Fifth Xeikon in five years for CS Labels

Willenhall based CS Labels has announced details of its fifth Xeikon digital label press installation following the purchase of a new 3500 wide format digital label printing solution. The arrival of the new press has been timed to coincide with the West Midlands business expanding into a larger facility.

The new extension to the CS Labels business allows the company to double its office space, add a board room, and expand studio facilities, as well as providing a dedicated facility for its new wide format label press, and a temperature controlled paper store for all its digital machines.

The installation of the 500 mm wide 3500 represents a fifth machine purchase from the press supplier in just five years. Whilst two of the early presses have been traded back during previous upgrade cycles, the new Xeikon 3500 machine represents a third production unit, providing an additional 50% printing capacity at the company.

A sizeable grant from the government's Regional Growth Fund aided the purchase of the latest press, and whilst it required the creation of three new jobs at the company, this proved the perfect combination for CS Labels. Managing director Simon Smith said, 'The availability of this funding was an important factor in our purchase decision, particularly with the additional cash required to re-fit the new building. It ensures that our cash flow continues to remain positive and we don't overstretch ourselves in any one direction.'

Whilst two screen process presses are still in use, all flexographic printing has now ceased at the business, some five years on from the original Xeikon digital installation. Digital printing of labels now makes up some 90% of the throughput.

Mr Smith continued, 'Of course, we focus on the advantages of the move to digital, and whilst we could always outsource any true flexographic orders, the speed improvements provided by Xeikon, along with the reduced run lengths being demanded by many customers, mean that digital really does seem to cover most of the requirements of our current client base.

'One recent convert actually sent their designers in to see us in order that we could provide them with a detailed explanation of the digital process. By the end of a very long day, they were not only convinced that digital was an essential move for their work, they had changed a design three times with press proofs, and they had increased the final order to cover 20 different types of label for their products.

'The gamut of digital is expanding all of the time. Short run is certainly a key point of focus, but the flexibility, versatility and quality offered by the process are now more important than ever, and are seen as a real selling points by our sales people.'

read more http://www.cslabels.co.uk/blog/industry_developments/fifth_xeikon_press