Multi-vendor approach breaks paradigms, adds new applications and attracts new customers 

Eede, The Netherlands – Xeikon reports that Mexican self-adhesive label specialist Eticom has added a Xeikon 3300 narrow-web label press to its extensive production platform with several digital and flexo presses. Eticom specializes in self-adhesive labels for the food & beverage, pharmaceutical and other industries that require high-end labels. Spread over its two facilities in Mexico City and Monterrey, the company today operates with sixteen flexo presses and two high-end digital presses. The new Xeikon 3300 will offer size and format capabilities that are not available with Eticom’s current presses, with equivalent high quality. Eticom choose Xeikon’s dry-toner electrophotography technology to complement its existing flexo and liquid ElectroInk printing technologies to expand capacity and the range of offerings.

“Adding the Xeikon 3300 offers us a number of benefits,” states owner Jesus Ramirez. “First, Xeikon presses are relatively new in the Mexican market, so that alone sets us apart. In addition, this new press gives us the ability to take advantage of a wider web width and larger format size with a virtually unlimited repeat length. It requires no priming and can print on a broader range of substrates than our existing digital presses. And finally, it blends in perfectly with our established installed base of digital and flexo presses, delivering the same high quality. That allows us to mix and match jobs across multiple presses for optimum load balancing.”

Advantages of a multi-vendor platform

Ramirez points out that as digital press manufacturers gain more presence in the Mexican market, companies like his have more choices. “A few years ago, we didn’t have these choices,” he says. “We are excited to now be able to choose specific solutions and suppliers for different applications. This allows us to be more creative with our production and to continually expand the range of applications we can offer to our customers.”

The most popular press model in the Xeikon 3000 Series, the 19.2 m/min (63 ft/min) Xeikon 3300 has a variable web width ranging from 200 mm (7.9 inches) up to 330 mm (13 inches). It can handle production volumes of up to 380 square meters/hour. For Eticom, other key decision criteria besides the web width were the fact the press meets FDA and food certification standards and that it delivers high quality print thanks to the Xeikon QA-I dry toner technology.

“Xeikon is very new to us but we have already seen that the quality of the Xeikon press is very similar to our existing presses. In addition, it offers greater cost competiveness. Having different types of digital printing technologies in place, we have more flexibility and can profitably produce applications that we couldn’t before. We are looking forward to being able to offer our current and future customers new and expanded services thanks to the addition of the Xeikon 3300,” Ramirez concludes.

“Eticom is a well-known pioneering label manufacturer that has seen significant growth,” states Julian Robledo of Xeikon Mexico. “Its existing press firepower is extended by the Xeikon 3300, breathing new life into the production mix while supporting existing customer demand. We are excited to be working with Eticom and helping them with improved cost efficiency and job flexibility in their day-to-day operations.”

Eticom will be fully supported by Xeikon’s direct sales and service operation in Mexico, headed by Julian Robledo from the newly opened office in Mexico.