All Aboard!

Labelexpo Americas 2008 should have left little doubt in attendees’ minds that digital printing has made major inroads in the package-printing market. This influx is not necessarily representative of other print processes losing market share. Rather, digital printing’s emergence can be attributed to changes in brand owner preferences for shorter runs and the recent surge in regional packaging.

Ken Stack, vice president/general manager of EFI Jetrion, stated in his presentation at Labelexpo that four factors are driving label printers toward digital printing: targeted marketing, localization, time to market, and the supply chain.

All four factors cause brand owners to migrate toward shorter print runs. But, why digital?

According to Jeff Wettersten, director, digital print solutions at Sun Chemical, during his Labelexpo presentation titled, “A Digital Overview,” order sizes are shrinking due to several factors. These include increasing order frequency, content differentiation, shorter runs, and demand for faster and faster turnaround. Traditionally, analog print technologies are designed for longer runs. This means the only way for customers to quickly restock their products is by holding large stocks of pre-printed material or printing uneconomic short re-runs of packaging at short notice.

Digital printing, however, takes advantage of the inefficiencies of traditional print processes by allowing shorter runs, making digital more affordable, according to Stack. It does this through labor, setup, and substrate waste savings.

Wettersten says it best that regardless of previous projections, digital is gaining ground. The technology has reached a threshold of acceptance, and offers a variety of solutions.

Labelexpo digital printing review

Various companies made announcements covering their first foray into the digital printing arena or new product announcements they hoped allowed their companies to become even more deeply rooted in digital printing. Inks, presses, print heads—Labelexpo had them all.

Package printers will instantly recognize names like Sun Chemical, Stork Prints, and Epson, and these industry stalwarts made significant announcements at Labelexpo Americas 2008 regarding their digital printing products.

• Epson America, Inc.: Epson’s seven-color digital solution is intended to make digital short run printing easier and more profitable for converters. The unit integrates -Epson’s MicroPiezo® inkjet technology to create output with smooth gradations and color quality at 720 dpi. Its 7-color (C, M, Y, K, Or, Gr, Mk) water-based ink set produces a wide range of colors. The press also supports off-the-shelf substrates (no precoating required); a wide variety of media stock including semi-gloss, gloss, film and matte, label stock up to 0.013˝ thick; and rolls from 4-13˝ wide. More information is available at www.epson.com/labelexpo2008 .

• Sun Chemical: Easily recognizable as a leader in ink supply to the printing industry, Sun Chemical showcased its development in digital label production with SolarJet™. A four-color web-fed press, SolarJet offers printers an economically viable solution for print runs of 10,000 labels or fewer with a printing speed of 80 fpm. More information is available at www.sunchemical.com .

• Stork Prints: With the prototype narrow-web DSI -(Digital System Integration) module, Stork Prints used Labelexpo to make its entry into the digital production printing market. The DSI module offers an open platform, making it easy to integrate into printing presses from many label printing press manufacturers. Speed tops out at 35 meters/min., and the single-pass inkjet printing module offers fast changeover times and handles all main paper and filmic label substrates. More information is available at www.storkprints.com .

• Digital Print, Inc. (DPi): DPi and its customers see an advantage to being able to add variable printing options to existing flexo web presses. DPi offers solutions such as thermal inkjet by HP, drop-on-demand by Dimatix, continuous inkjet by Kodak, and electron beam imaging by Delphax. DPi combines its proprietary print controllers and software with off-the-shelf printhead technologies for variable data printing solutions that can be integrated into flexo presses, sheetfed transports, collators, and offline machinery. More information is available at www.digitalprint.com .

• HP: HP used Labelexpo as the North American springboard for its HP Indigo WS6000. This digital press allows converters to address longer-run needs on jobs up to 13,000 linear feet; such jobs represent approximately 80 percent of the jobs produced by label converters, according to HP. The press will print at 98 fpm in 4-color mode, and is compatible with media ranging from thinner flexible packaging substrates to label and shrink sleeve media, to folding carton material. A 38.58˝ repeat length allows lower costs per label.

HP also debuted HP SmartStream Director, an integrated and open workflow solution developed through an OEM relationship with Press-sense, a business flow automation technology provider. HP SmartStream Director offers an integrated production framework for managing jobs—from online submission through printing and fulfillment—based on Press-sense’s iWay version 5.0. More information is available at www.hp.com/go/labels .

• Xeikon: The Xeikon 3300 offers true 1200-dpi at four bits per spot. Suitable for short to medium runs, this digital press’s top speed is 63 fpm. The unit can print the four process colors plus a range of standard or custom spot colors for accurate reproduction of the brand image. It can also apply special security toner for anti-counterfeiting application. The Xeikon 3000, an entry-level press introduced at Labelexpo, is identical to the 3300 but with a top speed of 31.5 fpm. More information is available at www.xeikon.com .

• EFI Jetrion: The Jetrion 4000 UV inkjet system offers label converters a full color, narrow-web alternative to toner-based printers for label runs of up to 50,000. With speeds of up to 100 fpm at more than 1,000 dpi with grayscale technology, the device delivers full-color label printing up to 5.5˝ wide. Features include pre-diecut label printing functionality, variable data printing (VDP) enhancements, a new ink set, and a new software suite. The Jetrion 4000 reportedly is the only digital label printing press whose hardware, software, and UV ink are all designed and made by the same company. More information is available at www.efi.com .

• Nilpeter: Labelexpo was the North American debut of Nilpeter’s CASLON full-color inkjet and flexo printing platform. It combines drop-on-demand inkjet printing with one or more flexo printing/coating units and rotary diecutting. The front end, developed by FFEI, allows users to print variable data on the fly or print single copies of full color labels on practically any material to a maximum resolution of 720 x 360 dpi. CASLON offers eight grayscale levels, and achieves a top speed of 82 fpm at 360 x 360 dpi resolution and eight gray scales. More information is available at www.nilpeter.com .

• Degrava Systems: Degrava Systems unveiled a prototype of its DP 9500 digital color press. The press will offer a printing speed of 32 fpm for color and 36 fpm for black and white; added material flexibility with a total media width of 12˝; and lower fusing temperature which will allow the machine to be used with an increased number of materials. The DP 9500 will feature LED technology from OKI Printing solutions and powered by Degrava’s Color Pro color management system. More information is available at www.degrava.com .

The czar of print heads?

Xaar inkjet printheads could be seen all over the show floor. Xaar’s 1001 print head could be found on the Jetrion 4000, Nilpeter/FFEI CASLON, and Stork DSI. Sun Chemical employed the Xaar 760 printhead.

The Xaar 1001 print head is a variable drop (grayscale) printhead featuring the company’s Hybrid Side-Shooter™ platform with TF Technology™. It also incorporates XaarDOT™ capability, which allows users to select drop size or resolution depending on the application, image quality, and substrate.

The Xaar 760 printheads provide a visual resolution of 900 x 900 dpi. It can operate in grayscale or binary mode with a diverse range of inks. It delivers a choice of binary or dynamic variable drop sizes (again via XaarDOT) ranging from 8–40 pl. Each 760 nozzle is controlled independently to create a printed result with smooth gradation and tonal range. More information is available at www.xaar.com .

Gaining momentum

The preceding is a sampling of what is out there to help you offer digital capabilities to your customers. Be vigilant about digital printing. Speed of adoption is increasing, particularly as the speeds available for printing digitally improve, moving applications for digital printing into the medium-run sphere. The economies of scale for operating these types of presses are such that the investment in digital technology will pay you back in terms of reduced waste and increased orders. Digital suppliers are continuing to improve their wares. As they do, these products will become all the more pervasive. The digital train won’t stop at medium runs. Waiting for the longer runs means you’ll be playing catch-up. pP