BOBST MASTER M5 flexo press is opening up new markets for converters
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The market is moving
Analysis of the European label industry shows a clear picture. According to FINAT Radar reports (Finat Radar #30, Q4 2025), brand owners are responding to complexity by doing more, with fewer suppliers. Portfolio rationalization and SKU proliferation are running in parallel. Brand owners are simplifying ranges, while simultaneously requiring more variants, more artwork changes, and more substrate variety.
For many, it is imperative to offer capabilities beyond self-adhesive labels, including shrink sleeves, flexible packaging, coupon and multilayer applications, and specialty formats such as lamitubes. Fast-moving consumer goods converters are expanding into new formats because that’s what today’s brands typically look for. This means that often, the most valuable technologies are those that help converters to pivot quickly, reliably, and profitably, when the job brief changes.
One press, countless applications
BOBST has designed the MASTER M5 inline flexo press around the reality of today’s print market. As one of the world’s leading suppliers of substrate processing, printing and converting equipment, serving the label, flexible packaging, folding carton and corrugated packaging sectors, BOBST brings a cross-industry perspective to its solutions. That perspective is embedded deeply in MASTER M5’s core architecture.
The press handles an impressive range of substrate types, including films, papers, foils and labelstock, in both short and long runs. This versatility has real day-to-day commercial advantages. For instance, self-adhesive labels that are not economically viable on digital presses, the MASTER M5 runs them at competitive cost. Flexible packaging, shrink sleeves, or labels that are not suited to wide-web equipment, can be handled with MASTER M5 in narrower web formats. Specialty applications such as lamitubes, multi-layer constructions, and coupon booklets are achievable in a single pass.
A true versatile powerhouse, the press can be configured with flexo, silk screen, gravure, cold foil, hot foil, lamination, cast and cure, and converting; whatever the application demands.
Critically for converters entering new territory, the machine is oneECG-ready. Extended Color Gamut capability removes one of the most significant barriers to moving between markets: color consistency. With oneECG digitalizing the color matching process across a standard seven-color ink set, there is no need to build up an extensive spot ink inventory for every new application or customer. Color reproduction stays consistent and repeatable, whether the substrate is labelstock or flexible film.
Automation at the heart
For competitive converters, versatility alone is not enough. What makes the MASTER M5 a tool for profitable market expansion is its automation depth.
DigiFlexo automates both print registration setting and control and printing pressure setting, reducing job changeover time dramatically. DigiGap applies the same logic to die-cutting pressure control, simplifying the actions of the operator. The combination makes it practical to run a diverse job mix, such as short self-adhesive runs alongside longer flexible packaging jobs, without sacrificing productivity either.
For converters managing labor costs or working with mixed-experience teams, the high level of automation is particularly useful. The MASTER M5 is designed to be run well by operators who are not specialists on every substrate and application type.