Down, but certainly not out

15 October 2008



Labelexpo Americas might have seen a drop in visitor numbers, but it did not lack in product innovations. Sonali Advani reports


The Economist recently reported: “The doughty American shopper is being pummelled by four things: the housing bust, the credit crunch, higher fuel and food costs and, most recently, a weakening labour market.” It is true that the phrase ‘credit crunch’ has now become a part of everyday language and this was evident at the recently concluded Labelexpo Americas 2008.

Not surprisingly, the overall visitor numbers at the show were down to about 12,000, a drop of about 10 per cent from the 2006 event. This could be attributed partly to the fact that the show ran for a day less than the 2006 edition, but it was largely due to the slowdown in the American economy.

Having said that, there wasn’t a dearth of exhibitors or interesting product launches at the show. More than 400 national and international suppliers brought their latest developments in technology and materials to demonstrate to the North American market.

Upbeat sales

The economic slowdown didn’t seem to affect Nilpeter as it rang many bells to announce machine sales during the show. Sales director Jakob Landberg said: “Despite the current financial problems, we experienced a positive atmosphere and had an extremely successful show with orders firmed up for 26 machines across all lines”.

Nilpeter introduced the FG-Line of flexo combination press, and made the North American debut for Caslon, a full-colour inkjet and flexo printing platform. It also showcased new print units for the FB-3300 UV flexo labels and packaging press.

The new FG-Line is a mid-range press positioned between the FA-Line and the high performance FB-Line. Each of the print units incorporates dual servodrives and lightweight sleeve plate technology. The maximum web width is 13.75 in.

“FG-line is equipped with components needed to run filmic materials. It has automatic registration, UV curing, corona treater, web cleaner, and chill rolls,”?says Andrew Colletta, president and ceo, Nilpeter. The company will start shipping the press in Q1 of 2009.

The Caslon platform combines drop-on-demand inkjet printing with one or more flexo printing/coating units and rotary die cutting. It uses Xaar’s 1001 drop-on-demand printheads for printing UV curable CMYK ink sets for labels and packaging. The front end, developed by FFEI, allows users to print variable data, or single copies of full colour labels on any material to a maximum resolution of 720 x 360 dpi.

An 8-colour FB-3300 in the FB-Line series of modular UV flexo presses was also demonstrated at the show.

Another company that reported ‘record sales at the show’ was Aquaflex. It demonstrated ‘environmentally friendly’ package printing on its FPC Servo and the ELS presses that can print high quality process colour on thin film.

New at the show was the ELS-D Series that featured a gearless dual-servo printhead with sleeved print cylinder that enables infinite repeats. The new “sleeved” printhead is available in 10, 13 and 16 in web widths for the prime label, flexible packaging, and narrow web markets.

Mac Rosenbaum, vice president Aquaflex/F L Smithe, said: “We have never sold this number of presses at a single show in the history of the company. A number of sales were to international printers. The new ELS-D Series printhead performed perfectly and people were impressed with our ability to hold tight registration at high speeds.”

Digital printing

Following on the heels of drupa, Labelexpo Americas was quite a ‘digital printing’ show. A host of new digital printing concepts were introduced to the North American market.

For example, Epson demonstrated the prototype of its short run digital label press that is being offered with pre and postpress options. The new press capitalises on Epson’s MicroPiezo inkjet technology to create an output at 720 dpi. The 7-colour press can print on a wide variety of media stock including semi-gloss, gloss, film and matte labelstock up to 0.32 mm in thickness, and rolls from 4 to 13 in wide. “The Epson digital label press is a game-changer for short-run label printers,” says Anna Jen, director of new business development, Epson America.

Another digital press that made quite an impression was the Xeikon 3300. First unveiled at this year’s drupa, the new digital colour label press offers 1,200 dpi at 4 bits per spot. With a top speed of 19.2 m/min, it is said to be the fastest 5-colour digital label press on the market, particularly suited for short to medium print runs and just-in-time jobs.

The Xeikon 3300 is standard equipped with five colour stations – four for the standard process colours while the fifth is for use of spot colours as well as opaque white and special security toner. The press runs on Xeikon FA toner and is FDA-approved for use in certain food contact applications. It can print on scalable widths and a wide range of substrates from self-adhesive films, including co-extruded film, to unsupported film, paper, transparent and opaque films, and paperboard with weights ranging from 40 to 350 gm2. The dry toner electrophotography imaging process enables the use of conventional substrates without coating or pre-treatment. The Xeikon 3300 comes with the latest generation of the company’s X-800 digital front-end, which enables the implementation of fully automated workflows.

Also making its North American debut was the HP Indigo WS6000 Digital Press aimed at high volume customers (over 300,000 linear metre per shift) and medium runs up to around 4,000 linear metre (13,000 linear feet). The press can print up to seven colours and includes “a new improved white”. At 4-colour, the press prints at 30 m/min. It can print on a broad range of media from 12 to 450 micron including thinner flexible packaging substrates and folding carton, as well as label and shrink sleeve media. The new digital press will be available worldwide in early 2009.

Offset printing

Kammann featured a new modular flat screen head, web printing module, designed with an open architecture that is said to allow integration with any narrow web offset printing machine. The new module supports hotmelt, UV, or standard screen inks and incorporates a standard flat screen mesh made of polyester with an aluminium frame. It can save up to 80 per cent of screen costs compared to rotary screen systems, the company claims.

Labelexpo Americas also saw the official launch in North America of Codimag’s Viva 420 Aniflo – a keyless anilox offset press with four cylinders designed to get the ink from the chamber down to the web. An anilox roller has been used to deliver a constant ink layer, as opposed to an ink fountain. The ink is transferred to a form roller and then onto the imaged area of the plate. As this is offset technology, the ink is transferred to the web from the blanket. In order to be able to control ink density, the Aniflo unit is temperature controlled with water circulation into the anilox mandrel and with an IR lamp on the blanket cylinder. The Aniflo technology is also said to eliminate the risk of ghosting.

Prepress

In the prepress segment, Flint Group Flexographic Products unveiled two products. The new FAB printing plate uses a different polymer technology to the rest of the nyloflex range.

“With a durometer of approximately 62 Shore A and resolution exceeding 200 lpi screen count, the high ink compatibility and improved flexibility of nyloflex FAB provides a much needed step forward in capability for the label market,” explains Dan Rosen, sales director for Flint Group. “We foresee the benefits of this product ranging well beyond label printing, into the broader flexo packaging market as the plate performs well with other ink systems.”

The company also showcased its rotec Hybrid Sleeve, which has a new fibreglass construction, to allow shortened lead times for orders.

Xanté presented its latest innovations in automated prepress workflow and digital imaging systems for the professional flexo label market, including the Symphony Flexo Workflow and Ilumina 502 digital colour press. The press features a new 500 ft roll feeder and can handle a variety of media including ultra heavy card stock up to 502 gm2. It prints on 12.9 x 47.24 in sheets and is said to be ideal for short run, full colour, on-demand applications from printing on labelstock to producing speciality packaging, product tags, and CD sleeves.

For the first time in North America, Kodak unveiled the new hybrid option for its Trendsetter NX imager, which allows imaging of either Kodak Flexcel NX digital flexographic plates or traditional offset plates.

In the area of workflow, the company demonstrated its Prinergy Powerpack System that includes features such as a new PDF File Editor. This allows users to employ the graphic editing capabilities of Adobe Illustrator CS3 and Adobe Photoshop CS3 software to modify their Adobe PDF files. Packaging Layout Automation is another new feature within the system. It allows for packaging production layouts to be created dynamically using a combination of the Rules Based Automation technology and the Kodak Pandora Step-and-Repeat software imposition engine, thereby shortening production time.

Three new Kodak Approval Digital Donors were also introduced in Chicago. These are said to significantly extend the colour gamut of the system.

Addressing the need for better shock absorption for mounting tapes, Rogers Corp exhibited its R/bak SA 3000 cushion mounting material for flexographic printing applications. The R/bak SA 3000 series includes three levels of compressibility to accommodate the full range of flexo printing applications – from process work to combination jobs, as well as line and solid work. The open cell polyurethane mounting tapes are claimed to provide better cushioning needed to absorb shock than the competition, “which means fewer press adjustments, higher productivity and lower overall cost for your printing operations”.

Substrates

Aiming to prevent counterfeiting, 3M introduced Tamper-Evident Label Materials - 76901 and 76903 - in new permanent and non-permanent markings. The 76901 uses a permanent adhesive that leaves behind a permanent purple stop image if it is removed. The 76903 uses a non-permanent adhesives that leaves the substrate clean while fracturing the stop image in the removed label. Once removed, either label material exhibits the “stop” image, which prevents re-application of the label in its
original state. Both help prevent fraud, counterfeiting and theft, and help alert users to unwanted access, opening or tampering, the company states.

A new label substrate suitable for ‘no-label’ look on coloured or clear bottles was launched by Yupo. The transparent label substrate, YupoClear IML, is available in grades for both offset and flexo printing. It is supplied in rolls and sheets, and can be customised to required sizes.

Inspection

AVT introduced a new barcode and variable data inspection and verification system integrated into its recently launched PrintVision/Helios II platform. The new system enables label printers to comply with 1D and 2D variable barcodes, as well as e-Pedigree requirements. AVT?says it can detect and alert in-line any duplications, missing codes, barcode quality and readability, or any other code validity problem.

Finishing

Spartanics launched what is claimed to be the world’s first continuous sheet-fed laser cutter. The Finecut Sheet Fed Laser Cutting Machine picks up sheets and feeds them continuously to the proper position under the laser beam with no stopping or starting delays between sheets.

Splicing

Martin Automatic showed a variety of automated splicing equipment to provide non-stop production. Its latest offering is the MLS compact lap splicer for non-stop unwinding at full press speed. “Its compact design makes it ideal as a mid-press splicer mounted either in-line above printing units or at right angles,” says the company. The MLS splicer is suited for laminating and foiling applications.

Inks and coatings

New from Sun Chemical were AquaPro and Platinum White for the narrow web market. AquaPro, a water based ink technology, is said to offer “superior print densities, user friendly press stability, excellent performance on paper and film substrates, enhanced thermal resistance, and easy clean-up”.

The company’s Platinum White is said to enable rotary screen-like opacities to be achieved with a single flexo pass at flexo web speeds. The company also showcased a four-colour web-fed press, SolarJet, which is suitable for print runs of up to 10,000 labels or fewer. It prints at speeds 80 ft/min.

Hanita Coatings, a supplier of top coated filmic face materials to the labelstock industry, unveiled a range of brand-ID films ‘watermarked’ with an anti-counterfeit feature. These identity enhancing films are manufactured using a proprietary process to imprint the coatings with a customised logo or message, providing additional security identification to the label. The watermarked logo can either be overt or discrete, on clear, white, matte and metalised 50 micron polyester film, and is printable by conventional and thermal transfer print processes.

Industry awards

In the Label Industry Global Awards, ExxonMobil Chemical won the Continuous Innovation Award, while Punch Graphix/Xeikon bagged the prize for New Innovation.

The judges said about Xeikon: “Since becoming part of Punch Graphix, Xeikon has worked hard to research, understand and innovate a new generation of digital technology that meets the requirements of a fast changing label industry for higher quality, faster speeds, shorter runs and new applications using conventional labelstocks – one of the true trendsetters in the digital printing area.”

The Converter Award For Sustainability/Environmental Responsibility was awarded to the Metro Label Group. This year’s winner of the prestigious R Stanton Avery Lifetime Achievement Award was Neil McDonough, president of Flexcon.


The Caslon combines drop-on-demand inkjet printing with flexo printing units Nilpeter Xiekon’s new digital colour label press Xeikon 3300 Short run digital label press from Epson Epson HP Indigo WS6000 can print up to seven colours HP Codimag’s Viva 420 Aniflo, a keyless anilox offset press, made its North American debut Codimag Spartanics launched a finecut sheet fed laser cutting machine Spartanics

External weblinks
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3M
Aquaflex
AVT
Codimag
Epson
Flexcon
Hanita Coatings
HP
Kammann
Kodak
Labelexpo Americas
Martin Automatic
Nilpeter
Rogers Corporation
Spartanics
Sun Chemical
Xante
Xeikon
Yupo

Spartanics Spartanics
Nilpeter Nilpeter
Epson Epson
Codimag Codimag
HP HP
Xeikon 3300 Xeikon 3300


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