March 17, 2008 -- MapleJet is introducing three new Xaar-enabled inkjet ProDigit coding and marking (C&M) printers at Interpack (24-30 April, Dusseldorf).

The ProDigit 18 is a high resolution drop on demand C&M printer for porous and non-porous substrates featuring the Xaar 128 printhead with an 18mm print width. The ProDigit 70 has been developed with the Xaar 500 printhead to print on 70mm max width porous substrates. Finally, the ProDigit EggsPrint features Xaar 128 printheads jetting CE approved food grade pigment based solvent ink. The EggsPrint is designed specifically to print logos and up to four lines of text on each egg at speeds reaching 22,000 eggs per hour.

Toronto-based MapleJet is the new sales and marketing arm of the Sorveh Group and is currently building a network of distributors to provide the North and South American market and Europe with a range of quality solutions for a wide variety of C&M applications.

The new ProDigit printers making their Interpack debut with MapleJet have been specifically designed by Sorveh for the needs of the American market. The ProDigit builds on the success of the established Metsa range sold by Honaz, its sister company in Dubai. Honaz have sold over 5,000 machines to the Middle East, Africa and Asia to date, and as Sorveh CEO Homayoun Shahrestani explains, ‘With the success we have enjoyed in the Middle East region over the last eight years I thought it was time to establish a global presence for the group. With the formation of MapleJet and the new ProDigit range we are now ready to impose ourselves on North America and Europe.’

The Xaar 128 is an entry level piezo drop on demand printhead recognised as the de facto standard within industrial graphics applications. Its quality, ease of integration, reliability and speed are ideal for robust C&M applications. The Xaar 500 binary inkjet printhead provides a wide swathe capability which gives added flexibility and productivity. Xaar’s ink approval programme gives users a choice of ink suppliers and the design of the printhead assembly protects the process from contamination and blockages – an important feature in C&M.

Chris Coyne, Vice President Sales & Marketing of MapleJet, explains the company’s strategy: “We aim to become America’s first choice in the specialist C&M sector. Key to our success will be the performance, versatility and reliability of the Xaar printheads within our printers. These machines operate in demanding and dusty environments and it is critical that the printheads keep working with minimum maintenance.

“The Xaar printheads are ideal for all coding and marking applications. They have also transformed printing onto eggs. In our new printer an array of six heads allows high-speed single pass printing without the need to repeat pass and so ensure continuous production. The printhead unit is lightweight, simple to use, and very cost effective. The Xaar 128 printhead also allows us to achieve a large print height so there is no need for the EggsPrint to touch the eggs at all which gives us the ability to print at such high speed.”