Episode 295 - 10 Microns: The Smart Printing Belt That Redefines Digital Precision

In this episode of the FuturePrint Podcast, Frazer Chesterman is joined by Luca Rovacchi, Innovation Business Development Manager at Habasit, part of the wider Moovimenta Group. Luca shares the story behind one of the most intriguing new technologies to enter the digital print ecosystem – the Habasit Smart Printing Belt, an innovation that could fundamentally shift what precision means in industrial inkjet.

Luca begins by explaining Moovimenta’s mission – smarter, safer, more sustainable – and how its corporate accelerator works across the group to identify, develop, and scale breakthrough technologies. That innovation pathway led directly to the Smart Printing Belt, an evolution built on Habasit’s decades of leadership in belting, from synthetic belts in the 80s to Kevlar-reinforced constructions in the 90s.

The real leap, as Luca explains, comes from integrating a magnetic scale and sensor array directly inside the belt, enabling direct, real-time positional measurement with an astonishing accuracy of ±10 microns. This level of sub-pixel precision dramatically reduces banding, colour shifts, and registration errors, while improving uptime, yield, and consistency across long or repeat production runs.

Luca also discusses how the system requires no machine redesign, can be retrofitted, and is compatible with existing heat-press joining methods – opening the door for integration across textiles, corrugated, décor, ceramics, packaging films, metal packaging and more.

This is a rare genuine step-change in transport technology for digital printing – and one you’ll want to understand.

FuturePrint Events:

FuturePrint TECH: Industrial Print: 21-22 January '26, Munich, Germany