Digital press trends | 103Digital takes on flexo Although Labelexpo Europe 2022 has been postponed, the digital press launches announced for the show tell us a lot about the current status of digital print technology. Andy Thomas-Emans reportshe digital and hybrid press launches announced for Labelexpo Europe 2022 – now postponed until 2023 T– demonstrate how far the technology has come. When narrow web digital presses were commercialized in the late 1990s, digital was seen not as a challenge to fexo, but as a complementary technology, designed to take away the pain of short run jobs at a time when changing jobs on an 8-color fexo press could take the best part of a half a day. Fast forward to 2022 and the digital landscape has been completely transformed. Digital presses have become faster, wider, and with print resolutions and The Mark Andy DSiQ powered by Domino color gamut to match fexo. The greater productivity of today’s digital print engines has also changed the equation full substitution for fexo. Each technology “Digital is competing of off-line versus in-line fnishing. Narrow has its space and advantages, but in the web converters have traditionally been used past two years UV inkjet made huge steps with fexo in terms of to printing, decorating and converting labels forwards and provides customers with more in one pass on modular in-line presses. and more advantages.’print quality”With digital, fnishing was, in the early Xeikon is another digital press days, predominantly an off-line process least affect print quality. manufacturer promoting the benefts of since conventional converting and fnishing Working with industry OEM partners, wider print webs, with its 520mm-wide systems were so much faster than digital Durst has also developed hybrid CX500 press printing full rotary at speeds print speeds. digital-fexo print systems alongside up to 30m/min. The company says the But faster and wider digital print its own digital print ecosystem, and press’ 1,200dpi print resolution makes it engines soon made in-line fnishing a more the company now promotes both the ‘impossible’ to distinguish any difference viable proposition, and we have seen the advantages and disadvantages of hybrid from fexo, and its productivity also now development of both hybrid digital-fexo confgurations depending on the job approaches the fexo process, as Filip presses and digital press manufacturers profle of the converter. Weymans, VP marketing at Xeikon, explains: adding in-line fnishing and fexo print units Martin Leitner, Durst product manager, ‘The CX500’s unique print width and to their presses. Label & Flexible Packaging, believes these print speed makes possible the printing of In-line fnishing is by no means universal, developments mark a turning point for UV large volumes of many variants using the however, even for faster digital presses. inkjet digital printing: ‘Digital is competing same die-cut and also larger sized labels For many applications off-line remains the with fexo in terms of print quality – the compared to a 13in web. Think oil labels, preferred option, particularly where rolls Tau RSC print quality is as good or even cosmetic labels for example, which are contain multiple short-run jobs with varying better than fexo. Some customers compare 160mm high and which ft only 1x across die-cuts and decorating requirements. it even with offset. Productivity-wise the on a 13in web. This makes the CX500 press The main takeaway is that the modern presses are extremely competitive with low very cost effective and enables applications digital press platform is highly fexible and setup times combined with high printing beyond self-adhesive labels such as pouches well suited for a wide range of applications speeds. Keep in mind that the minimum and sachets.’ from multiple short runs to increasingly printing speed on our presses is 40m/min, Xeikon of course also now plays in the challenging fex on medium and longer runs. so the operator cannot go lower, which he UV inkjet arena, which it promotes mainly Durst provides an excellent example of is often doing on other technologies.’ for durable label applications. The line-up all the points made above. The company Leitner says Durst already sees multiple now includes the entry-level PX3300 and announced the introduction of the 510mm customers substituting conventional fexo the PX30000 for longer runs and where (20in)-wide Tau 510 RSCi, printing at presses with UV inkjet technology. ‘We have a wider color gamut (CMYK+OVW) is speeds up to 100m/min (80m/min at full several customers which really produce required. ‘This is indeed the ideal substitute resolution). The press will be confgured volume jobs on our presses. In 2021 we for older UV fexo presses,’ says Weymans. with fexo decks both before and after the had customers printing in 12 months more ‘From speed and color gamut the Xeikon 1,200dpi print engine. Save-Ink mode is than 2m sqm on a single press, or multiple PX30000 can replace a UV fexo press but a new feature aimed at reducing the cost customers with regularly daily productions with digital values, no tools, no setup time, of inks to compete more effectively with between 20-25,000 sqm, so 60-75,000 so you gain a lot of effciency.fexography. It works by analyzing the image linear meters a day. Screen, meanwhile, continues to build on and reducing ink consumption where it will ‘I do not say that UV inkjet is today a the success of its Truepress Jet UV platform Jan - Mar 2022