UK trade printer moves into digital labels with Xeikon

Specialist trade print business Integrity Print, based in Midsomer Norton, UK, is moving into the digital label market with the installation of a Xeikon 3300 digital label press, complete with in-line finishing. The machine is due to be installed in December 2009 and will work alongside the company’s existing narrow web flexo presses. 

Andrew Law, commercial manager at Integrity Print, said: ‘Following the acquisition of various trading assets of the Topflite Labels business back in February of this year, we were keen to further invest and expand the capabilities of our flexographic-based label department. Our analysis of the workload in labels showed us that some half-a-million pounds worth of existing work was actually more suited to digital production. 

‘Whilst that alone was a good enough reason to establish a digital printing section, the knock-on effect of taking that business off the flexographic presses would immediately give us significantly more capacity on these machines. The short-run jobs, often consisting of a three hour make-ready for one hour, or less, of printing time, were making it quite difficult for us to schedule in our long-run work. The addition of the Xeikon will ensure that the flexo presses are much better utilized, whilst also allowing us to be much more efficient in the production of short-run labels. It really does provide our customers, and us, with a win-win situation.’ 

Integrity Print handles a wide range of print business for the trade, with print management companies and print brokers providing its sole customer focus. The GBP £60 million turnover company employs 385 people, and runs 50 different presses – the new Xeikon machine being the fifty-first. 

Andrew Law added: ‘We had a project team review the options available to us in the market. They evaluated the digital label machines that were on the market by quality, price, and the cost per label produced. The evaluation also took in visits to customer reference sites. Overall, the Xeikon certainly proved to be the best machine to meet our needs. The 1200 x 3600 dpi imaging resolution coupled with Xeikon’s FA toner gave some of the highest quality images that I have seen from a digital label press.’ 

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