FuturePrint Podcast
FuturePrint is dedicated to and passionate about the power of print technology to enable new opportunities and create new value. This pod features deep-dive discussions with the people behind the tech as well as market analysis, trends, marketing and storytelling!
FuturePrint Podcast
#293 - Plasmatreat and the Hidden Power Behind Industrial Inkjet’s Adhesion Breakthroughs
In this episode, Marcus sits down with Bas Buser, one of the most respected voices in plasma surface treatment and global printing applications, to explore why plasma has become a critical enabler for industrial inkjet.
Bas explains the remarkable story behind Plasmatreat, founded over 30 years ago when Christian Buske pioneered Openair-Plasma, allowing plasma activation outside of vacuum chambers and directly inline with production systems. Today Plasmatreat operates worldwide, supporting automotive, electronics, medical, packaging, and now fast-growing areas of industrial print.
Listeners will discover why plasma treatment is now essential for UV and inkjet adhesion: increasing surface energy, cleaning contamination, introducing chemical functionality, and enabling inks to bond to plastics, metals, glass, and recycled materials. Bas shares real-world examples from automotive (50–70 plasma applications per vehicle), packaging (printing QR codes on varnished surfaces), electronics (conductive inks), and medical devices.
The conversation also uncovers plasma’s role in sustainability — from eliminating solvent-based primers and reducing oven energy use to increasing material choices, lowering ink consumption and minimising rejects.
Bas emphasises the importance of collaboration across printheads, inks, integrators, OEMs and converters. He previews Plasmatreat’s involvement at FuturePrint Industrial Print Munich, where the team will demo live plasma treatments and invite visitors to test their own substrates.
Whether you work in inkjet development, printing, coating, converting or advanced manufacturing, this episode offers a rare level of clarity on one of the most important enabling technologies in modern industrial print.
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FuturePrint TECH: Industrial Print: 21-22 January '26, Munich, Germany
Welcome to the Future Print Podcast, celebrating print technology and the people behind it.
SPEAKER_01:Welcome to the latest episode of the Future Print Podcast. Super happy to have with us the first time guest for the Future Print Podcast. Welcome to the Future Print Podcast Baz Booster from PlasmaTreat.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you. Welcome, Marcus, and thank you for your uh invitation to uh take part in this uh in this very nice uh way of introducing uh well myself and and also the technology into the market.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and we we saw each other last at the K Show. Plasma Treat had a really amazing booth showcasing their technology, and uh as is what uh really sort of helpful, one of the things with the podcast, I think, is it gives you the scope and time to really explain the benefits, features, and unique attributes of anything, and we can learn a lot from this, I'm sure, Bath. Before we get into talking about that, though, could could you give us a little bit of a background, perhaps? Um, you know, uh how you came into this industry and perhaps what led to your role at Plasma Treat?
SPEAKER_02:Um, yes, I'm I'm 60, 69 years old already. Um, and the last 15 years at Plasma Treat. I'm I'm a mechanical engineer, um, so my background is is uh mechanics. Um I've been more or less all my life in production facilities, production processes. Uh, started with uh equipment to apply adhesives in a production process. So that was in the packaging in all industries. I mean the packaging industry was huge. Uh and then later on, um I've worked for an American company for mainly the wood industry for roll coders, so for penal lamination, uh, to apply adhesive via roll coaters, and then plasma treat came on my uh on my way. And plasma treat that time was very deep into the plastic industry. You mentioned already the case show that that's that's uh a Kunststoff uh that's plastics, and they wanted to do also their uh wanted to expose to other industries, so they have asked me, also looking to my background and many uh uh uh information I have in other uh industries, find new industries, new applications for their equipment. And then I started more or less in the wood industry. Um, there are not so many applications in the wood industry I found, and then the printing industry came on my way, on my path, and that mainly had to do with the the start of UV curing ints. And um, and then and then more or less we all know that UV curing ints are not adhering easily to many substrates. Um, there is no solvent, so it has to come to a chemical bond, and there plasma treat or plasma treatment well is the key to success. Um, I retired five years ago at Plasma Treat, um, and then uh they asked me to suppose to support them uh further. So the last five years I started more or less as a as a consultant, but now I'm back at Plasma Treat and cover or support the sales group in worldwide in printing projects.
SPEAKER_01:Brilliant, brilliant. So so yeah, you've become a guru, an expert in your field. I I guess that's why they keep wanting you to remain and don't want you to leave, but don't want you to retire by the sound of it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's it's it's it's it's of course it's it's it's a huge network, um, because it's not only the the the pre-treatment, you have the post-treatment, you have the inks, you have the substrates, you have the machines, the printers, it's uh it's all has to come together, and and and that's you and and that's also what I what we noticed on on trade shows in the past, let uh as the as the imprint show um and and the other conventions and and seminars we we do is everybody has to sit on the table and we all have to work together to come to uh to a good uh result.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, and collaboration is key, isn't it? We're gonna see a lot of that, I believe, at Future Print Industrial Print in Munich in January for sure. Um when I came and spent a bit of time with the K show and on the Plasma Treat booth, not only uh we'll come on to the technology, but I I really like the story of Plasma Treat of the business. So could you give us a little bit of a um a story about the origins of Plasma Street, how how how it started, perhaps what problem it's set out to solve, and how the business has evolved and grown.
SPEAKER_02:It started 32 years ago when uh our now former CEO owner, uh Mr. Christian Bouske, invented open air plasma. There was a uh a company out of the automotive industry, and he wanted to do a pre-treatment without solvents. Um Mr. Buske knew that plasma could be generated under vacuum, and his vision was to do that in an open air inline in a production process. So he challenged that and he and he invented open air plasma, that's also how we called it. Um, so that was was more or less groundbreaking, and that made it possible to introduce this pre-treatment uh process in line in production processes. Um, and from there on uh it it is a success story. Um then so uh that was 30 years ago. Um he he founded. So we have now our 30 years anniversary of open air plasma, that's what we celebrated. Um, in the meanwhile, in me in the meantime, we also introduced uh our plasma plus technology that is applying nanocoatings on a surface via a plasma uh process technology. Um those are nanocoatings where we are able to give the surface a complete other function. So we can make from hydrophobic, hydrophilic, hydrophilic, hydrophobic, we can make entry release coatings or uh uh um uh other kind of coatings. We also now are able to um take um oxides uh from metals, and that's mainly for the electronics industry for copper. Um, so we can take an oxide copper layer uh from copper so that you can solder flux-free. That's a huge invention. And we have now hydroplasma, that means that we can clean very deep with plasma. Um, I come back, you'll do that later because you're gonna ask for sure what plasma can do on the surface. We can clean, but then we can clean only organic uh contamination. But with this hydroplastic, we can do really a very deep cleaning and take other parts from the surface. Um, six years ago, we opened a huge uh uh facility, a new technology and research center in Steinhaga, um, where we can reproduce more or less every uh process making uh how do you call that? Um, that we can simulate every process in the industry. So that goes from conveyor belts to 6x robots. Um, and that's also where we do our main uh RD. And as I mentioned already, uh this year we celebrate our 30 years of uh of plasma innovation. And um we uh have now uh two new guys in uh in our in our board. Those are the two sons of Mr. Buske, that's uh Marcus and Lucas Buske. And uh Christian Busker more or less stepped back now, um, retired and is focusing now on new innovations.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, cool. Yes, and it's a great story of uh innovation, and um it's still, I believe, you still retain that kind of energy and innovative culture and uh the business. And the booth was a quite spectacular example of of the technology in action.
SPEAKER_02:It's it's it's more it's also uh it's the story of uh you start in a garage and now you uh are a company worldwide presented with uh 350 uh employees.
SPEAKER_01:So it's great story.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's a great story.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. And um a very approachable business as well, I think the kind of you know, sort of very friendly, kind of enthusiastic people, which I I was quite taken by at the show. Um with the technology itself, why is it so important? Because you mentioned it it cleans surfaces brilliantly, doesn't it? It's is it all about aiding the process of printing onto a lot a number of different surfaces? It's a key part of that, is it? Plasma treatment.
SPEAKER_02:It it is it is a need.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:If you want to adhere, um let's say let's concentrate on UV inks because solvent inks we all know, and and and more or less you you you don't need their uh pre-treatment, but for the for the new UV curing inks or new the UV curing ints, it is a need because um polymers in general has a very low surface energy, and that's that's more or less all what it is about. It is it is a game between surface energies, that that's what bonding is. So you have the surface, your substrate, and you have that what you want to apply to. In this case, we talk about inks, but it can be a wax or an adhesive or all other materials. So if you have a low surface energy and there's a second need, and that that that's so-called functional groups on your surface, and it has to be clean, plasmatreat can do a job. And what you can do with plasma treat is all three in one pass. So, what we can do is we can remove clean organic contamination, and then in in the same pass, we apply so-called functional groups on the surface, and those functional groups are is a need to get adhesion. So we change the surface, uh, the the surface properties from in this case from hydrophobic, from hydrophobic to hydrophilic. So you get then a wetting of your material and you can expect an adhesion. So that's more or less the need to have. If this is not working, then we can do our Plasma Plus technology, we can apply a nanocoating. So let's say on glass and on uh on metals, you cannot bring functional groups to the surface. You can clean, but that's it. But with this Plasma Plus coating, we are able to apply a nanocoating. And to give you a number, it's below 20 nanometers. That's that there's nothing, it's it's invisible, you cannot see it, feel it, touch it. I asked PlasmaTreat if it's possible to collar it, but the colour pigments are bigger than the surface thickness of the coating. So that was also not an option. And there we see that we have very good uh results in the metal industry and in the glass industry for printing UVA curing inks.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. And that that that leads me on to my next question nicely, actually, because I can see for industrial printing, you know, compared with paper printing, the challenges for um chemistry, for engineering, and particularly with the growing need for digital printing as well, uh, I could see that with industrial print, it must Plasma Street must be becoming increasingly relevant. Um, why is plasma surface so important for enabling technology onto advanced materials? Is it because of the challenge of the ink adhering to surfaces not necessarily designed for printing? Is it a challenge because of the variety of different surfaces and the fact that you know, for instance, you mentioned metal, glass. Um it helps to have this done first because of the need.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, and we see many requests out of that. This industry now also coming from, and and it's we see a lot of interest out of the metal industry, for instance, for the metal cans, the beverage cans, or uh other kinds of metal cans. Um again, we are we we are talking about low surface energy in an initial stage, which we have to increase, and that's what we can do uh via our plasma via plasma treatment. And we only work in a nanoscale in the in the top layer. So we do not interfere into your into your material. We're not going to it, it's it's not visual uh uh that you can see it or you can can feel it. That's that's what we want to do. And and we work on low on low temperatures. So we are thin foils, it's not not possible, but we can we can also work on on very dedicated and and uh um sensitive materials.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, could you give us an example of the perhaps the you know where plasma treat is used today in real manufacturing environments, for instance, like automotive packaging or functional printing?
SPEAKER_02:Well, if I tell you that in your car, we have approximately 50 to 70 applications for a plasma treatment. And that's not only printing. I mean, in every car, um every meeting we we take a car and then we have asked our sales guys to put a label on there on a car where plasma has been where a plasma treatment has been done, you will see a car full of stickers, and that that going from your door handles to your uh front window glass which is bonded into the frame, but also a lot of printing, um production uh information on hoses, for instance, or all your switches in your car, um your your screen, um your display, which you have now, um your touch screen. Um so in automotive we have a lot. Um battery, and what we see is that um more and more sensors and controls are coming into a car, and they have to work very properly. I mean, if you have a driverless car, you have to rely on all the electronics in your car. So there the the the the the controls and and the the security that that everything has been been done as it should be is very, very important. So, in in that respect, we see also a lot of uh requests for the control of our process. So, in the automotive industry, we have a lot of applications. Printing, but also bonding. Packaging, for instance, what's now also coming is that uh we'll see that um there is or a UV varnish on your product or it is metallized, and also there we see um problems request coming from a plasma treatment. So, what they do, they have a ready-made uh product, there's a UV lacquer on it, and they cannot print any on it anymore. So, they want to add some additional information like a QR code. So, there in the packaging industry we see that it's very simple. We treat a an already-made package, we treat it, and then they print digital via inkjet uh QR code on it. So also in that industry, we see many recurs going. So um syringes, catheters, there is a company called Lap Lap on a Lab on a chip. So they um conductive inks in the in the electronics industry, high uh high viscous ink, which is also now coming, which I know which I see increasing. So that's also new applications, new industries, where there is a need for pre-treatment.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, it's exciting.
SPEAKER_02:Industry is so diverse that's yeah, brilliant.
SPEAKER_01:Um obviously with innovation and thinking about sustainability actually on this level. Um, how does plasma technology contribute to sustainability, whether it might be of energy efficiency, maybe material reduction, or just enabling more durable and reliable printing?
SPEAKER_02:The big step is of course that we take away VOC solvents, and in and it's still being used a lot solvent inks and then cured in an oven. And I've been in industry that they have a 30-meter-long oven um running on gas. Um and and and now we can do it with a blue light, with UV light. So, in that respect, look at the number of square meters you need for an oven, or the energy, the manpower, uh the electricity. We see that we can in some cases we can take that away. So those are are already um some big steps, but also um, and that's also an issue, is that um you can save inks because of better vertability, for instance. It's not much, but we have uh had cases that we have implemented plasma for ink savings. Um rejects, it's a process, it's a control process. Um, and in many in some cases, you can uh uh work now on a less expensive base material. So, for instance, if you make your product now out of ABS, which is a more expensive than polyethylene, and you you can print on ABS easily without a pre-treatment with UV curing ints. Um, you get a better image if you if you if you uh treat it, but you can make the same product out of polyethylene, but you cannot print it without pre-treatment. So there also um we see new polymers coming, recycled products. It's a real challenge sometimes uh to get adhesion on recycled products because there is no information on what's in it. Every batch is different, more or less every batch you have to start from from scratch. Um, so that that that's also uh something. Some cases you can make your uh um uh uh product lighter by pre-treatment, uh not only for ink but maybe uh for for bonding if you if you can bond parts together. So there are many many directions uh um in what we can do. Um so we can we can eliminate hazardous uh chemicals, for instance, um lower waste material consumption because you have less rejects for sure, and um you can expect longer lasting reliable printed components. So there are a number of it's always the question what what is the end user looking for? Um we have even now a project where the investment over the plasma treatment is higher than than what they make out of it, but only they want to have a green label on their product.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so it's an investment.
SPEAKER_02:It's it's a marketing tool.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. Well, why not? I mean, yeah, being good for the environment, if that has benefits for your um sellability, then fantastic, I think. A good a good way to motivate uh increased environmental um you know practices. Um collaboration is incredibly important, isn't it? And I know that you work with system integrators, OEMs, and print technology developers. How does plasma treats perhaps because I think your culture, like I said, it's open and collaborative, uh help accelerate innovation for industrial printing?
SPEAKER_02:Um yes, we we we try to get on the forefront, let's say, in in new projects, but but it more or less always ends up that we are in the end. Um they can talk about machines and speed and live speeds and in inks and how it will look like, but they always forget that sometimes there is a pre-treatment needed. Um so um our our our we we have to listen to the market. Um we we don't know where where an end user is going to, uh but but but at the end we might we might be so that we can be helpful in the in his process. So we we we listening to to the market. So we visit a lot of conventions. Um for instance Plasma Treat is is on 60 trade shows and conventions every year in all industries. And and we have to listen to to each other because if something is happening in the automotive industry, it can have an impact in the printing industry or in the chemical industry or the electronics. So communications is is is a key. Yeah. And and and yes, um, we are going to more and more conventions. Um we have open houses. We do plasma talks. That's every month we have two open plasma talks that's uh where you can take part in um in all kinds of industries, applications, um, where our experts and one of me, and I and I will do the my next one is scheduled in February. I'll talk half an hour about the printing industry. What's happening, what can you expect, how can we collaborate. My main task in in Plasma Treat is bringing the right people to the table. And that's that's my main task. I'm I'm not so deep in chemicals or in mechanics, but I know where the people are and what they needed. And as I started, we all have to sit around the table, and we all need each other, from the printheads to the ink to the software to go to future print, and I think all these people has to come together.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, to solve what is always um challenging but solvable um problems that add value and um it requires that expertise and openness, doesn't it? And um, you've just mentioned future print in um Munich, which Plasma Treat you will be participating and giving talks and so on. Anything you want to share about perhaps what you're showing there andor um sharing in terms of um your talk.
SPEAKER_02:Well, my main talk will be how to implement a plasma treatment in a production process. Um, I will shortly talk about what plasma is. This is the fourth state of generation, uh for state of matter, uh, how nice company plasma treat is. You should know that now all are, but I want to give the people an idea that more or less uh the sky is the limit. Um we can do flat materials, cylindrical materials, 3D comp uh products, um we can go into uh uh uh cavities, so that's that will be my main message for my presentation. Besides that, we will bring a plasma lifetable with us, which means that we will bring uh uh operational plasma system with us. And what we're going to encourage people, visitors, to if they have problems or wishes, bring your material with you, and maybe we can do a quick and dirty test. We can take a look at your service energy by a test inked. I will make it very simple. I will do a quick and dirty plasma treatment, and we'll measure the surface energy afterwards, and that could give you an idea what plasma can do on your on your product. So I I want to have a very flexible uh um open discussion with people. What are your needs? And if we can't fulfill them, maybe we can do it tomorrow or next year, and that's why we will take part on your events.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we're we're delighted to have you there and also showcasing the amazing tech as well, which I think is really important. We're gonna have some of the world's experts in the field of industrial printing there, but also having the tech, I think, and showing it is is brilliant, and we're excited about having you there and and and and you giving the talk as well. Um sort of looking ahead, I I guess, really, finally, um, in terms of um the chat. Um I guess industrial manufacturing continues to evolve, doesn't it, with the digitalization, more smart processes. What role do you see plasma technology playing, perhaps, in the next wave of innovation?
SPEAKER_02:Uh that's a good question. Uh um new materials. Um the industry is also looking to environmental friendlier materials, um, and then as I mentioned already, you have the recycled uh products, um new inks, and I think um my my idea is or my guess is that um let's say the printheads are excellent. I mean there's still some development in it, but there are high-end there where they need to be. And and let's say we we as a pre-printers as well. The software, wow, is also very high. But the inks, well, it's not like making soup, you can make it more salty or more pepper in it. And I think that the inked companies they can they are still very innovative, like they're now coming with these high viscous inks, so that you can make a texture by printing or a kind of 3D printing. Um, conductive inks for the electronics, that's also a market which we see coming. Um, they do it already uh in uh a lot in screen printing, but now you see also jettable inks uh coming more and more. Um, so there we see it. And um ready-shaped products, so uh cylindric, um, so cans, bottles, tumblers, um, is coming more and more. Um, and the shoe industry, for instance, that's that's also a very nice one, and that's one that uh we're gonna show in my presentation. Um printing shoes, so three-dimensional ready-shaped products, and then the automation um uh robots are at this time so less expensive that you can labor cost is more or less if if you're looking to automation, labor cost is more or less not an issue anymore. If you can have ten robots working, they're not working fast, but if you count them, if you in total they make your production, so their labor cost is in the automotion is also not so important anymore. Um what we have see is of course that we the request for us is to go to uh wider applications. Uh a jet, a plasma jet is is more or less uh a small width, one jet up to uh 70 millimeters, but we treat our metal sheets 1.2 meters wide, we have a treatment system 3.6 meters wide. So, yes, we have to make wider treatments, and what we do is we we it it's like a more modular uh system that we build more jets together. So, in that direction, and and then uh as I mentioned in the functional coatings, we can do more, um, so that that wider our uh scope in in application, where where last year we said, Well, we cannot help you, uh now now we can. So we're going back to also there to to old projects. Um so yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's it's it's it's an exciting area, isn't it? You it's quite diverse, different different industries you're very active in, like you said, print electronic through to automotive, through two medical technology, food to packaging. It's it's it's um I'm sure provides you with plenty of challenge, but also scope for learning across each. And clearly the tech enables, doesn't it? You're a key enabler for production in printing in lots of different industries. So it's a really vital part of the process, and I'm sure you're gonna come into contact with people that will learn and um want to talk to you further about how you can help create some new possibilities with um manufacturing. Listen, Baz, thank you so much for joining us at the Featurement Podcast. Excited to have Flash North Tree part of the Munich event. Excited to see you there, which isn't long away now, and um appreciate you joining us today. So thank you very much.
SPEAKER_02:Welcome. I thank you for the invitation, and I'm really looking forward to next year's event in Munich.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, you can subscribe now for more great audio content coming up. And visit futureprint.tech for the latest news, partner interviews, in depth industry research, and to catch up on content from FuturePrint events. We'll see you next time on the Futureprint Podcast.
