Xeikon, which is part of the Flint Group, used a live-streaming webinar to showcase its latest developments that would have been on show at Drupa in June. Due to the postponement of the expo, the company went online to announce developments in its pre-press, label and carton presses — and confirm the rumours that the company is set to launch a single pass, water based digital printer for the corrugated market.
Sebastien Stabel, Market Segment Manager at Xeikon, opened by saying that times are changing and a growth in e-commerce, desire for sustainability and a digitisation of industry means that digital print will continue to impact the corrugated converter over the next 12 to 24 months.
“Digital print is not about replacing traditional manufacturing methods, but how to help the sector evolve,” said Stabel. “We are delighted to announce the launch of IDERA, a modular single pass digital printing machine specifically for corrugated. It is a post-print machine, that runs water-based inks and can print on both coated and uncoated corrugated sheets. It is developed for running in the harsh environment of corrugated converting plants and it will handle sheets of 1.6m width x 2.8m long.”
He went on to confirm that the system will run with third-party pre-feeder and stacker to assure the highest output. The suggestion is that the printing machine will operate at 150m per min.
“The first machine will be installed at our demo centre in Lier in Belgium in September,” concluded Stabel. “We are now actively looking to engage with corrugated converters to prove the value of this machine, which is aimed at the mid to high level printed sector of the corrugated market. Although we are new to the market, we have excellent heritage due to our connection with Flint Group and its inks and plates, but also our own experience in digital print generally.”
More information available at this website.
