Eastside Distilling Acquires Innovative Digital Printing Technology for Craft Canning + Bottling

A new and more efficient way of canning craft beer will soon be available in the Pacific Northwest. Eastside Distilling’s Craft Canning + Bottling has secured a rare and innovative printer that will revolutionize its growing custom canning operation.

Craft Canning is prepping for the arrival of the new Hinterkopf D240.2 printer from Germany. This new printer will allow Craft Canning the ability to offer unparalleled customization and flexibility to breweries, cideries and wineries seeking direct printing for canning projects of all sizes. It’ll be the first of its kind on the West Coast and one of ten in the world. The goal is to have this new printer in operation starting on April 1, 2022.

According the the press release, the Hinterkopf D240.2 is the most advanced digital printing technology for the seamless decoration of cans. Craft Canning clients will have access to the printer’s advanced photo and color quality, enhanced precision, and cost-efficient solutions.

The new printer is also an environmentally friendly alternative to adhesive labels, which render cans unrecyclable. Yep, all of the aluminum cans that have sticker labels or shrink labels are not recyclable. We may receive our dime deposit here in Oregon but once in the Oregon BottleDrop system, these cans are rendered unrecyclable as these types of labels ruin the process in which aluminum cans are recycled.

Here are additional details from the press release…

“Craft Canning’s success has been built on helping breweries and beverage producers expand into professionally packaged products. Our new printer is the next phase in a series of additional services we are providing to expand our top-quality canning services for beverage producers of all sizes,” explains Bill Anders, Eastside Distilling’s Business Unit Manager of Can Printing. “As we have done with our mobile canning business, being able to offer can printing with low MOQs will make can printing accessible to smaller producers as well,” Anders continues.

In anticipation of the printer’s arrival in March, Bill Anders and Michael Stout, Eastside’s Engineering and R&D Manager, trained at Hinterkopf’s factory in Germany. Craft Canning also hired a new designer devoted to can printing, and to maximize the printer’s technology and features.

Advantages of the Hinterkopf D240.2 include excellent printing quality and performance, with resolution of up to 1200 dpi. It can create photorealistic images with millions of colors and subtle shadings. It offers total, seamless ink coverage of the can, with the finest gradients and shading, optimum edge definition of lines, and pin sharp text.

The printer also optimizes workflow: it is completely digital, maximizing production time and providing cost advantages. Selected images are directly printed onto the can, and any edits and changes are performed at the push of a button. The change-over time involved with conventional printing methods can be avoided.

The Hinterkopf D240.2 does all of this while driving improvements in sustainability. Direct printing onto cans eliminates ink waste and cleaning agents. It inks only on the end product so there is no misprinting, which cuts down on the production of unusable cans. The low minimum order requirement also translates to a production with no surplus, saving about 600 million cans worldwide. Whereas cans that have adhesive labels can only be recycled after removing the label, cans produced using this new print technology are easy to recycle.

The Hinterkopf D240.2 printer will give Eastside Distilling’s Craft Canning the ability to offer unparalleled customization and flexibility to its customers. Craft Canning will print 12-ounce or 16-ounce cans in any quantity with any image, with a minimum order of 400 cans. This flexibility allows for custom graphics of limited releases, vintages, partnerships, and special events.

For availability and pricing, please contact Bill Anders at bill@craftcanning.com or (360) 921-1863.

For more information on Eastside Distilling’s Craft Canning + Bottling, please visit https://craftcanning.com/.