The label: the first thing a customer sees

To sell a product in today’s competitive market, a key factor is making it stand out from the crowd. Every day manufacturers and distributors face a variety of business and production challenges that affect how they package and label their products. Most often a potential customer sees the package before seeing the product itself! These challenges are forcing printers and converters to come up with innovative solutions to meet customer demands. Labels show an amazing potential as they are attractive, communicative and flexible.

Label printing: a market in evolution

Labels – and especially digital labels – can play a crucial role in increasing sales volumes and maximising turnover. They are the ultimate and flexible tool to turn packaging into an attractive attention-getter that differentiates your manufactured goods. A short time-to-market and a targeted audience approach will add to your success, but requires short to medium runs. With Just-In-Time production and delivery you can evolve from printing labels to delivering a complete service that permits producers to reduce or eliminate inventories. It offers them the freedom to act and react more quickly to the changes in the market without economical impact. You see it’s no surprise that label technology has evolved significantly over the past decade, with Xeikon in the forefront of new developments.

Xeikon digital label printing solutions: profitable from the start

The main advantage of the Xeikon digital label printing solution is that its technology offers the tools to meet these changing needs, which include shorter run lengths, different format and data variability, last minute changes, new substrates, and tighter controls over the short manufacturing process. Since printing digitally means you can directly go from design to print, press setup times are reduced to zero, printing plates are no longer necessary and material waste can be severely decreased – all combine to dramatically cut the fixed cost for starting up a job compared to conventional printing. Printing labels digitally on a Xeikon solution makes you profitable with run lengths up to but not restricted to 2,000 m, which represent about 65% of label jobs worldwide.

X-800: all-in-one to serve your customer’s needs

Xeikon’s digital front-end X-800 is the ultimate tool in driving your label printing solution and can be seamlessly integrated with pre-press environments from leading label companies such as Artwork Systems. An easy JobTicket-based workflow provides maximum automation possibilities; the generated PDF-reports and the internal database contain all information for post-calculation and easy reprinting. Post-RIP step & repeat allows you to be more flexible in executing last minute corrections and changes. The X-800 Digital front-End can add meta data after RIPping such as sequential numbering and barcodes (1D, 2D). What is more, you can also perform on the fly post-RIP colour adjustment and screen selections.

Full rotary technology: for a full range of benefits

Xeikon digital label printing solutions boast full rotary printing technology that provides maximum throughput. Whether your labels are printed oversized for impact or small for discreteness, time and time again you can count on a perfect repeat and stable colour registration. Five vibrant colours (CMYK + white), which cover the majority of short and medium runs, meet the needs of most any label printer. The Xeikon solution is based on environmentally-friendly dry toner. It permits printing on conventional label material such as paper, PP and PET and makes for seamless integration in a conventional printing environment. That also means that you do not have to purchase more expensive pre-treated material or create additional material stock.

The finishing that makes the difference

The extra touch a product needs to stand out on the shelf or anywhere else can be its label’s unique finish. Finishing can be done in- or off-line. Xeikon’s label solution, which is completely servo-driven, holds the basic finishing operations: UV-varnish, high gloss or lamination, semi and full rotary die cutting with a maximum repeat length of 635 mm, slitting, matrix stripping and dual rewind. It is developed from the digital workflow and operated through a touch screen. What’s more, these functionalities can be extended with spot varnish, hot - and cold foil, a second die cut and/or varnish station. That is what we call “a finishing solution on demand”.

The bottom line: optimised productivity

Streamlining production by printing and finishing the labels in a single go provides a huge advantage by simplifying handling, reducing production complexity and time, and ensuring 100% data integrity in case of variable data. For those specific markets requiring the no-label-look, the high covering power of the white toner ensures satisfied customers. Ultimately, Xeikon digital label printing solutions have come to symbolize flexibility, allowing you to meet your customers’ needs.

Solution offering

WORKFLOW

• Open standard, can be integrated in different workflows

DFE*

• X-800

PRESS

• Xeikon 3300
• Xeikon 3000

FINISHING

• D-coat (in- or off-line)
• Rewinder

SUBSTRATE

• Conventional substrates without pre-coating or pre-treatment
• Paper
• White and clear PET label
• White and clear PP label

* Digital Front-End