Page 17 - Print 21 Sep-Oct 2019

Labels
A press for all seasons
The Xeikon press, launched in the dawn of digital printing at the 1993 Ipex that saw Benny Landa debut the Indigo, has long been recognised as ‘the other’ digital press. In the intervening years the two brands have enjoyed very different destinies, but with a new stable ownership in Flint Group, the Belgium-based Xeikon is expanding its reach and addressing a greater array of printers with a compelling message. Patrick Howard speaks with Trevor Crowley.
given a “work around” allowing them to continue with production until one of the factory-trained service staff gets on site and addresses the root cause to get the press back
to full production, “I can think of only one or two examples where a customer has lost a shift due to a significant problem since we have been in operation,” said Crowley.
The loyalty of Xeikon customers can be seen in the number that have installed more than one engine; across the ANZ business “we have three accounts that have multiple presses, be they toner, inkjet or, in one case, both”.
What about inkjet?
Crowley is happy to promote Xeikon toner technology as the finest image quality, but he’s also pleased with the arrival of the Panther inkjet press. With the first in the country installed at a label printing company in NSW (that shall remain nameless) it has opened up a new arena in which the company can compete.
When Xeikon first developed its toner technology, few could have foreseen the astonishing development of inkjet or the strides made in
terms of quality and accuracy. Its increasing popularity demanded a response from Flint, which developed its PX3000 (aka Panther) machine powered by Kyocera inkjet heads to image proprietary UV ink. It also expanded its reach into the label sector by picking up the Jetrion inkjet from EFI, with five Jetrion platforms across ANZ.
Crowley promotes the two technologies as addressing different markets; the Xeikon toner machine aims for the widest gamut of high quality labels and packaging, while the Panther is for industrial or durable labels that have to endure tougher treatment and aggressive conditions.
He sees the presses as complementary, and confidently predicts they will sit side by side in print companies in the future.
There is currently an atmosphere of renaissance about Xeikon, one
of the largest exhibitors at this year’s Labelexpo in Brussels. Crowley was there to meet local customers, bringing him with sound expectations of expanding the Xeikon circle and influence in the local ANZ market.
It has been a while coming, but Xeikon’s time in the sun seems to have arrived. 21
The utility of the Xeikon press and its webfed, dry toner-based technology is such that it allows operators to produce
the widest range of industrial and commercial printing, according to its developers. A comprehensive range of Xeikon engines address label production, folding cartons, and commercial printing. According to Trevor Crowley, sales general manager, Xeikon Digital Solutions ANZ, a Xeikon is a utility press
able to switch from printing labels to folding cartons on the same machine. It can produce pressure sensitive labels, wraps, wet glue labels, heat transfer labels, and recently added pouch production to its capabilities. Its toner has FDA compliance for both direct and indirect food packaging, and thanks to its web-fed technology with
no repeat length, it can also print extended full-colour banners for signage and POS.
This remarkable versatility leads Crowley to dub the Xeikon the “tradesman of presses”.
It is a versatility that is now being highlighted to the Australia and New Zealand printing industry. Many reasons can be advanced for the comparatively small number
of presses here, “18 platforms and counting”. In other theatres such
as the USA and Europe, Xeikon has enjoyed a much larger market share. But Crowley says “we are looking forward not back, and showing that the Xeikon technology can reach beyond labels”.
A dramatic change has swept through the Australian and New Zealand printing market since Xeikon under the Flint Group banner moved to set up direct factory representation here with Crowley,
a deeply knowledgeable print professional, at the helm. “Seven machines have gone in during the past 18 months, with a number of other deals älmost there”, he says.
Direct factory representation
has brought many benefits, not least the establishment of ‘boot stocks’ of spare parts at strategic locations around the country to better service customers, plus expanded refrigerated holdings of the sophisticated Xeikon toner in high-tech Sydney and Auckland facilities. It has also opened up closer contact for Crowley and his three service engineers with full and direct factory support, allowing them to tap into the wider global Xeikon knowledge base.
While emphasising the legendary reliability of the Xeikon technology, Crowley claims that more than half of all operational issues are solved over the phone, while the balance are
Range of applications: Trevor Crowley (left), sales general manager, and Klaus Nielsen, Asia-Pacific director at Xeikon
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