Mercian Labels moves into digital folding carton market

Mercian Labels is to begin offering digitally printed folding cartons after seeing its potential for customized, cost-effective short run jobs over sheet-fed litho printing.
 
The new service, launched at this week’s Packaging Innovations event in the UK, uses a Xeikon 3000 series digital printing press coupled with in-line converting, allowing it to produce printed folding cartons featuring variable data and multiple designs.
 
Samples on show at Packaging Innovations are printed on high-quality 400 micron folding cartonboard, and incorporate a number of security features such as microtext, variable barcodes and variable text and numbering.

'We expect this new service, which we believe to be the first of its kind in the UK, to attract excitement and interest from brands of all sizes looking to differentiate their offering using their printed cartons'

 
Mercian Labels managing director Dr Adrian Steele said: ‘The conventional sheet-fed litho manufacturing process for printed folding cartons limits the creativity that brands wish to incorporate into their packaging.
 
‘Digital printing permits the inclusion of personalized content on every pack, with infinite versions for trials as well as inclusion of unique brand protection features. The Xeikon imaging technology we use offers fantastic full colour 1,200dpi quality using light-fast and FDA approved food-safe toners.
 
‘The Mercian Labels Group has combined digital print with an innovative and unique converting process to print and die-cut the cartons in a single pass that is ready for conventional folding and gluing. Die origination is cheap and fast, and we are looking to bring lead times down to those offered to our labeling customers, typically being 3-5 days from artwork approval.’
 
Steele added: ‘We expect this new service, which we believe to be the first of its kind in the UK, to attract excitement and interest from brands of all sizes looking to differentiate their offering using their printed cartons. Our labeling experience shows us that customers who have taken advantage of the benefits of digital printing have seen significant increases in their businesses as multiple SKUs appealing to smaller but higher value niche markets becomes cost effective. We expect a similar trend to happen in printed folding cartons.’