System and method for overprinting on packages and/or containers of different formats

A system for overprinting on formats, comprising:

• at least one printing unit comprising at least one rotatable printing cylinder, having printing zones at a surface thereof, and further comprising first actuation means, configured to drive, in a controllable manner, a rotation of the printing cylinder;
• format supplying means configured to supply the system with one or more formats, each being intended to be overprinted in preset zones to be overprinted;
• format collecting means configured to collect the one or more formats once the one or more formats have been printed;
• at least one conveyor belt configured to arrange, for said one or more formats, an advancement path comprised between the format supplying means and the format collecting means, and passing through the printing unit;
• second actuation means, configured to drive, in a controllable manner, an advancement of the conveyor belt along the advancement path, upstream of the printing unit in an advancement direction;
• control means configured to control in a coordinated manner both the first actuation means and the second actuation means, so as to determine at each moment a correspondence of the preset zones to be overprinted of the one or more formats with respective printing zones of the printing cylinder, wherein the control means are configured to control, in a coordinated manner and simultaneously, both the first actuating means to change the rotation speed of the printing cylinder, and the second actuating means to change the speed of the advancement of the conveyor belt, to compensate for relative position shifts between the preset zones to be overprinted of the format and the respective printing zones of the printing cylinder;
• wherein the format supplying means comprise at least one support member configured to support a plurality of formats in a stack, and further comprise an insertion member configured to insert in succession the formats of the stack on the conveyor belt, placing them in a position arranged for the successive overprint, and
• wherein the insertion member is further configured to adjust, under control of the control means, a frequency of insertion of the one or more formats on the conveyor belt, based on a dimension of the one or more formats, so as to adapt the system to operate on formats having different dimensions.