With the launch of its low-temperature toner, Xeikon is determined to win over more converters in the Middle East and Africa to digital technology.
On the eve of this year’s Labelexpo, Xeikon’s new CEO announced his company’s new direction under three heading: focus, investment and regions. But for packagers, the key word was ‘focus’.
“Xeikon has identified huge potential for digital printing of labels,” Wim Maes told a group of visitors to the firm’s plant at Lier in Belgium.
“More than half of the Xeikon’s revenue comes from labels and packaging… It is the focus we have and the focus we will keep.”
Under its new ownership, the company now has “big budgets to grow”, he said.
“Regions” – the third watchword – announces an emphasis on looking to areas such as the Middle East for further expansion, he added.
Not only is Europe’s slump prompting the firm to turn to emerging markets. Xeikon is also being pushed towards regions such as Africa and the Middle East by the strategy of its new owners, said Vincent Van Horenbeeck, area manager for the Middle East and Africa.
“Before there was a pull but no push,” he told Packaging MEA. “The technology is a good fit for the Middle East and Africa as the volumes are big but with shorter run lengths.”
Inkjet vs toner heats up
But Xeikon’s success in African and Middle East markets will also hinge on dry toner technology, including its low-temperature ICE toner for unlocking new markets in heat-sensitive substrates such as polyethylene (PE) facestock and thermal labels.
Launched at Labelexpo, on 24–27 September, the new toner is designed to deliver top printing quality along with high lightfastness and top opaque white quality.
At a factory tour at Lier on the eve the tradeshow, Hans Gerinckx, sales director for labels and packaging, told visitors that they could eat the toner without suffering any ill effects. The new toner also calms any environmental fears, he added.
“The whole plant is powered with green energy and we re-use energy to heat buildings,” he said.
Xeikon’s ICE is based on the firm’s established QA technology, approved for indirect food contact and direct contact with dry-food substances that contain no surface oil or fat. QA toner contains to solvents, which means Xeikon’s five 3000 series presses –3500, 3300, 3050, 3030 and 3030Plus – produce no hazardous emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), according to the firm.
Particles of toner are ground down to 7μ then coated with a special skin that makes them behave as a liquid. Through LEDs, organic photoconductors (OPC) are imaged with charges. Developer stations than develop this charge image into a toner image on these OPC drums and in a next step the toner is transferred to the substrate.
Heading the series, the Xeikon 3500 handles web widths from 250mm to 516mm at a print speed of 19.2m/min, regardless of the number of colours used or label dimensions, according to the firm.
The press also features true 1200dpi resolution and 1200x3600dpi addressability with variable dot density.
High hopes from low temperature
Xeikon claims its dry toner technology is already ideal for substrates including self-adhesive materials such as co-extruded films, BOPP and PET, paperboards and paper with weights ranging from 40 to 350gsm, and transparent and opaque foils.
But ICE overcomes a key limitation from the fusing process that fixes the toner to labels, said Van Horenbeeck.
“Before we could print but not fuse the toner on substrates like PE85 that are very widely used in segments such as industry labels or health and beauty,” he said.
In fact, the new technology fits neatly with Xeikon’s strategic interest on in-mould labelling as well as self-adhesive labels.
The new inks are available for both new and current installations through a fee of about €20,000, he added.
“Beta testing over the summer has included the challenging conditions of a press in Cyprus, with high heat and humidity,” he said.
“As the new toners must be stored at low temperatures, they are shipped in boxes with log bars that reveal if the contents have been exposed to excess temperatures and for how long.”
For Van Horenbeeck, promising regional markets for the new low-temperature toner include Lebanon, where leading elements in the mix of packaging segments include food as well as health and beauty.
Xeikon in the MEA
But Van Horenbeeck has ambitious plans for Xeikon across the entire Africa and the Middle East region.
“In digital, we really believe dry toner offers the best quality and widest range of applications, with the resolution significantly higher than that with inkjet,” he said.
“Xeikon’s dry toner for labels and packaging is also food approved, which is very important.”
ICE toner can now unlock further markets for Xeikon in health and beauty in locations such as South Africa, Cameroon and Nigeria, he added.
“While the Middle East and Africa is still very much into conventional we just need a few trendsetters,” he said.
“We are definitely not in competition with flexo – the combination is very complementary and I really believe in the sub-contractor concept, with service bureaus doing short runs for large-volume printers.”
Xeikon’s new ability to print on heat-sensitive substrates could also win over labellers in regions such as Morocco with a history of leading in technology, he added.
In Europe, heat-sensitive materials already make up more than 10% of the labels markets and rank among the segment’s fastest growing areas, he said.