Inkjet & Digital Printing
Seven in a Row for Jokey Plastik
Saturday 07. June 2008 - Xeikon Brings Short Runs and Versioning to Transfer Printing
Jokey Plastik GmbH, a world leader in the manufacturing of plastic containers, has purchased no less than seven Xeikon digital color presses. The company took its first Xeikon press into production in September last year. This press is currently being used at full capacity, operating three shifts per day and seven days per week. An additional six presses will provide the capacity required to meet the sharp increase in demand for short runs of printed plastic containers.
Jokey Plastik was founded in 1968 as a small German family business. Over the years, the company has evolved into a modern corporate group with over 1,200 employees at 12 production plants in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Canada, serving customers worldwide. Despite its international expansion, Jokey Plastik has remained a dynamic, privately-owned family firm. Transparency, flexibility, and sustainability, coupled with a customer-oriented approach, are an important part of the corporate ethos.
The company had been offering printed plastic containers, using traditional screen printing, for quite some time, but wanted to be able to cost-effectively produce short runs and multi-versions. This is the reason why it made the shift to digital printing. In close collaboration with Jokey Plastik, Xeikon fine-tuned the process parameters to yield optimal results.
“The Xeikon toner-based process proved to be the only one effective in combination with our packaging materials. And because we strive to minimize the potentially negative impact of our processes and products on the environment, we were pleased to know that Xeikon toner carries the Swan label (official Nordic eco-certificate). Also, Xeikon toner has been FDA-approved for certain food contact applications, which for obvious reasons is a plus in our business,” explains Matthias Zientek, Production Manager at Jokey Plastik, adding, “So far we have not been actively marketing the short run multi-version concept and still we have already reached full capacity of our first Xeikon press. Last month at Interpack, we publicly announced this new offering and so we expect demand will rocket.”
The six extra presses will be installed at production plants in Germany, Poland, and other locations still to be decided.
“This is an excellent example of how close collaboration between our customers and our experts can lead to unique and sophisticated solutions, creating new business opportunities. We are delighted to see our technology used in this market,” says Paul Willems, Chief Marketing Officer at Punch Graphix, “It confirms the versatility of our equipment and the quality and reliability of our imaging process. The fact that our dry toner-based imaging process was a decisive factor in their choice is a great recognition for our R&D team and their continued efforts to improve our technology and our toner in particular. It also confirms that there is a demand for environmentally-friendly printing processes and that we should definitely pursue this route.”
Xeikon is currently exhibiting at drupa 2008. Its latest innovations as well as a selection of its entire portfolio of products and solutions are being demonstrated until June 11 in Hall 8a (stand D25) at the Düsseldorf Fairgrounds, Germany.