Leading Indiana label printer first in North America to install Xeikon Cheetah

The first North American installation of the long-awaited Xeikon Cheetah is at Accu-Label Inc. in Fort Wayne Indiana. It’s also the third pilot site worldwide to install this “breakthrough” digital label production solution. Accu-Label added Xeikon’s new press to complement its existing production platform, which includes a Xeikon 3500 that was installed last year, as well as other flexographic printing solutions. Characterized as “the most productive five-colour digital label press available on the market today” the Cheetah’s exceptional speed of 98 feet per minute (30m/min) combined with its high quality output, convinced Accu-Label to invest in the technology. The company can now respond better to evolving client demands, expand into new markets and optimize its production processes – all while meeting the high level of quality output the company has been renowned for throughout its 28-year history.
“We chose Xeikon because they really understood our business and challenges. Our experiences with their customer support, technical service and consulting services have been outstanding,” said David Manning, Accu-Label’s founder. “Of course, speed was a big consideration, but there was more. We are a company that has always been dedicated to providing the best quality printing and a high level of service. For us, it doesn’t matter how fast a press goes if we can’t deliver a quality product. We felt the Xeikon Cheetah gave us both speed and better quality than other digital printing technologies currently available on the market. The Xeikon team showed us how installing the Xeikon Cheetah would help us meet the specific demands of our customers while ensuring superior quality. Having this flexibility is a fundamental market differentiator for us.”
“In just one year, we’ve had so many jobs printed digitally that our Xeikon 3500 is running at high capacity,” said Catie Manning, who oversees sales and marketing at Accu-Label. “Adding a second digital label press is vital to meeting our customers’ expectations now and in the future. In addition, to better position the company to address our evolving customer needs, the speed and throughput of the Xeikon Cheetah will enable growth in our client base. This will also improve the efficiency of our flexo production fleet by dedicating it to the longer runs it’s designed to produce cost-efficiently.”
The Xeikon Cheetah’s top speed of 98 feet per minute is 56% faster than any other model in its current press portfolio. The 1200 x 3600 dpi digital press is dedicated solely to the production of self-adhesive and pressure sensitive labels. It offers all the 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. It also enables printing on a variety of heat-sensitive via Xeikon’s ICE toner technology – which requires a much lower fusing temperature than typical toner-based presses. Xeikon presses are based on dry toner electro-photography. This enables the use of conventional substrates that don’t have to be pre-treated. Extremely high toner light-fastness and truly eco-friendly printing (no VOCs) are other notable features. The presses also offer easy integration of third-party workflow software and converting/finishing solutions, and incorporate colour management capabilities. In addition to the standard CMYK + white, the fifth station on the press can be used to print gamut expansion colours or security toner. Media weights range from 40 gsm to 350 gsm.