Inkjet & Digital Printing
UK first at Hine Labels for Xeikon 3000 digital label press
Wednesday 08. April 2009 - Enhanced image quality and production speed open new business opportunities
Hine Labels Ltd, Rotherham, Yorkshire, has announced its decision to upgrade its existing Xeikon label press to a new Xeikon 3000 machine. The installation will be the first Xeikon 3000 digital label press in the UK, following the launch of the system in September 2008. Xeikon 3000 has been designed as a counterpart to the Xeikon 3300 label press, and contains many of the same features as its “bigger brother”.
Bill Hine, Managing Director of Hine Labels, comments: “Our original Xeikon 330, installed at the end of 2007, allows us a good insight into the digital labels market, providing us with the opportunity to talk digital with our existing customers, and to work our way through the whole of the digital production cycle – which is, of course, quite different to our traditional flexographic business. The further enhancements in both image quality and production speed for the Xeikon 3000 made it the next logical step for us.”
Xeikon 3000 produces images at 1200 dots per inch, with four bits per spot, to ensure the highest possible colour quality, and offers an increased imaging width of 322mm, against the 307mm imaging width of the Xeikon 330 machine. All machines are based on a 330mm substrate width.
High productivity and upgrade option
“Our business comes from trade customers. They generally dont have a preference with regard to the printing process that we use. What they want is high quality, colour consistent labels in the shortest possible production time. We have to face the fact that run lengths are decreasing across many of our markets, and this is what tends to determine which print process we use for a given job.
“We had no hesitation in returning to Xeikon for our latest digital label solution. In our opinion, the companys products lead the market for label production, and we have been delighted with the service and support that we have received from Xeikon.”
Xeikon 3000 web-based press has a top speed of 31.5 feet of label production per minute, and a monthly duty cycle of 1,500,000 feet. The five colour engine provides for the four standard process colours plus a choice of spot colour, special security toner for anti-counterfeiting applications, or an opaque white for the “no label” look on transparent material. The press is capable of handling an unrivalled range of substrates including self-adhesive films, co-extruded films, unsupported films, paper, transparent and opaque foils, and paperboard. The environmentally friendly dry toner electrophotography imaging process enables the use of conventional substrates without the need for coating or pre-treatment.
“Xeikon 3000 also offers an immediate upgrade path when digital volume requirements increase,” added Bill Hine, referring to the ability to enhance the machines capabilities up to those of the Xeikon 3300 label press.
New business opportunities
With regard to the markets for digitally produced labels, Bill Hine comments: “It has certainly enabled us to open new doors with existing customers. The ability to economically produce shorter runs has a strong appeal in many market sectors, and we have also become involved in a number of test marketing programmes – an ideal task for digital production, as we can create any number of label variants within a short space of time.”
Commenting on the new Hine Labels purchase, Greg Neesham, Sales Director for Punch Graphix UK, says: “We are delighted to enhance the label production system at Hine Labels to the latest specifications of the Xeikon 3000. With regard to image quality, Xeikon 3000 can produce 1200 dpi at four bits per spot, which raises the bar in terms of high quality digital label production. We believe that this will ensure that Hine Labels can seamlessly transfer work between label printing processes.”
Hine Labels, in conjunction with Xeikon, plans an open day featuring its new digital label press during May 2009.