Fuji Xerox Australia has for some time been looking at diversifying its production print range, solutions marketing manager Mark Brown told PKN at PrintEx 15 earlier this week. Brown said Fuji Xerox has its sights set on the label printing sector in particular, and now that the company has confirmed its partnership with Durst Phototecnik it will be well positioned to supply the market with top-end digital inkjet technology and help drive the digitisation of a largely analogue market.
“[In volume terms] there is only a small percentage of labels and packaging that are being digitally printed and Durst’s ability to innovate made it the right partner for us to work with,” Brown said.
Durst, a global leader in supplying digital inkjet printing systems for industrial applications, is a relative newcomer to the label and packaging printing market which it entered in 2009, Helmuth Munter, Durst's segment manager Labels and Package, told PKN. Today, he said, Durst has over 80 installations (mostly in the EU) of its Tau 330 single pass UV inkjet printer, which will be available in Australia through Fuji Xerox.
“Inkjet is making a lot of noise in the label printing sector,” Munter said. “You only need to look at how much of this technology was on show at the recent editions of LabelExpo. Also, a recent converter survey showed that 50% of label converters are considering switching to digital technology in the EU and in the US up to 80% are thinking of investing in digital UV inkjet technology.
“Digital technology's speed and quality combined makes it a game changer,” Munter said, “and it is fast making inroads in the packaging space.”
The Durst Tau 330 single pass UV inkjet digital press is available in two print width options – 330mm and 200mm – and offers a seven colour ink-set: the standard CMYK configuration plus an optional white, orange and violet, the wider gamut (up to 90% coverage of Pantone gamut) enabling ease of colour matching for brand owners.
“The Durst Tau UV ink prints perfect white in one pass,” Munter said, “and the inks offer high light fastness (LF7) and high scratch and chemical resistance, without the need for lamination or over-varnishing.”
Munter also pointed out that Durst is the only company offering low migration (LM) inkjet inks suitable for primary packaging (non-food contact) applications and meeting European Industry standards (EUPIA, Nestle, Swiss Ordinance).
The Tau press can print on many standard packaging substrates including self adhesive label material, unsupported foil and film down to 20 microns, folding carton and blister packaging material.
Digital laser finishing and integrated web inspection are other features to support a streamlined workflow.
Fuji Xerox Australia will be providing both sales and service support for Durst digital inkjet solutions, and Mark Brown says the company is in advanced discussions and very close to confirming its first sale in the region.
