The IDS 250 was unveiled earlier this year but became commercially available in May, with the UK being primed by Israel headquartered Velox as a key market. The new digital technology is a replacement for conventional DTS printing.

According to the company it makes possible for the first time both high- and low-volume runs with near-zero setup times, offering superior quality at an affordable price.

Vice-president marketing and business development Ofer Nir said: “Companies in the UK market are known for being early adopters of new technologies.

“As a result, Velox is targeting the UK as a primary market for the IDS 250 for digital decorating and is already engaged with leading converters and brand owners in the UK.”

He did not name companies or give a price for the equipment, but said it was an industrial solution, built for mass-production operation.

“The price is in the range of other industrial solutions. More importantly, when everything is combined, total cost-of-ownership makes it economical for any job length.”

The machine has a full production-line speed of up to 250 containers per minute at high quality and can print 15 simultaneous colours and embellishments, including photorealistic images, up to 1,200dpi,  and tactile embossing.

According to Nir, typical users could be rigid packaging manufacturers; plastic, aluminium and laminated tube converters, and aluminium mono-block aerosol converters for cosmetics, pharma and personal care.

He added: “The key feature is this technology is designed for mass production - not just short-runs, but any run length.

“Velox technology, which is a dedicated direct-to-shape digital technology, comprises of inks and deposition architecture, to provide superior decoration quality.

“It includes photo-realistic images, a wide colour gamut, accurate colour matching and sharp text as well as unique decoration features as end-to-end decoration with no seam or overlap.”

He explained digital was often seen as a complementary technology, but said the IDS 250 could be a replacement technology for analogue processes.

According to the company, its dedicated direct-to-shape digital printing technology and variable viscosity inks achieved the productivity and speed that long production runs required, offering the on-demand benefits of digital without compromising on colour or image quality.

Lageentubes, an Israeli supplier of plastic and aluminium tube packaging to cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries, was first to fully roll out the Velox IDS 250.