News

Punch Graphix has big expectations for Drupa. It feels that it has come of age in the digital market and there is an air of confidence emanating from the manufacturer, which owns the Xeikon brand.

Punch’s latest addition to the rapidly growing market is the Xeikon 8000, a product the group believes will shift Xeikon into a another level. “The launch of this first-rate engine represents a major step forward for Xeikon,” says Punch Graphix chief executive Wim Deblauwe. “The press offers high-productivity benefits and eye-catching graphic printing capabilities, leading to maximum profitability.”

Punch’s bullish outlook comes from the speed of the machine; it can print 230 full-colour A4 pages per minute (ppm). The web-fed machine also boasts image quality of 1,200dpi at four bits per spot and incorporates LED array-based, dry toner electrophotography. The 8000 can handle one-pass duplex printing and the web press can run at 17m per minute, as well as giving users the choice between roll-to-roll or cut-sheet configurations.

With these specifications in its armoury, the applications the 8000 can handle are wide ranging. Direct mail, posters, point of sale, labels and transactional are among the markets it’s targeting.

At its launch last month, Xeikon demonstrated this through a fictitious car parts company called Roll ‘Em Stores. The car company was launching a number of stores in Europe and wanted to market itself effectively. The manufacturer showed how its Xeikon 8000 press could do this through personalised and on-demand products. These ranged from photo books to direct mailings. It also added personalised T-shirts for in-store staff to its ‘can-do’ list.

Wider applications
While it wasn’t a real customer, Punch was keen to demonstrate just how wide the digital offering can be. But there was one more application that the manufacturer was keen to stress – an area that many involved in digital print would have you believe was hotting up.

During the launch of the 8000, Xeikon was, like its digital rivals, talking up the transpromo market – where bills and statements become full-colour and incorporate marketing messages. The Belgian manufacturer admits transpromo is a current buzzword, but adds this won’t be for much longer. Personalised portfolio summaries are already commonplace in the market and Punch believes this will explode further.

“We are certainly targeting the transpromo marketplace,” says Punch Graphix UK sales director Greg Neesham. “It targets companies that want a bit more quality and in this the 8000 is going up against the Kodak Versamark.”

Frank Deschuytere, chief technology officer at Punch Graphix, adds: “The commercial power of transactional
documents is vastly increasing, since personalised full-colour documents lead to faster and greater response. As the market standard in variable full-colour digital printing, the machine adapts easily to the degree of personalisation desired by
its customers.”

The Versamark is considered a high-speed digital workhorse and the press could prove to be a tough nut to crack, but Xeikon says its 8000 compares favourably on the quality front.

“Digital print is dominated by electrophotography,” explains Deschuytere. “Most applications ask for high-graphic arts quality at affordable costs.”

The 8000 incorporates two in-line densitometers and high-performance process algorithims designed to maintain colour quality every time, according to Punch.

Unlike the Versamark, the 8000 doesn’t incorporate inkjet technology. Inkjet is considered to be catching-up fast to more conventional printing techniques – there are some who believe that this year’s main event in Germany could be rebranded “Inkjet Drupa” – but Deschuytere is yet to be convinced and doesn’t feel that inkjet is up to speed with the print technology incorporated in the 8000.

“Inkjet is a very exciting technology,” he adds. “But there is still a breakthrough needed. We think any technology that has recycling shortcomings will be limited in the future.”

Unsurprisingly, Xeikon is keen to talk up the 8000’s sustainability and eco-friendliness. The company says the
technology “should comply with all vital environmental and safety measures, such as full compatibility with all paper recycling processes”.

Xeikon claims it takes key environmental issues into account when designing new products and urges its customers to take its lead and “print only what you need, reprint when needed”. Xeikon also aims to reduce the recycling costs, alongside making sure machines are energy efficient.

Eco benefits
When pitched against offset, Xeikon says it “guarantees a significant reduction in raw materials, as well as energy and water savings”. The manufacturer also flags up that paper can be easily recycled thanks to its “good de-inkable” grade.

Aside from environmental advances, Xeikon has worked hard on developing the front end for the 8000. Its X-800 allows for “fast integration into any existing workflow”. The group claims the front end is scalable and modular, making it able to fit into small environments with web-to-print solutions, as well as high-end variable data production plants. It also has an optional IPDS full-colour controller.

The X-800 can also allow the printing of PostScript, PDF and PPML data streams at high speed. The IPDS controller can, says Xeikon, handle the input data stream directly without any conversions in-between and processes the bitmap data at rated engine speed.

“The architecture of the machine allows us to go in a new direction with speed and width,” says Deschuytere.

The 8000 can handle widths of 320-512mm and substrates of 40-350gsm. While the machine can print at 230ppm, this is for substrates from 40-100gsm. From then on, the machine runs at a slower speed: 195ppm up to 150gsm; 160ppm up to 200gsm; 130ppm up to 250gsm; 100ppm for 300gsm; and 70ppm for up to 350gsm.

Flexible and productive
Print media for the 8000 includes coated and uncoated paperboard, synthetic media and label stock. Xeikon adds that no coating or pre-treatment on substrates is needed.

Xeikon’s number crunching has calculated that the 8000 is capable of producing a monthly volume of 8.5m A4 pages. That’s a pretty hefty amount of pages from the digital press.

The machine is available on the market now and will form a key part of Xeikon’s range at Drupa. Pricing for the 8000
is at around €750,000, although a UK price tag has yet to be confirmed.

“We are in great shape,” adds Deblauwe. “For Drupa, we have big expectations and we can now address the higher volume issue.”

Whether it can make serious inroads into the transpromo arena remains to be seen. But Punch is making confident noises that it can attract companies that want a speedy full-colour digital press alongside print quality that could give litho a run for its money. It very firmly believes that the Xeikon 8000 is a machine that will help the print market realise that digital isn’t just about short-runs.

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SPECIFICATIONS
Max speed 230 A4ppm
Web width 320-512mm
Stock range 40-350gsm
Front end X-800
Price €750,000 (UK price tbc)
Contact Punch Graphix: UK 01904 520555, www.punchgraphix.com

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THE ALTERNATIVE
Kodak Versamark v-series
Xeikon is aiming to go up against one of the beasts of the digital jungle: the Versamark V-Series. The top-of-the-range, heavy-duty VX5000 is very much suited to the transactional market, being capable of printing at speeds of a whopping 2,080 A4 colour pages per minute. That makes it a logical choice for not just the transactional sector, but also the direct mail and newspaper markets. It also has extra finishing options available. But Xeikon believes it has the edge over the Versamark range on the quality front.

Max speed 2,080 A4 ppm (VX5000)
Web width 455mm
Stock range 60-160gsm
Front end CS300, CS400, CS600
Price £700,000
Contact Kodak UK 01923 233366, www.graphics.kodak.com