Buffalo, NY and Itasca, IL -- Xeikon, a division of Punch Graphix, legendary for pioneering the first digital color presses, today announced that Tapecon, a leader in providing superior quality custom decals, labels, and printed electronics has recently made an investment in the Xeikon 3300 digital color label press. current operations by implementing new Xeikon technology.

Tapecon has been exceeding customer expectations for over 90 years. The company utilizes state-of-the-art technology to provide innovative and custom solutions to its customers in a wide array of vertical markets, such as food & beverage, health & beauty, medical/medical devices and military, to name a few.

According to Jay Ziegler, Director of Marketing & Strategy at Tapecon, "We take pride in our man and machine competencies and deliver high-impact decal, overlay and label solutions that enhance, identify, and protect our customers' products. With our digital printing expertise, we are able to offer high-quality, short to medium runs with quicker turnarounds and cost savings to our customers. The Xeikon 3300 will further enable us to provide these value-added solutions. It is truly an industry leading digital color press in terms of its imaging quality, reliability, productivity and eco-friendliness."

The Xeikon 3300 offers true 1200 dpi resolution at four bits per spot. With a top speed of 63 feet per minute and monthly duty cycle of 2.3 million feet, it is an extremely fast and reliable digital five color label press, particularly suited for short to medium print runs and just-in-time jobs. The press includes five color stations, four of which are for the standard process colors. The fifth color station can be used for spot colors (for gamut expansion and producing brand colors), one-hit opaque white and special security toner. "In our experience, the Xeikon 3300 is the only digital color label press with one-hit opaque white capability," adds Ziegler.

"One of the major advantages of the Xeikon 3300 is its format flexibility. Unlike other digital label presses, it has no frame size restrictions," continues Ziegler. The Xeikon 3300 can handle scalable substrate widths up to 13 inches and has virtually no restriction on the length of the printed label. It is capable of handling an unmatched range of substrates from various self adhesive films including co-extruded film, to unsupported film, paper, transparent and opaque foils, and paperboard with weights ranging from 1.6 Mil to 16-point board stock. The dry toner electrophotography imaging process enables the use of conventional substrates without coating or pre-treatment.

The Xeikon 3300 also features full rotary printing technology, enabling printing at rated engine speeds, for maximum productivity. The positioning of the labels can be adjusted to meet finishing equipment requirements and labels with variable formats and sizes can be printed in the same run, leading to increased productivity and reduced waste and costs. In addition, the Xeikon 3300 comes with the latest generation of Xeikon's unique X-800 digital front-end. Based on open standards, the X-800 enables the implementation of fully automated workflows in any production environment, integrating seamlessly with any MIS. The X-800 processes all common input files and significantly lowers the threshold for including metadata such as sequential numbers or barcodes.

"The Xeikon 3300 has enabled us to continue our tradition of investing in cutting-edge technology and diverse capabilities," concludes Ziegler.

According to Michael V. Ring, Vice President of Sales and Chief Marketing Officer of Xeikon's North American operations, "With the Xeikon 3300, Tapecon will further enhance its competitive advantage by broadening its array of digital printing labels and strengthen its position as an industry leader."