The launch of the Glory 1604 proved that industrial-scale, water-based digital printing was not just viable but revolutionary. It established Hanway as a serious innovator, but the journey was far from over. While the 1604 was a success, the Hanway team, led by General Manager Johnson Tan, was already listening to the market's next major demand: width.

The Market's Call for a 2.5m Solution

The 1.6m printer was a game-changer, but a significant portion of the corrugated industry—particularly the vast network of Sheet Plants and Box Plants—ran boards up to 2.5 meters. To truly serve the core of the market, Hanway had to go wider.

"We observed that many of our customers' primary production lines were built around the 2.5-meter width," noted Johnson Tan. "They were impressed by the speed and flexibility of Single Pass, but they needed it to integrate seamlessly with their existing factory-floor logistics. They couldn't justify a digital line that couldn't handle their most common board sizes."

This wasn't just a request; it was a clear market mandate. The challenge was not simply to make the printer wider, but to maintain the speed, precision, and reliability of the Glory 1604 at a much larger scale. This led to the development of the machine that would become a global bestseller: the Glory 2504.

A "World-First" in Automation: The Integrated Slotting Unit

The Glory 2504 was more than just a wider printer; it was a fundamental leap in automation. Hanway’s vision was to create a true, end-to-end "board-in, box-out" solution.

"The breakthrough was in how we answered the question, 'What happens after printing?'" explained Leo Peng, Vice General Manager (R&D Director). "In a traditional workflow, a printed board would still need to go to a separate machine for slotting and trimming. This was a bottleneck that negated many of digital's speed advantages. We decided to solve that."

The solution was a world-first: an integrated, high-speed slotting unit. This module, placed directly in-line with the Single Pass print engine, combined multiple finishing steps into one seamless operation. The Glory 2504 could now print, trim, and slot a board in a single pass.

"This was revolutionary," said Jon Jing, General Manager's Assistant. "It allowed our customers to achieve a level of automation they had never seen before. It represented a major breakthrough in creating a highly automated, fully in-line solution that perfectly met the market's need for efficiency."

Beyond the Box: A New Market is Born

This new, wide-format, all-in-one capability didn't just optimize existing processes; it created entirely new ones. The most dramatic example came from a customer in Taiwan, Xin Ji.

Where others saw a box-making machine, Xin Ji saw a construction tool.

They began using their Glory 2504 to print massive, custom-designed corrugated boards, which they then custom-cut and assembled into large-scale decorative structures for weddings and corporate events. They were replacing traditional, non-recyclable materials with a fully sustainable, digitally printed alternative.

"This was a customer who went well beyond the traditional scope of 'corrugated packaging'," noted Jon Jing. "They were using our machine to build large-scale art. It proved that once you develop these new, flexible tools, our customers' creativity will find applications we never could have imagined."

The Glory 2504 became a global success, solidifying Hanway's reputation. It proved the company was not just a printer manufacturer, but a provider of complete, automated, and versatile industrial solutions. With the 1.6m and 2.5m markets now covered, Hanway's next challenge was already in sight: addressing the two opposite ends of the spectrum—the need for even higher quality and the demand for a more accessible, entry-level machine.