The Digital Finishing Experience is set to debut at this year's Labelexpo Americas. Being hosted at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois on 13 – 15 September, the brand new feature area will involve live machinery demonstrations by Xeikon and Delta ModTech.

The Digital Finishing Experience has been established to highlight how converters can take full commercial advantage of short run opportunities in label and packaging personalization, seasonal variations and product fragmentation. With market demand growing for short run customized finishes, digital finishing technology offers print professionals a high quality and cost effective business offering for clients.

Xeikon will be premiering the Xeikon FDU as part of the special show feature. The FDU unit is designed to fit in any digital production process for carton, tags and sheetfed labels. Developed to aid efficient end-to-end printing and converting for folding carton printers, it is ideal for near line finishing of digital work but can also accommodate offset litho runs. This 2000-sheet-per-hour flatbed system handles sheet sizes from 400 x 400mm (15,7"x 15,7") up to 530 x 1000mm (20,9"x 39,4") and a maximum die-cut size of 490 x 700mm (19.2 x 27.6"). Substrate thickness can range from 160 to 890 micron for paper and carton board and also micro flute corrugated board can be finished, making it ideal for completing offset as well as digital runs.

Tight tolerance semi-rotary die-cutting, high-speed output and on-the-fly changeovers are just some of the capabilities to be featured by Delta ModTech on its Spectrum Finishing System. With the company's INTELLI-MODTM control system and easy to use touchscreen HMI, operators are able to quickly changeover from job to job helping printers to compete in an industry that's rapidly shifting from mass production of static print to smaller custom runs on digital technology. The control system also includes proven print to die registration software that will automatically adjust the die-cuts to print variations.

With real time technical demonstrations taking place over the show's three-day run, visitors will be able to see how they can build complexity into folding cartons, speed up their delivery times, become more profitable and set their services apart. Presentations will be held daily at 11.00am and 3.00pm and at 11.00am on the show's closing day.

Tasha Ventimiglia, Labelexpo Americas event director commented: "The label and package printing industry is moving extremely quickly with demand shifting away from mass production to shorter runs and the need to handle multiple SKUs. The finishing process is where converters can really stand out in a crowded market place by showing their skills and ultimately offering added value services to their customers. The working demonstrations will give visitors a good idea of just how easy, effective and valuable it is to incorporate a digital finishing process into their business."

An early bird discount rate is available until 2 September with expo-only passes costing from $60. Further discounts apply for members of TLMI, ACOBAN, AIMCAL, AMETIQ, FSEA and FTA. Registration and accommodation can be booked online at www.labelexpo-americas.com.