The first few months of this year will see a number of announcements of new higher performance digital color presses. So far we have had one announcement but there will be at least two more to come.

In recent weeks Xeikon has announced an extension to its range of digital color presses. Last September it announced its new flagship product, the Xeikon 6000. The Xeikon range at that time comprised the Xeikon 330 for label printing, the Xeikon 5000, its established product introduced at drupa in 2004, and the new Xeikon 6000. With the recent announcement of new presses the Xeikon range now comprises four models with the new Xeikon 4000 and Xeikon 5000plus replacing the Xeikon 5000.

If one takes a detailed look at this how does this new range compare with the old range of three digital presses? In fact as I see the situation there are no new presses, just some new marketing approaches. If one looks closely at the specification of these products the “new” Xeikon 4000 is just a re-badged Xeikon 5000. The specification is almost identical with just one change. The change is the Xeikon 4000 is only available with four colors over four, whereas the old Xeikon 5000 was available with an option to print five colors over five. The Xeikon 4000, 5000plus and 6000 are all single pass duplex continuous feed reel-fed machines that print both sides of the web in one pass. The Xeikon 4000 is Xeikon’s ‘entry-level’ press and is priced lower than that of the old Xeikon 5000 however the printing speed is the same at 130 A4 images per minute.