Business News
Xeikon continues success in digital label printing in the Asia Pacific region
Monday 20. September 2010 - Australian label specialist invests in Xeikon 3300 to increase profitability
Xeikon today announced that MR LABELS invested in the Xeikon 3300, the award-winning digital label printing solution. MR LABELS is one of Australia’s most awarded label companies. After extensive research and product evaluation, the company decided to select Xeikon – not only for its best-in-class technology, but also for the reliable, around-the clock support from local distributor, Absolute Electronics, which stand behind the Xeikon product.
Winner of multiple PICAs (Printing Industry Craftsmanship Awards), Brisbane-based MR LABELS prides itself on delivering exceptional quality labels to its clients and has been doing so for more than thirty one years. Key to this success has been the on-going investment in the most advanced technology available on the market. In line with this proven strategy, the company invested in the Xeikon 3300 after 8 months of extensive product evaluations.
“We took a long time to decide which solution to invest in. We evaluated several vendors and visited a lot of companies. After a thorough evaluation and analysis, we found Xeikon to be head and shoulders above the competition in offering the best solution including equipment, service and people,” explains Paul OBrien, Managing Director of MR LABELS. “Its a competitive market out there. You need to have the best technology to be at the top of your game. Superior image quality, speed and substrate flexibility, however, wont keep you there. Key to long-term success is a close partnership with suppliers and their unrelenting commitment to support their product for the long term. That is what really made the choice an easy one for us in the end.”
Growing the label market
“We are delighted to partner with MR LABELS and look forward to working together to grow the label market in Australia,” says Filip Weymans, Business Development Manager Labels and Packaging at Xeikon. “With just-in-time production and delivery, the Xeikon 3300 offers MR LABELS the freedom to act and react more quickly to changes in the marketplace – without any economical impact. In addition, label applications take full advantage of the flexibility of our technology,” adds Weymans. “A good example of this is that no special coating of the substrates is required, negating the need to purchase and stock expensive pre-treated material – saving significant costs which have a direct impact to the bottom line.”
Superior image quality
The Xeikon 3300 features true 1200 dpi resolution and 1200 x 3600 dpi addressability with variable dot density which generates superior image quality with high definition and smooth tone transitions for photorealistic high impact labels. The same high-precision LED-based imaging head delivers exceptionally sharp, crisp details enabling reproduction of pin-sharp micro text. With a top speed of 19,2m/min (63ft/min), the Xeikon 3300 is perfectly suited for short to medium print runs and deliver just-in-time.
Food-safe labels
The press runs on the new QA-I toner which boasts major advances in light fastness and ecological benefits. Furthermore, the QA-I toner meets all the applicable FDA guidelines for indirect food contact under room temperature and less severe conditions, as well as direct food contact for dry food substances containing no surface oil or fat, under the same conditions.
“The new QA-I toner also played a key role in our decision,” explains OBrien. “Being compliant to FDA regulations regarding food safety expands the range of applications we can address to include labels that have direct contact with dry food products. The food and packaging market is a key growth area for us and this feature is very important for the continued growth of our business.”
No dedicated print room needed
Another key feature of the Xeikon is that no special, environmentally-controlled room is needed,” continues OBrien. “Because the press operates under less stringent conditions – compared to other digital brands – this allowed us to locate it alongside our existing flexo machines and thus have a fully integrated mix of conventional and new technologies in one area.”
The Xeikon 3300 is capable of handling an unrivalled range of substrates with pre-coat including various self-adhesive materials such as co-extruded films, Bopp, PVC and PET, paperboards, paper with weights ranging from 40 to 350 gsm and transparent and opaque foils.
Open and scalable
The Xeikon 3300 takes advantage of Xeikons X-800 digital front-end. Based on open standards, the X-800 can be integrated into any production environment. Its modular set-up allows users to manage different production elements in the most efficient way possible. Prepress functions, such as impositions and color management, can be performed in the prepress environment, allowing the press operator to focus on print quality. This contributes to higher press throughput and increased productivity. The system is fully scalable, so as capacity ramps up in the future, more presses can simply be added to the existing front-end.