FRONTLINE: Digital Press for Short-Run Web Label Work

Digital inkjet presses are gaining ground in short-run, label applications. The technology offers users a powerful combination of image quality, speed and low production costs.

True Label, Toledo, OH purchased the first EFI Jetrion 4000 UV Inkjet System. The inkjet printer “will make it possible for us to produce millions of short-run labels at great margins,” says Bob Napierala, president of True Label. He says the pharmaceutical and chemical labeling company has had to turn down short run work.

True Label purchased the new press to economically in-source full-color, short-run jobs, eliminating the need to outsource label work to expensive toner-based suppliers.

Sun Chemical presented its SolarJet UV inkjet printer (left), designed for the short-run, narrow-web label market, at Graph Expo in Chicago and running live at last month's SGIA show in Orlando. Manufactured in association with Imaging Technology International, Boulder, CO, the device offers printers and converters the ability to produce shorter runs, cost effectively, and without sacrificing quality.

Sun says the SolarJet was specifically designed to fill a gap in the narrow-web label market for print runs under 10,000 labels. The device can print variable data, such as text and barcodes.

The SolarJet is equipped with Xaar 760 printheads in CMYK, yields print quality of 900× 900 dpi, uses Sun Chemical developed SolarDot pigmented UV inks and prints on a range of substrates at speeds of up to 80 fpm. It offers print widths from 2.1´´ to 6.3 ´´.

www.truelabel.com, www.iticorp.com, www.efi.com, www.sgia.org, www.sunchemical.com