Xeikon to Roll Out Customer-Driven Digital Printing, CTP Innovations at drupa 2012

LISBON, PORTUGAL—March 7, 2012—Visitors to the Xeikon booth at drupa 2012 will be taken on a journey of innovation and will be offered an opportunity to get a new perspective on the future. Xeikon will demonstrate the company’s latest range of customer-driven innovations that deliver best-in-class image quality, offer new levels of flexibility and deliver significant improvements in shop floor productivity.

Visitors will have the opportunity to experience live demonstrations of the company’s new 8000 series of digital presses, driven by Xeikon’s lastest workflow that utilizes a new user interface, MyPress. They will also experience the new range of application-focused Suites for the label and packaging markets.

In addition, they will see its new line-up of reliable, high-quality Imagers for flexographic and letterpress markets. Users of conventional presses can see the next generation of basysPrint’s four-up, eight-up and VLF UV-Setters for the digital exposure of UV-sensitive offset printing plates.

Furthermore, Xeikon will launch a new, breakthrough printing technology for the document printing market, called Quantum, that avoids today’s compromise between quality and speed.

Innovation is at the heart of Xeikon’s success and intimacy with its customers around the globe is its driving force. At drupa 2012, visitors will experience these innovations with a full array of new product introductions. These include:

The new Xeikon 8000 Series for the document printing market enabling all users—from smaller short-run print shops to large print service providers—to take advantage of the company’s top-end technology that delivers best-in-class quality, flexibility in speed and substrate range, while reducing printing costs.

Three application-specific Suites for the label & packaging markets (self-adhesive labels, heat transfer labels and folding carton packaging) with the Xeikon 3000 Series of digital label presses at the core, integrated with application-specific toners, workflow software, substrate and equipment components.

Quantum offers the best in speed and cost without compromising print quality

“Xeikon is acknowledged in the marketplace as an innovator of digital solutions for document printing as well as labels & packaging applications,” says Michael Ring, VP of World Wide Marketing. “We were the first to bring production digital color printing to market, the first to offer high resolution imaging (1,200 dpi), the first to offer 50 cm (19.7 inch) web width (B2 format) and the first to offer the benefits of full rotary technology. The driving force behind all this innovation is the depth of our customer relationships—and the fact that we are an open and approachable company at all the levels of our organization.”

Ring continued, “Working closely together with our customers on a daily basis enables us to truly understand the challenges they are facing, and to focus on innovations that will help grow their business. At Xeikon, we’re continuously taking these insights back into the lab and introducing solutions to help our customers. What visitors will see at Xeikon’s drupa booth is the latest in this series of innovations.”

What’s on show at drupa 2012?
Taking center stage will be two models of the new Xeikon 8000 Series of digital presses, which have been developed to meet the specific needs of the document printing market. The new series makes Xeikon’s highest image quality, highest productivity and lowest running costs available across its entire duplex product line.

Live print-runs of DM pieces
The Xeikon 8800 will run live print-runs of two high-end direct marketing pieces. The first is called Modo, which was a part of a retail marketing campaign simulation for a customer loyalty program of the well-known fashion retailer. The new 8000 Series offers the print quality and format flexibility to truly make this application piece stand out.

The second application is called Avancé, a personalized, high quality full-color print application for private banking. Live demonstrations of this application will clearly show the improved productivity and wide automation possibilities of the new 8000 series.

The Xeikon 8800 will be set up in a roll-to-roll configuration with a Hunkeler inline perforation module DP6. Xeikon’s IPDS workflow solution, which can be integrated with the new 8000 Series, has been designed to help operators manage their production while they develop transactional and personalized campaigns in full color. The finishing of the printed rolls will be carried out by Xeikon’s Aura partners, Hunkeler and Horizon, on their respective booths.

The Xeikon 8500, the entry-level model within the Xeikon 8000 Series, will offer visitors a glimpse of the possibilities with integrated communications. Visitors will be led through an example of experience marketing where Xeikon will print a customized poster for each visitor. This poster will be a part of a full cross-media campaign moderated and monitored by Xeikon’s Aura partner, Inventive Designers.

Application-specific Suites
Over the recent years, Xeikon has developed a number of label production solutions for specific market segments including the SA Label Suite for the self-adhesive market and the Heat Transfer Label Suite for the heat transfer market. These Label Suites comprise print engines, substrates, workflow, toners and finishing elements. At the show Xeikon will introduce its third dedicated Suite, the Folding Carton Suite, developed specifically to meet the needs of the folding carton market.

Live demonstrations of the Self-Adhesive label and Folding Carton Suites
The SA label Suite will be demonstrated on the booth using a five-color Xeikon 3300 with an inline DCoat 330 finishing unit. In addition to experiencing Xeikon’s 1200 dpi image quality, visitors will have the opportunity to see how the 'one-pass' opaque white toner can create the much desired 'no-label or label-less look' on transparent films. The full rotary technology incorporated in the Xeikon 3300, combined with its variable repeat length will also be at work. As a result, the labels will be printed at maximum speed, regardless of the size of the labels or the number of colors used. The full power of integrating print and finishing to deliver higher productivity—and improved profitability—will also be demonstrated.

The Folding Carton Suite will be demonstrated using a Xeikon 3500 in a roll-to-sheet configuration with web finishing module (WFM) and cutter, with sheets collected in a stacker. A variety of folding carton applications for different markets (including pharmaceutical and cosmetic) will be demonstrated at the show.

ThermoFlexX unveiled
Also unveiled at the show for the very first time will be ThermoFlexX, Xeikon’s new product line of Imagers for digital imaging of flexographic and letterpress printing plates. With the launch of ThermoFlexX, Xeikon now offers its customers solutions for conventional flexo printing as well as digital printing (through the Xeikon 3000 Series of label & packaging presses), further reinforcing the company’s commitment to the label and packaging markets.

Live demonstrations of two products of the ThermoFlexX range will be conducted at the Xeikon booth at drupa.

Next generation of basysPrint UV-Setters introduced
basysPrint will introduce its next generation of four-up and eight-up CtP UV platesetters for the digital exposure of UV-sensitive offset printing plates. Incorporating the latest state-of-the art optics, the new basysPrint UV-Setter Series 460x and Series 860x offer customers the choice of exposure resolutions of 1500dpi or 2400dpi.

The unique flatbed design enables digital imaging of a wide variety of plate sizes - from formats as small as 200mm x 200mm (7.8 x 7.8˝) up to a maximum of 680mm x 830mm (26 x 32˝) with the 460x, and 940mm x 1150mm (27 x 45˝) with the 860x. The unique dual plate loading option also offers the flexibility of loading and imaging two plates at the same time. This allows the systems to image up to 120 plates per hour (with a plate size of 470 x 650 mm) improving productivity significantly.

Also being shown is the new family of VLF Computer-to-Plate (CtP) UV platesetters for the digital exposure of UV-sensitive offset printing plates, Comprising three models, Manual (M), Semi-Automatic (SA) and Automatic (MCA), the new VLF Series is capable of exposing plates of up to 1485mm x 2100mm in size. Each model is equipped with the new flEXpo (Flexible Exposure) option, a unique method of exposing plates in a much more efficient way. Incorporating state-of-the-art optical modules, the new VLF family also delivers unsurpassed exposure quality with resolutions of up to 2400dpi.

About Xeikon
Xeikon NV. (XEI: AEX) is an innovator in digital printing technology. The company designs, develops and delivers web-fed digital color presses for labels and packaging applications, document printing, as well as commercial printing. These presses utilize LED-array-based dry toner electrophotography, open workflow software and application-specific toners.

Source: Xeikon.