ITE reports global success with Eclipse range

The LF350 was debuted at exhibitions throughout the spring and summer, and has already secured sales across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the US, ITE said. Units have been, or are about to be, despatched to markets as diverse as the UK, across Europe, Dubai, Malaysia and America.

The Eclipse range of digital label finishers was originally developed to satisfy the growing demand for shorter runs, with the LF3 designed from the ground up with its end use in mind. This was followed by a larger model, the LF330, to satisfy both the small and bulk order markets. The LF330 retained the fundamental elements of the LF3 had but added facilities that a larger production would need, such as lamination, single point registration and the ability to handle large rolls of media. As such, the LF330 could handle media up to 330mm, and was soon joined by the LF350 with an increased roll capacity up to 350mm.

The LF350 can support media widths of 100-350mm and cut up to an 800mm long label. The twin cutting blades that are standard on the machine have individual depth control and are supported by five slitting blades.

Further, supported and unsupported lamination handling is standard and the machine has double dancer bars for paper feed with positional intelligence as well as full waste matrix removal.

Roy Burton, managing director of ITE, said: ‘We approached the Eclipse project with a clear view of what we wanted. We had identified the fact that a small footprint, low investment label finisher just wasn’t available and yet the demand was.

‘With the growth of the small order market the LF3 was the obvious machine to start with but it soon became apparent that larger digital label printers were also looking for something like this albeit with a higher specification. The result was the LF350 which we launched at this year's tradeshows.

‘We thought the response would be good but even we were taken by surprise with orders being placed at the very first showing of the machine when all we had was the exhibition model with actual production still a few months away.’

Burton added: ‘The LF350 impressed at every show we exhibited at and when the quality of manufacture together with the specification list was matched against the capital cost then the interest level increased even more.’