Fuji Xerox New Zealand has entered the digital label printing market as the result of a partnership with specialist Durst Industrial Services.
The company regards the first product to arrive locally, the Durst Tau 330 series, as one of the world’s leading UV digital inkjet label presses. Alistair Egan, production marketing manager at Fuji Xerox New Zealand says this marks the first printer of its type to be made available locally. He says, “This is a market which has suffered from a lack of competition and this new machine now offers a lower cost of digital production for most label types, including thin film, blister packs and other media.”
The Durst Tau 330 UV digital inkjet printer prints images on the substrate by exposing its ink to UV light, which dries the ink almost immediately. This allows it to print directly onto various substrates quickly, including heat-sensitive films and labels. Egan says, “As the UV ink dries faster than solvent ink, the digital UV inkjet technology built into the system meets the need for efficient printing.
“Unlike competing products, the Durst Tau 330 delivers labels at a variable price depending on how much ink goes on to the finished output. This is a crucial difference, along with UV ink not requiring any pre-or post-treating. That makes the machine much easier to run, and it allows for labels to be affixed directly to products without the need for an additional coating.”
He says the output from the Durst Tau makes it suitable for industrial labels which must stand up to the rigours of the outdoors. He says, “The New Zealand market is ready for this kind of solution, which has not been available to date. There is nothing comparable.”
Through Durst’s single-pass UV inkjet printing technology with dual printhead architecture, it prints in full colour at a high speed of 37 linear metres per minute while printing in the highest print resolution in UV inkjet label printer class of 1260 dots per inch, in high definition mode. He adds, “The Tau 330 series delivers sharp, precise, and durable print quality at a high speed for today’s most demanding print applications.
“The new machine is targeted at traditional label printers and those which, with recent changes to food labelling regulations, are required to print labels at the point of packaging. With its variable data output, the Durst can be put straight into the process to produce the label as the goods toll off the production line.”
He adds that the machine can help users accelerate their business processes and eliminate waste, particularly for lines where multiple products with slight variations are produced. He says, “More products today than ever before have specific branding, even within one manufacturer’s range. The digital Durst is capable of economically doing a run of just a single label, making it ideal for short print runs.”
Steve Ford, general manager for production sales and marketing at Fuji Xerox Asia Pacific, says “As packaging and label markets are linked to consumer spending and population growth, it is a key printing segment with great potential. Today digital printing has a limited penetration in this segment, however, as it advances globally and the demand for traditional printing tapers off, many of our existing customers are rapidly diversifying and are looking to us for a reliable and comprehensive solution. This partnership will help our customers expand and grow their business in the label and packaging segment of the industry.”
The Durst Tau 330 series comprises the Tau 330, an entry-level Tau 330E, and an optional inline Laser Finishing System 330.
Fuji Xerox list features of the Durst Tau 330; it handles:
•Industrial and security type labels, durable electronics and automotive labels, labels for paint, specialty food & beverage, body & health care and household products
•Printing on aluminium foils for blister packs
•Using Tau low migration UV inkjet ink, primary food packaging printed on heat sensitive film and aluminium lids (such as yogurt and canned food)
•Late-stage versioning of pre-printed jobs on pre-die-cut label stock (blank labels)
•Variable data jobs containing variable/sequential numbering, text, barcodes, matrix/QR codes, and images
Fuji Xerox partners with Durst
