ARGRAF Acquires Xeikon CX3 Digital Press

ARGRAF acquired a Xeikon CX3 digital press, designed specifically for the production of self-adhesive labels.

“After two years working with another digital technology (liquid toner), we decided to add a press with dry toner technology which, apart from offering certificates for food contact and security, allows us to extend our product portfolio and to continue delivery of quality service to our clients,” said Jesús Davalillo, ARGRAF’s Pre-Printing and Digital Printing director.

The Xeikon CX3 digital label press is based on Xeikon’s Cheetah technology, printing at a maximum speed of 30m/min.

This digital press, with very high resolution of 1,200 x 3,600 dpi, offers additional advantages such as its use of dry toners that comply, amongst other things, with the regulations of the Food and Drug Administration on food contact, its great precision and color stability, and the ability to print white toner with high levels of opacity in a single pass.

“We are very pleased with the quality of Xeikon’s opaque white and, in general, the stability of the press, and also the low levels of maintenance required,” Davalillo said. “Although we have only been working with it for seven months and it is a bit soon to make a final assessment, we have confidence that things will continue in this way, which allows us to achieve maximum speed of 30 meters a minute for most materials, with only a few exceptions.

“Although inkjet is advancing rapidly, and it may be that it is viable in the medium term for printing all types of material, we are presently putting our faith in toner,” he continued. “We are gradually gaining experience that tells us which of our two toner types is the best solution for each job. For us, these are complementary technologies, and we have to extract the best from each of them.”

ARGRAF produces more than 2.5 billion wine and tin labels each year.