The machine has been developed by the firm’s digital team together with manufacturer JF Machines, which became part of Dantex Group earlier this year.
The 210mm-wide press, which runs at speeds of up to 35m/min, will be commercially available from September and on display at Label Expo Europe 2015, which will take place in Brussels, Belgium from 29 September to 2 October.
The PicoColour II works with UV-based inks and is available with CMYK plus white. The white is a single-pass application. The machine can be used for paper as well as film media when used in conjunction with optional Corona treatment.
JF Machines has 25 years experience of manufacturing digital label presses under the PicoColour name.
The PicoColour II launch marks Dantex’s first involvement in bringing a digital press to the market. The firm said this highlights its drive to maintain its position as a supplier of high-tech goods and equipment to the industry.
Dantex group chairman Richard Danon said: “This acquisition has brought Dantex the expertise necessary to be able to build state of the art label printing presses using high-speed UV inkjet technology.”
JF Machines managing director John Furley added: “Dantex’s extensive knowledge of the label industry together with their considerable customer base and sales and service infrastructure is what JF Machines needed in order to market our already very popular product portfolio, as well as to accelerate our research and development efforts to make ever more advanced machines.”
Press manufacturing will take place at Dantex’s Bradford premises while Kettering-based JF Machines has become the group’s R&D centre for digital press development.
Dantex export market operation senior group director Benjamin Danon said: “It is now well accepted that print runs are becoming shorter, making a digital press offering a real necessity.
“Many of our customers are under pressure to offer shorter runs and must become more flexible to meet the demand of print buyers. We are confident that our PicoColour range of equipment will be an ideal solution for our customer base in meeting these challenges.”
