Tim Smith, founder of The Label Smith, told PrintWeek that its 20" digital web press was helping the company to enter new markets.
"It was us finally seeing the advantage of the digital side because now that we actually have one, it’s opening more doors for us. We’re doing unique consecutive numbering for harvest marketing and we’ve got customers interested in that. We’re also doing consecutive QR codes," said Smith.
Smith noted that his company, located just outside of Houston, weathered the US economic slowdown of 2008-2010 in part because it had managed to carve out a successful niche in supplying customized labels for water bottles. U.S. consumers drink 1,500 water bottles per second or an estimated 30bn bottles annually.
"We do a lot of custom water products, because it’s cheaper for us to ship a roll of labels to Seattle or California, than it is to move a palette of water around that far," he explained, citing the example of a client that supplies golf tournaments around the U.S. with their own custom water bottles.
"The history of our company has been based on short-run anyway and digital is actually making it a lot easier on some of our employees" Smith continued, noting that in the past the company’s flexo presses could have had 40 copy changes and 80 to 100 plate changes in one day--for just two employees. "This has allowed us to continue to do that business and the quality is amazing."
The Xeikon 3500 has a 20.3" web width, making it ideal for labels and packaging. It’s equipped with five color stations, four for the standard process colors and the fifth station for the use of gamut expansion colors or a one-pass opaque white toner or a security toner for anti-counterfeiting applications. The Xeikon can handle monthly duty volumes of up to 3.8 million square feet.
It runs on Xeikon's QA-I toner and Smith said, "Our first toner buy was $18,000. Xeikon is not a click charge; it’s a toner buy and the more you buy the more discount you get. We have four flexo presses that combined go through about $5,000 in ink. This digital press goes through about $6,000 a month all by itself."
Smith, who said he also looked at HP before opting for the Xeikon, provided by Itasca, IL-based Xeikon America, added: "Being 20" wide makes it not only very efficient, but it’s also enabled us to do some pretty cool products and make some nice money—which is important because we have a big press to pay for."
Xeikon America president Michael Ring said that Smith’s experience was far from unique and that label printing companies were increasingly adding digital in response to their customer demands for shorter runs and versioning.
"I think we are seeing a déjà vu experience, if you will, in that the adoption of digital that took place in commercial print is clearly happening in the flexo space. But what took commercial print 10 to 12 years is happening in the flexo space in half that time," he said.
"It’s a more concentrated marketplace and when it moves, it moves fast."
