At LOUPE Americas 2026 (Booth 3310, Hall B), IST will present the modular swap4cure platform. The system combines UV, LED UV and thermal drying on a common platform and enables fast switching between technologies. Complemented by LEDcure NX, SMARTcure and the future potential of FREEcure, swap4cure supports press manufacturers and printers in configuring their equipment flexibly for different production requirements.
Label printing is undergoing significant change. New substrates, water-based inks and coatings, increasing production speeds, and changing process and regulatory requirements are continuously reshaping production conditions. For press manufacturers and printers, this means one thing above all: a high degree of flexibility.
Modern label presses need to accommodate different printing processes, ink chemistries and production requirements. Increasingly, a single curing technology is no longer sufficient. Modular press concepts are required that can adapt to changing applications while supporting productivity, process reliability and cost-effectiveness.
With swap4cure, IST introduces a platform designed to address these requirements. The modular system enables switching between conventional UV curing, LED UV and thermal drying with infrared and hot air. Depending on the print job, users can select the appropriate technology without having to commit permanently to a single curing method.
In addition to technological flexibility, equipment availability was a key focus during development. Modular quick-change systems can reduce maintenance times and simplify service work. Long-life UV lamps, reflector technology and robust system components support industrial operation.
IST’s current LED generation combines high optical output with an efficiency of around 50 percent and enables demand-based output control. This is complemented by SMARTcure, an AI-supported assistance system that takes available production and job data into account and determines a recommended output setting for the respective print job.
This can help avoid unnecessarily high output settings. In addition, format-dependent zone control enables only the LED segments required for the respective job to be activated.
Looking ahead, swap4cure also provides the option of integrating FREEcure. With suitable formulations, the technology can enable photoinitiator-free or reduced-photoinitiator UV curing processes, creating additional possibilities particularly for packaging applications.
For press manufacturers, the platform approach means that new ink and coating systems, changing regulatory requirements or additional curing technologies can be incorporated into the modular press concept.
The requirements for modern label presses can be summarized in five key points:
high flexibility in curing and drying technologies,
demand-based configuration of the curing process,
short changeover and maintenance times,
intelligent, data-based process support,
modular platform concepts and upgradeability.
With swap4cure, IST is pursuing exactly this approach: a platform that covers different production requirements and supports technological developments.
