Packaging
Mimaki Enters label market with a Four Color UV Label inkjet printing press
Tuesday 08. July 2008 - At drupa in Düsseldorf (May 29th to June 11th, 2008) Mimaki is showcasing the IPH-300L printer for reliable digital label production employing UV technology.
Mimaki Engineering, a leading manufacturer of wide format inkjet printers and cutting machines for the Sign / Graphics, Industrial markets, and Textile / Apparel, will mark its market entrance into the label market with its new IPH-300L single pass digital inkjet press.
Customer demand in the label market requires flexible presses with a high potential of variability of data as well as efficient and economic productivity and short run production. In order to cater to this demand MImaki has developed the IPH-300L. This newly developed press achieves print speeds of up to 12.5 m/min or 3000 sheets/h when printing A4 in 600 x 600 dpi resolution.
It features a print width of up to 30 cm and employs Mimakis ground-breaking UV technology. It uses Mimakis exclusive UV curable inks in four colours (CMYK) and piezo electrionic inkjet heads. These inks are VOC- and ozone free which caters to an environmentally friendly work place for printers. The IPH-300L automatically performs periodical head cleaning to ensure all print heads are in immaculate condition for optimum print quality.
As the machine uses single pass technology, the heads are stationary and the substrate is moved underneath the print heads so less vibration is generated. This ensures a smooth and highly accurate media transport to counteract banding and other undesired effects. In addition single pass printing results in dramatically increased speeds.
In combination UV drying and single pass printing offers the possibility to print on a wide variety of substrates including heat sensitive materials. This broadens the range of applications considerably, e.g. label, company ID cards and much more.
The press can be run in different print modes such as copy print and variable print. While it also features an already high standard resolution of 600 x 600 dpi, it can produce even higher quality with the superfine high resolution of 600 x 1200 dpi.
The IPH-300L label print control system consists of a high performace controller incorporating MImakis RIP and color management system. This system equalizes color differences between the calibrated print heads automatically. High volumes of variable data can be processed quickly and efficiently with the variable data editing system.
Its modular design consists of a number of print units for single pass printing enables custom produced machines whose print width can vary. Also it is possible to supply the print unit without transport mechanism for integration into existing production environments.
“We are proud that we can now offer customers in the label printing market the same productivity, elfficiency and high quality our customers in the Sign / Graphics markets have already enjoyed for over 30 years”, says Masaaki Fujita, Senior Managing Director from Mimaki Japan. “We are sure that the IPH-300L with its high productivity and outstanding efficiency as well as its future-oriented technology will make lasting impressions in the label industry.”