Signed for at Drupa, and commissioned in December after a two-week install, the new press has joined a pair of Xeikon LX300 label presses at Abbey Labels’ Bury St Edmunds factory.

“We’ve been buying Xeikons for 10 years, so this is about my ninth purchase of a Xeikon press,” Tom Allum, Abbey Labels’ chairman, told Printweek.

“As I see it, they [present] the most environmentally friendly way of printing, and they are always ahead of the game with their toners.”

Abbey Labels’ new press has been “fantastic from the day of commissioning,” Allum said.

“It’s basically trouble-free, and we’ve been running it all day long ever since, and with overtime too: it’s hit the ground running, and we’re really pleased.”

Allum was particularly happy with the painless set-up following a factory acceptance test at Xeikon’s Belgian headquarters.

“They brought the press over, and within two weeks we were in full production. There wasn’t a huge amount of training needed, apart from some software updates, but we already knew the fundamentals of the technology – we really just got a faster running machine with the new style of toner.

“We haven’t had any problems with colour management across the three presses, either. It’s one of the easiest machines I’ve ever installed.”

Abbey Labels employs 40 staff at its 3,300sqm factory.

“We’re bullish. We’ve just invested, we have adverts out for more employees,” Allum said.

“Some of that will be in our digital department, but we want to increase our capacity by putting on extra shifts in our finishing department, too.

“There’s definitely still growth in digital labels, but we’re finding growth on our five flexo presses as well.”