UK converter celebrates 10th anniversary with Xeikon purchase

Label Solutions, a label converter based in Essex, UK, has purchased a Xeikon 3030 digital press. The Xeikon machine represents the company’s first digital investment following ten years of flexographic printing.

Leslie Burden, managing director of Label Solutions, said: ‘We have been examining the digital market for the last year, along with the printing solutions available to us. Undoubtedly digital has been exhibiting extremely fast growth in the label sector in recent years, and we believe that the time is right for us to offer our own solution for customers in this sector of the market.

‘Despite the current economic uncertainly, we have just had our busiest year with regard to flexo-based production, so we believe that now is an ideal time for us to invest in the next stage of our business growth. Digital will enable us to offer something different to our existing customers, and also provide us with the tools to enter new markets. Certainly one area that we are keen to be involved in is to provide a trade label printing service to other producers without their own digital facility at the moment.’

With regard to the choice of digital printing equipment, Burden continued: ‘Whilst inkjet machines have made some advances during the last year, it was apparent to us that the two leading machines in the market represented the only real choices. Xeikon won through for us on two very important areas: no click charge involved and no pre-coating of stock needed for standard label substrates. We were also impressed by the print quality offered by the Xeikon technology, as well as the feedback regarding productivity that we had from existing users of the product.’

The Xeikon 3030 web-based press has a top speed of 31.5 feet of label production per minute. The 5-color engine provides for the four standard process colors plus a choice of spot color, special security toner for anti-counterfeiting applications, or a one-pass opaque white for the ‘no label’ look on transparent material. The press is capable of handling a wide range of substrates including self-adhesive labelstock, paper, transparent and opaque foils and paperboard. The press handles a substrate width of 330mm and provides for an imaging width of 322mm. The environmentally friendly dry toner electrophotography imaging process enables the use of conventional substrates without the need for coating or pre-treatment. Additionally the toner is compliant with FDA regulations related to indirect food contact and direct food contact, dry food environment.

For job preparation, the Xeikon press is equipped with an open, scalable and modular X-800 Digital Front-End (DFE), combining extensive pre-press functionality including a high-speed RIP with impressive variable data printing processing.

Greg Neesham, sales director for Xeikon in the UK, said: ‘We are, of course, delighted that Leslie and his team have decided to install a Xeikon solution for their digital label production – the first Xeikon label press in Essex. It is an ideal way for the company to celebrate its tenth anniversary!

‘The team at Label Solutions recognized the issues with regard to shrinking run-lengths, meaning that digital offers the most economic production solution. The fact that plate production costs are immediately eliminated with digital makes a significant difference to the price of a few thousand full-color labels.’

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