Xeikon debuts alternative to in-mold labeling

Over 100 printers from across Europe attended a recent open house, hosted by Xeikon in Lier, Belgium, for the launch of the Moss digital decorating system, jointly developed by Xeikon and Italy-based Moss. The digital decorating system enables printers to decorate round, conical, rectangular and square pails and containers, even in very short runs.  

Representatives from Xeikon and Moss delivered presentations on the new technology and compared the process with conventional pail and container labeling processes. Attendees also learned about the benefits of toner-based printing over screen and offset printing for these applications. Visitors then congregated in the demo center to see the first live demonstration of the new technology on Xeikon 3300 and 5500plus digital presses.  

Frank Vanmeenen, global marketing manager of Punch Graphix, said: ‘The open house events proved a massive success. It highlights that print houses remain far sighted – they understand how investment in new, cutting-edge technology can help them develop new business opportunities and generate additional revenue. It also means that they consider the solutions presented by Xeikon and its partners a serious option to invest in and do business with in the future.’ 

‘We’ve been working closely with Moss for the past couple of years, so it was a very proud moment to demonstrate live the excellent quality of this breakthrough solution to our customers,’ said Filip Weymans, Xeikon’s business development manager for labels and packaging. ‘[It] lets printers decorate various-shaped pails and containers in two simple steps. First, one of the Xeikon web presses prints the exact number of transfers required for the decoration. Then the roll of printed transfers is fed into the Moss digital decorating system, which perfectly applies transfers to pails or containers via heat transfer. The result is an opacity and image quality that’s superior to what direct offset printing can produce. And for applications that need extra durability, an in-line varnishing unit can be incorporated into the Moss transfer machine.’           

The Moss digital decorating system comes in two models: Digicon is suited to round and conical pails, while Digiflex is aimed at rectangular and square containers. Both models are claimed to deliver a perfect application of the pre-printed images on the plastic pails or containers, and are said to be cost effective with runs as small as 500.  

The Moss digital decorating system is said to eliminate the need to create complicated graphic jobs or prepare screens or plates, as well as the chemistry associated with these conventional methods. It enables production at approximately 18 ppm with a round 10L pail, and is said to provide the same output as a traditional direct offset printing press. 

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