First Xeikon 3030Plus installed in Asia fulfills market requirements

Eede, The Netherlands – Xeikon, an innovator in digital color printing technology, announced today that South Korean self-adhesive label converter HANA Graphic Art Co., Ltd. chose the Xeikon 3030Plus as its first digital press to meet increasing customer demand for short run jobs while ensuring maximum cost efficiencies.

HANA Graphic Art is a major producer of self-adhesive labels featuring variable data such as barcodes and numbering, and addresses high-end FMCG companies and produces labels for industrial companies. Servicing major customers like LG Electronics, the company operates from its headquarters in Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea and has subsidiary plants in Mexico and in North America. Since last year, HANA Graphic Art began to receive customer orders for short run jobs that require much faster turn-around and delivery time as well as less deficiencies. While its current letter and offset press equipment have been serving it well, the company realized the need for a solution that manages the cost structure of short run production, such as reductions in make-ready time, defect and wastage.

To fulfill these requirements, HANA Graphic Art decided to invest in its first digital press and placed an order with Xeikon for the Xeikon 3030Plus digital label press in September 2012. Since the installation in January 2013, HANA Graphic Art has been running the Xeikon 3030Plus in a roll-to-roll configuration with offline finishing/converting. As the press is a full rotary machine, the converter is not limited by label length and can print labels with a maximum web width of 330mm at 15m/min. With the five-color Xeikon 3030Plus, HANA Graphic Art is now in a position to meet its customers’ needs and produce more demanding jobs, that also include spot colors, opaque white to create a desired ‘no-label look’ on transparent label and security features. Xeikon toners are also compliant with FDA food-approval regulations.

“Xeikon has cutting edge technology and constantly innovates.” comments Mr. Doh, who manages the HANA Digital Business Unit. “The top quality digital press runs on Xeikon’s QA-I toner, enabling us to print on a wide range of substrates without the need of pre-treatment, including paper labels as well as BOPP or PET labels. Being able to choose among a wide selection of substrates available in our area is crucial for us because of our customers' requirements."

“Furthermore, with the á la carte running cost, we do not have to pay for over-expensive ‘clicks’ and we buy and pay only the consumables that we need. This allows us to operate the Xeikon press within a completely transparent cost model and be more dynamic when quoting our customers,” he adds. Xeikon's excellent technical service, provided jointly by Xeikon's South Korean agent P&C Co and the dedicated Xeikon Apac Service Center in Singapore, also supports HANA Graphic Art’s strategy of providing customer satisfaction with improved service and faster time to market.

Josep Roca, Area sales manager for Asia, says: “We are excited that HANA Graphic Art choose the Xeikon 3030Plus to meet their new market requirements. The Xeikon press is a full rotary direct printing press, a principle label converters are very familiar with. This means that the actual printing speed does not depend on the number of colors printed, nor on the size of labels or the gaps in between labels. Importantly, nor does the running cost. Our unique blanket-free printing system, our one pass opaque white and our transparent running cost model are highly appreciated by our customers.”