First Xeikon Cheetah Installed at Mercian Labels
EEDE, THE NETHERLANDS—January 22, 2015—Mercian Labels in Burntwood, Staffordshire, England is home to the first installation of Xeikon's new Cheetah digital label press. It will run alongside an existing Xeikon 3000 Series digital press; as well as other hotfoiling, flexo and inkjet technologies, helping Mercian provide robust label manufacturing services.
According to Dr. Adrian Steele, managing director of Mercian Labels, the company expects to gain market share from traditionally flexo territory as digital becomes more competitive on longer runs. He notes that customers increasingly want to deal with one supplier for their custom packaging requirements, and not be forced to use multiple suppliers that only serve a narrow profile of work because they refuse to adopt the best of both digital and analog worlds, and in different market segments such as cartons and labels. "We have already taken a small but significant step into digitally printed cartons, a move that has really connected with our customer base,” Steele says.
"We will look closely at how digital can grasp even more jobs that used to be printed in flexo, thanks to the faster running speed and lower consumables cost," says Steele. "With increased capacity, the cost point also goes down. And with a genuinely different cost base compared to our competitors, we can improve competitiveness.”
