Mercian Labels invests in second Xeikon press

The Mercian Labels Group, based in Cannock, UK, has purchased its second Xeikon digital label press, a Xeikon 3300. 

Dr Adrian Steele, managing director of The Mercian Labels Group, said: ‘Investing in a second Xeikon machine at this time in the economic cycle is the right decision for both our customers and us. We are in business to make money, and the increased capability of the Xeikon 3300 machine will bring a new dimension to our short-run labeling division, which will make us more profit. 

‘The increased 4-color speed with inline converting delivers a real productivity benefit to us as lead times from artwork approval to dispatch are now always under three days. Our workload in 2011 has been getting increasingly erratic and spiky, but that’s the way we like it as our competitors can't react as quickly as we can. 

‘The vibrancy of the color matching with Xeikon’s QA-I toner is also an attraction, as is the 1200dpi resolution that more than meets the expectations of our market. By again committing to the Xeikon platform we believe that it gives us a genuine competitive advantage – we run the fastest short-run labeling service in the UK with a 98 percent on-time in-full (OTIF) performance, and with the Xeikon 3300 we can now also deliver the highest quality print to our customers. It’s a compelling offer to our 9,000 trade and end-user customers.’ 

The purchase decision was reportedly aided by Xeikon’s continued focus on working with conventional substrates, rather than the extra costs and production time incurred by applying coatings to printing materials, as well as the use of Xeikon’s X-800 workflow technology. ‘The X-800 system is something that our operational team is already used to, and a solution that works well,’ added Dr Steele. 

Filip Weymans, Xeikon’s business development manager for labels and packaging products, said: ‘We are, of course, delighted that a company with such a high profile in the industry as The Mercian Labels Group has confirmed its commitment to Xeikon technology for the production of high quality printed self-adhesive labels. We see this as a vote for Xeikon’s reliability and ability to meet tight deadlines – a point of difference that this customer focuses on.’

Pictured: Mercian Labels' Dr Adrian Steele (middle) confirms the deal during Labelexpo Europe

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