Xeikon Cheetah sets a new speed benchmark 

Eede, The Netherlands - Today, Xeikon announces the most important advancement for the digital label market in 15 years, the Xeikon Cheetah digital color press. The press is a staggering 60% faster than any other model in its current press portfolio. The new digital press is dedicated solely to self-adhesive/pressure sensitive label production and can output high quality labels at 98 ft/min (30 m/min), making it the fastest five-color digital label press in the world. Visitors to the company's booth at Labelexpo Americas 2014 (Booth 6135) can see live demonstrations of the new press throughout the exhibition. The new Xeikon Cheetah will be available commercially during 2015.

"This increase in speed represents a huge leap forward in digital press technology. It will enable Xeikon label printers and converters to embark on a new era of productivity and efficiency, with much greater flexibility to react to their clients' requests for shorter time-to-market," says Patrick Van Baelen, VP-WW Marketing at Xeikon. "The Xeikon Cheetah narrows the gap between digital printing and traditional flexo/offset methods for producing labels. In addition, the increase in speed also results in a lower total production cost."

The quality benchmark just got faster
Xeikon now offers six presses in its label and packaging portfolio, providing solutions from entry-level to high capacity production. This is the broadest press portfolio of label and packaging presses available on the market today.

The Xeikon Cheetah can handle substrate widths of up to 13 inches (330 mm) with a true print resolution of 1,200 x 3,600 dpi. It utilizes full rotary printing where the press speeds are independent of the number of colors used and/or the repeat length of the job. Full rotary printing also makes step-and-repeat and subsequent finishing operations straightforward. Furthermore, the Xeikon Cheetah offers all the renowned benefits that make the Xeikon 3000 Series unique, including the use of dry toners that meet FDA regulations for food contact and the ability to print opaque white toner in one pass.

Xeikon presses are based on dry toner electro-photography. This enables the use of conventional substrates that do not have to be pre-treated. Extremely high toner light-fastness and truly eco-friendly printing (no VOC's) are some of the other industry leading features of the Xeikon presses for digital label and package printing. The presses offer easy integration of third-party workflow software and converting/finishing solutions. Furthermore, they incorporate professional color management capabilities.

In addition to the standard CMYK + White, the fifth station on the Xeikon Cheetah can be used to print gamut expansion colors or security toner. The press also includes automatic in-line register and density controls. The imaging width is up to 12.7 inches (322 mm) while the repeat length is variable from 0 - 180 ft (0 - 55 m). Media weights range from 40 gsm to 350 gsm.

"It's difficult to overstate the importance of this advancement," says Patrick Van Baelen. "The Xeikon Cheetah is a significant breakthrough for high capacity production. It's a tremendously exciting time for Xeikon, as well as for the digital label printing market. We're looking forward to welcoming people to our booth at Labelexpo Americas 2014 so that they can witness the beginning of this industry revolution."