Filip Weymans, vice president of marketing at Xeikon, spoke to DL&P about the bold move to take on the Jetrion presses
In an interesting turn of events, Jetrion has returned to Flint Group via a new partnership between EFI and Xeikon. By Neel Madsen.
EFI acquired Jetrion LLC, a subsidiary of Flint Group, in 2006 and has since then built up a substantial install base of its range of UV inkjet presses, which includes the 4950LXe LED with low migration inks.
Following the decision by EFI to focus its efforts on textiles and packaging printing – the markets that it sees as the major growth areas – the Jetrion product line will now have its home with Xeikon, which since 2015 has been part of Flint Group. This announcement comes shortly after Xeikon launched two Panther UV inkjet presses at Labelexpo in September.
Speaking to Filip Weymans, Xeikon’s vice president marketing, I asked him what the company could provide that had been missing from EFI’s offering. He said, ‘EFI are innovators in this field and have the biggest install base, but they were struggling to provide proper service and build the infrastructure that was needed. Xeikon is in a unique position with its well-established network around the globe.’
The Jetrion presses will be integrated into the existing product line from Xeikon, which now encompasses both dry toner technology and inkjet, to support the company’s stated mission of being a ‘technology agnostic’ supplier. Mr Weymans said that all existing Jetrion models will be commercialised alongside the new Panther presses, which he described as offering ‘more playroom’ in terms of future developments.
As reported, EFI is retaining the intellectual property rights over the Jetrion line and will continue to supply the ink. Mr Weymans explained that the existing customer base is well run in terms of ink supply ‘so it doesn’t make sense to change this, but you do need a dedicated support network and this is what Xeikon can offer.’
He continued, ‘This was an attractive opportunity to acquire the biggest install base of inkjet presses in the market and offer a more direct service with the response time that customers expect.
‘It is our strategy to become a much stronger player in the market and acquiring the third largest player in the label market gives us a tremendous boost in attaining our goal - not just a boost in terms of market share but also in building our inkjet expertise.
‘We now have the broadest portfolio in the industry, no one else has the same offering,’ he concluded.
