Josep Roca discusses seven misconceptions about digital labels at LMAI

According to Roca, when a label converter is confronted with digital printing, he finds it "an interesting stuff". Having said so, the converter finds typical misconceptions about this subject which holds him back.

In his presentation, Roca highlighted seven misleading thoughts about digital printing that exist in the industry today.

Is primer coating mandatory?

The first misconception that Roca identified, a common understanding that primer pre-coating is mandatory for digital printing.

Roca explained, “It is not so in all cases. Printability is a surface energy related phenomenon; and adhesion depends on the interaction between a colour carrier and a substrate.”

He added, “Hence, every digital process, whether it is UV inkjet, water-based inkjet, liquid ink for electrophotography or dry toner based electrophotography, has different requirements due to different chemistries and different drying / curing / fusing processes. With Xeikon most of the standard labels and packaging substrates can be printed without pre-coating.”

Trick of managing colour

The second misconception that Roca spoke about was colour consistency. It is said to be vexed in case of digital printing.

“The colour consistency depends on factors such as colour chemistries, digital processes, different light emitting sources, colour measurement devices used etc,” informed Roca.

Xeikon handles the colour management with a 360 degree approach, wherein a Xeikon’s press, DFE and colour carrier forms 270 degrees and substrates form another 90 degress. “Colour consistency from right to left, through the run, from today to next week and even from press A to B is perfectly achievable with Xeikon,” added Roca.

Press obsolescence

Roca also highlighted the issue of obsolescence of press. He advised the converters to look at upgradable printing platforms.

Roca cited an instance where a label printer invests in a 330mm press with a 9.6m/min output capacity and builds his digital business around this press. A year later, the press is on site upgraded to 19.2m/min output. Then the printer decides to integrate different SKU into the same run and venture into folding carton. His press is upgraded on site to a 516mm width and a plug in for the DFE installed enabling different printing repeats on different lanes at the same time (Varilane). He is now considering laser die-cutting. There is a plug in ready also for that (Vectorizer).

“This is possible when you own a Xeikon,” said Roca.

The opacity of white ink

The fourth misconception that converters have is, printing white digitally chops down the speed and opacity is "ordinary". According to Roca, opacity depends on how much white pigment we lay down.

Roca said, “Raise these three questions to the potential suppliers: Which opacity can you guarantee on a single pass? Which is your effective printing speed for four colours (CMYK)? Will the speed be hampered if I print white or any extra colour? By how much?”

“An effective and profitable printing system should be independent of number of colours, addressability (screen count) and printing repeat (label size) and this is exactly what Xeikon has to offer,” added Roca.

Is digital ink sustainable?

The converters have a predefined notion that digital inks are smelly. ‘I do food packaging and those smelly inks cannot be FDA approved’ is a typical reaction of a label printer, according to Roca.

Today, everything is available in the market. Roca suggested that printers must find out what they need, check and decide. “Your customers are the key. They set the rules, they know what to pack, label, decorate and where they want to sell it. Today, brand owners set their own certification criteria on top of FDA, EU, etc. In addition, specific migration (SM) limits are coming, get ready for lab tests,” said Roca.

According to Roca, a reliable digital press supplier must be clear in his eco-speech about safety and be willing to show the certificates he has available and to send samples for lab tests and share their ink/toner formulation with labs. “This is the way Xeikon does it,” added Roca.

Ink fading

The sixth misconception,according to Roca, is that digital inks fade fast. The fading of inks is measured by lightfastness test. It measures the decolouration of a printed, tinted, or dyed substrate under UV exposition. Roca informed, “Any value under 4 in the Blue Wool Scale means handle with care. Less than 3 is defined as poor lightfastness. All our Xeikon toners for labels and packaging fit in the 6 to 8 lightfastness bracket.”

Costing models

The last but most pressing concern which is misunderstood among the converters is about the operational costing. “Flexibility cannot cope with fixed operational costing models specially in regions where conventional printing systems compete with digital solutions in the short orders jobs arena,” said Roca. 

He added that talk to your potential suppliers and compare. Not everyone favours a fixed operational model. Some are willing to listen.

The Xeikon approach is simple and transparent: À la carte (pay per what you use) consumables purchase based on a transparent fixed price-list with volume incentive discounts.

In his concluding comment, Roca, said, “I didn’t give you any answers in this presentations. It was on purpose. My intention was providing you with a compass. Each one of you has a different map and you need to trek it by yourselves. You will face questions on your journey, please ask them.”