategy: “We are driving the digitalisation of our own production workflows towards direct and digital connections with our customers in order to offer them the shortest delivery times and customised print images in conjunction with the smallest order quantities,” explains Michael Weber. “However, our overarching vision goes much further as our aim is to digitise the entire supply chain from printing on paper to packaging production, right through to the customer and retail outlet. Therefore, digital printing opens up completely new possibilities. For example, thanks to the smart codes printed on the paper rolls, the machines used for corrugated cardboard production and further processing can be controlled automatically.” 

The dynamic further development of the company and the spirit of innovation have been embedded in the Christiansen Print team from the very outset. Ever since the company was founded in 2005 it has deployed state-of-the-art machinery enabling it to quickly make a name for itself in the European preprint market. The early partnership with Thimm from 2010 laid the foundation for expanding the market position as Europe’s largest flexo preprinter for the corrugated cardboard industry. Christiansen Print has been fully-owned by the Thimm Group since 2016.

Christiansen Print as part of the Thimm Group is the European market leader in flexo and digital web presses. The business division prints on paper rolls using state-of-the-art digital printing and flexo printing processes for corrugated cardboard producers and the branded products sector. From its three sites centrally located in Europe, Christiansen Print supplies prestigious companies with preprint for packaging, displays and other industrial applications. The company currently employs over 150 people, 104 of whom work at the Ilsenburg site. For more information visit www.christiansenprint.de 

About Thimm
The Thimm Group is a leading solutions provider for the packaging and distribution of goods. Its solutions portfolio includes corrugated cardboard transportation and sales packaging, high-quality promotional displays and print products for further industrial processing. Through its innovative and sustainable solutions, Thimm helps its customers to differentiate and individualise themselves in the market. To this end, in its sustainability vision for 2030, the family business anticipates economic, environmental and social challenges in advance and solves them. Thimm Group's aspiration is to always offer customers the best solution. This strong customer focus drives the innovation and the pioneering spirit of the company. There is therefore consistent investment in expanding the company’s market presence as well as in future-oriented technologies. Founded in 1949, the family business currently has more than 2,500 employees at 13 sites in Germany, France, Poland, Romania, and the Czech Republic, and generated annual revenue of around EUR 698 million in 2021.