The Ecolyne label presses introduced by Xeikon will not carry the company’s name on the side, instead using Ecolyne. The decision reflects both the repositioning of Xeikon as Flint Group Digital Xeikon and its desire to keep the Xeikon name for its premium and niche products.
Ecolyne also marks a break with how Xeikon has delivered label and digital presses in the past. This is because Ecolyne is intended to be an entry level solution offered as a capacity selling model, in other words a low monthly payment with incremental charges depending on usage.
“This is an entry level solution that is built on everything we have learned in the label market as true industrial press that has been engineered by Xeikon,” says senior product manager, Flint Group Digital Xeikon Frank Jacobs.
A monthly payment of £7,900 covers use of the press, services and 25,000 linear metres of print using its CMYK food safe toner for the five year contract. The target is companies that are new to digital label printing or that are currently using Epson or KM 230 label presses with limited volumes or those that cannot afford to invest in a Xeikon press. It would suit a commercial printer wanting to take a first step into label printing says Jacobs.
The Ecolyne has five toner stations, offering white in addition to CMYK, but charged at €.05 per metre. A €0.10 charge is levied on each metre beyond the 25,000 metres a month in the contract. There are also additional charges for automated inline registration control and for preprint feeding. There is no provision for colour management, but the press is very stable Jacobs points out.
The press has the same 1200dpi imaging system as a standard model, printing on 200-330mm width of standard label materials included coated and uncoated papers, DP, OPP, PE and metallised films. It uses Xeikon’s food safe Ecotoner and it runs at 25m/minute.
It also uses the X800 DFE, though access to the workflow is not through a separate console but through a monitor on the access door of the press. A second touch screen monitor is used to set up and control the press.
Unwind and rewind units are limited to 70cm in diameter and are bespoke to the press. The Ecolyne also requires specific environmental conditions: between 20-26ºC and controlled humidity.
Those signing up for the press receive a week’s initial training a second week at a later point.
“In the past we have ignored the entry level segment of the industry ,” says Jacobs. Now this represents an opportunity with fewer competitors than the mainstream of digital label printing where Xeikon is competing agains HP Indigo and inkjet machines from Durst, Screen, Domino or Dantex as well as a host of Asian suppliers.
The press was introduced at Labelexpo China and one of the first customers is in that country. At first the Ecolyne offer was confined to Asian markets, only coming to broader European and Morth American markets in recent weeks. The European beta customer is a Swedish printer FG Larsson, the most northerly label printer in the country and a three-man business. It is printing beyond the contracted volume and is moving from a beta to a contracted user. Its decision to come back to Xeikon from inkjet was influenced by customers in the food sector needing food safe products.
There are eight contracts in all that have been signed to date says Xeikon including one on the US and several in Asia.
The contract does not include finishing. That is something that the printer will need to invest in, though Xeikon can make recommendations. While other Ecolyne products are possible in future, these will not include an inkjet option. The cost of replacing an inkjet head and the highly competitive pricing of inks in labels destroys the capacity selling business model.
The Xeikon brand will be used on its premium label and commercial presses, including the Titon UV cured toner, inkjet presses and Idera corrugated machine.
