The Heidelberg Linoprint L press will be on the Gallus stand
There is no doubt that digital printing will be making an even bigger impact at this year’s Labelexpo in Brussels. Inkjet technology particularly is gaining momentum with several new presses being launched. The show will also feature a special Inkjet Trail which aims to demonstrate its strength to visitors. By Neel Madsen.
One of the new show features at this year’s Labelexpo is the Inkjet Trail, which takes visitors on a dedicated route through three halls to visit supplier stands. Six of the industry’s major inkjet press manufacturers have joined together to take part in this workshop, which is also supported by substrate suppliers UPM Raflatac, FLEXcon and Herma as well as Esko, which will be supplying the pre-press.
Each day of the show will see different types of label printing challenges, starting with food labels on the first day of the show, then industrial labels and labels for the pharmaceutical market the following days.
Follow the trail
Taking part in the official trail are Domino Printing Sciences, Durst Phototechnik, EFI Jetrion, Epson Europe, Heidelberg Linoprint and Stork Prints, and they will produce a selection of food, pharmaceutical and industrial labels using the same sets of origination, on the same range of substrates. Origination, colour and die-cutter files for the different jobs will be prepared by Esko, while UPM Raflatac, FLEXcon and Herma will provide common paper, film and foil substrates for the range of printed labels being produced. For comparison with toner technologies, Xeikon will be producing the same label designs on its stand.
Lisa Milburn, managing director of the Labelexpo Global Series, said, ‘The Inkjet Trail is an exciting addition to Labelexpo Europe 2013. It will give show visitors a valuable opportunity to contrast the various presses being demonstrated and compare each one’s final results for print quality, ink migration, etc. As with previous show features the live demonstrations are expected to be busy and very informative.’
Esko’s Jeff Stoffels commented, ‘Esko is recognised as the leader in packaging and labels design and pre-press solutions. In that respect, our software tools and workflows are instrumental in label printing in every printing process, not least digital printing. Esko has built a strong partnership with many digital label press vendors and as such is perfectly positioned to supply artwork files for the InkJet Trail.’
Taking part
Domino Printing Sciences (stand 9F70) will be producing labels on the latest generation N-Series full colour digital inkjet label press which features a new high opacity white ink. This is the worldwide launch of the N610i press, which offers production speeds of up to 75 m/min with a 600 dpi native resolution.
Philip Easton, director of digital printing solutions business, said, ‘With the latest digital inkjet technology offering so much potential for label production in terms of productivity, flexibility and quality output, we want to ensure as many visitors as possible see first hand the capabilities of digital inkjet and the huge business opportunities it offers. The Inkjet Trail allows visitors to view and compare the leading inkjet technologies on the market today, and gives label printers and converters the opportunity to view how Domino’s digitalprinting technology can deliver the productivity of flexo.’
Philip Easton, director of digital printing solutions business at Domino
The trail also goes via Gallus on stand 5B50. The Swiss press manufacturer has been granted exclusive rights for the distribution into the label printer market of the Heidelberg Linoprint L press. A new digital front end has been developed specifically by Heidelberg for this digital printing system. The Prinect Digital Print Manager Label draws on the established Prinect workflow technology, which has been in use in offset printing for over 10 years, and supports the use of Heidelberg colour management. The new front end has increased performance when ripping with a wide range of screen types and when processing variable data.
Martin Leonhard, business development digital at Gallus, said, ‘Gallus with the Heidelberg Linoprint L is the youngest player in the UV inkjet league. Therefore it will be most beneficial to create awareness and to compare our print quality, with already well known teams. No compromise on quality will be the key to switch to the most suitable printing technology for efficient short run production.’
Epson (stand 9H50) will be printing the test labels on its SurePress L-4033AW, a seven colour inkjet digital label press with white ink which uses Epson Micro Piezo printheads.
‘The inkjet trail is a great initiative as it allows visitors to compare the capabilities of different digital label presses printing a variety of different label types,’ said Marc Tinkler, senior business development manager, commercial and industrial printing Epson Europe. ‘We are printing the full selection of food, pharma and industrial labels using a variety of substrates on the SurePress L-4033AW press to demonstrate its versatility and superb quality for short runs of premium quality labels. This seven colour digital label press, with CMYK, green, orange and white ink delivers accurate reproduction of spot and specialty colours that are important to brands and has been designed from the ground up to be easy to use and totally reliable in production.’
Also taking part is the Tau 330 from Durst (stand 9H57), a press that has seen great success with over 15 installations in the first half of 2013. With an hourly production capacity of 950 square metres, its standard colour configuration CMYK can be completed with optional white, and two optional process colours, orange and violet.
Durst Tau 330
The company said that it is on the ‘Inkjet Trail’ not just for this show, but for the long haul, and that it has the means and capacity to continue to surprise the market as well as a desire to win through quality products and service.
EFI (stand 9H55) will be taking part with its Jetrion 4900M press, showing its inline printing and converting capabilities. The press base can be customised to either 210 mm or 330 mm printing width and was first launched at Labelexpo Americas in 2012. Powered by the company’s Fiery XF front end, its modular nature includes a number of converting options such as laser die-cutting.
EFI Jetrion 4900M
Stork Prints DSI UV inkjet press is another contender on the trail (stand 6H40) which is modular and offers inline finishing. The DSI comes with four printheads as standard, but another six can be added to enable options like white, primer and an extended colour gamut using orange and violet. Printing width ranges from 135 mm to 530 mm and speed is up to 700 square metres per hour.
Stork DSI UV
Sponsoring
Inkjet printhead manufacturer Xaar is one of the Trail’s sponsors. Visitors can see its Xaar 1001 printhead in action on the latest presses demonstrated by its OEM partners, not just on the trail, but throughout the show. These include ALS Engineering, Durst, EFI Jetrion, FFEI, INX International and Stork Prints.
‘We are proud to be sponsoring the Inkjet Trail which unites many of the leading digital label press manufacturers in a unique showcase,’ said Mark Alexander, director of marketing at Xaar. ‘Converters and brands are starting to take advantage of the considerable production and marketing benefits that digital inkjet can bring which is, in turn, stimulating the growing investment in digital label presses around the world.
Mark Alexander, director of marketing at Xaar
‘Key to this sector is the ability to print reliably and economically short run, quality, customised labels using a variety of fluids, including high opacity white ink and varnishes. The Xaar 1001 inkjet printhead with TF Technology and Hybrid Side Shooter architecture is designed to meet all these requirements. Our printhead is renowned for its capabilities and flexibility, which is why it has become the label industry’s printhead of choice.’
Self-adhesive material specialist Herma is another sponsor keen to take part in the growing market of inkjet. Dr Thomas Baumgärtner, managing director, commented, ‘Digital printing technologies are playing an increasingly important role in labelling. A lot of progress is currently being made in the inkjet segment in particular. We intend to help visitors gain a better overview of the state of the art and the possibilities afforded by inkjet technology. As a leading, we are also keen to show that even Herma’s standard products, which are used with other digital and conventional printing techniques as well, deliver very good printed images.’
