EKS-Label’s joint managing directors Angela Nawrot (left) and Nicole Fischer (right) with the new DSI press from SPGPrints
Self-adhesive label converter EKS-Label GmbH has invested in an eight colour DSI (Digital System Integration) UV-inkjet press from SPGPrints, to meet the growing demand for short runs of self-adhesive labels.
The custom-built 330 mm DSI press features the standard CMYK plus orange and violet, enabling reproduction of 90% of visible colours, a digital primer and opaque white. With top-speeds of 35m/min and including converting technology from AB Graphic, the press gives a productive single-pass solution. Esko Automation software provides simplified file management with minimal manual intervention, allowing several jobs to be scheduled at once, and significantly cutting prepress times.
Nicole Fischer, managing director, commented, ‘With its high specification, colour range, software and ink performance, SPGPrints’ DSI press enables us to maintain our flexibility while meeting the market’s changing service requirements productively and economically.’
The press will relieve the company’s existing letterpress and offset presses of production runs between 100 linear metres and 3000 linear metres, allowing the analogue printing operation to focus on long jobs.
A deciding factor in the investment was the DSI’s high specification. LED pinning between the colour stations ensures high-quality, consistent ink laydowns at fast printing speeds, and a chill drum maintains the stability of heat-sensitive film substrates.
This gives full scheduling flexibility as much of the company’s output comprises PP, PE and PET materials, mainly to customers in the food, cosmetics, chemical and pharmaceutical sectors. The digital primer, an optional feature, achieves the embossed effect without material waste, because it needs only to be applied to the image area and eliminates the need for pre-coated paper.
SPGPrints’ proprietary inks are specially formulated to ensure high performance on the DSI press, which features Xaar print-head technology. With high-gloss and BWS-7 light fastness, the inks offer resistance to sunlight, scratching and chemicals. The opaque white, with 93% optical density, provides an effective alternative for no-label look applications.
