As one of the original digital pioneers the Xeikon family of digital printing presses has since evolved to be amongst the top performers in one of the fastest growing industries around today
Punch Graphix took control of Xeikon a number of years ago and invested a great deal of time and money in the product to develop one of the most advanced technologies around.The Xeikon technology since its early days had relationships with Agfa-Gevaert and Barco Graphics both from Belgium, and these relationships have helped Xeikon develop a very strong focus on colour management, and create a powerful digital front end. Ewan Howieson, sales engineer at Australian supplier Absolute says, “This has helped the Xeikon become the most productive and quality focused digital press currently available.”.
Xeikon’s technology announcements in the last 12 months have included higher speed, higher imaging addressability, and increased productivity. The higher addressability, along with new toner technology for the Xeikon 8000, brings the latest technology platform to new levels of quality. Xeikon’s 2008 technology build on a strong history of platform developments, new toner formulations, and a dedication to productivity and ecological friendliness.
Howieson says the Xeikon 8000 is still the most productive press on the market at 230 pages per minute and a duty cycle of up to 8.5 million full colour pages per month. It has the largest print format for a production press with a maximum imaging width of 504mm and virtually unlimited length due to the unrivalled web printing process. Howieson says, “This combined with the 1200dpi imaging heads and screen ruling of 240lpi makes the Xeikon press still the most productive machine with the highest print quality.”
Label Press
The Xeikon 3300 is new for the label industry, it began shipping to customers in October last year and has already won favour with the label industry. The Xeikon 3300 is a five colour press with CMYK and a fifth colour unit, which is used for either white, clear or special colour. The 3300 is a full rotary printing process which makes it also the most productive press in its segment. The web fed machine using full rotary printing drums means the press does not slow down due to frame size or extra colour, and at 19.2 meters a minute or a duty cycle of up to 700,000 meters a month make the Xeikon 3300 a very capable machine for digital label production. Howieson says, “We invite all our label customers to log onto www.dothebenchmark.com and put the new 3300 label press to the test. This is a campaign where customers can send files via the web to a press in Belgium, these files will then be printed and returned as a test of quality.”
Field upgradeable
Howieson says, “The standout features for Xeikon are its ability to print on different substrates without any pre coating, definitely the image format being the largest image size at 504mm with unlimited length for a production press, and highest image quality due mainly to the 1200dpi image heads, but also the screen ruling of 240lpi, allow for very smooth transitions. It is worth noting that Xeikon presses are upgradeable in the field for both speed and quality making the possibility of entry level through to high volume a reality and with the many environmental awards and FDA certifications, make the Xeikon a true stand-out performer.”
Absolute
Absolute has been appointed as the exclusive distributor for Xeikon in Australia and New Zealand. Grish Rewal, managing director of Absolute believes the Xeikon family of digital printing presses is the perfect fit for his solutions based company.
Rewal is intent on building a portfolio of complete solutions that will enable Absolute’s customers to grow their business. He says, “We don’t want our customers buying boxes that will sit in corners being unproductive due to a lack of application, we want our clients to invest in solutions that will develop and strengthen existing business and allow them the opportunity to grow with market demand”.
Absolute specialises in providing solutions to the digital printing industry, transactional/transpromo and the growing demand for the digital label industries. These solutions can include specific applications, software solutions, IT services and developing niche markets.
