New methods in folding carton printing and an additional foothold in label printing were the two main drivers for Druckerei Bauer GmbH's decision to install a Xeikon 3050 digital web press. With increasing customer demand for customized folding carton and small series packaging, the printer has high expectations for digital printing. Thanks to a simplified prepress process, customized solutions can be produced faster and more cost-efficiently. An additional benefit is that Xeikon toners conform to FDA guidelines and are suitable for use with food, which is a basic requirement for Bauer’s pharmaceutical and food industry customers.

Druckerei Bauer collaborated with a large customer from the field of fastener and assembly technology in creating a digital ordering workflow for label printing. The company also switched to on-demand delivery via a web-to-print system. The goal is to achieve a fast and simple production process of labels to cover the wide product range and different language versions. Customer demand for the daily printing and delivery of labels in run lengths ranging from one to 10,000 made digital printing the only option for Druckerei Bauer. The company opted for a comprehensive Xeikon package, including a Xeikon 3050 with web varnishing and a stacker and sheeter module.

"Until now, we have been printing digitally using sheet-fed presses, but we wanted to extend our foothold into the web-fed format arena," explains Matthias Bauer, managing director at Druckerei Bauer. “The Xeikon 3050 hit the mark on all fronts, including image quality, production speed and web size.”

The company is focusing on packaging solutions and folding carton production. In light of the installed offset equipment, digital printing on the Xeikon press makes up a small, but nonetheless significant part of its overall business. This is where digital printing can serve as an asset. Alongside wet glue labels, Bauer also produces small series and samples of folding carton. The company is currently planning additional business models, in which print production on the Xeikon press will play a key part.

“We process around 500 digital jobs per day – at peak times it can be as many as 1,000, and we do not cluster jobs," Bauer explains. “Every job submitted by 7pm will be printed and delivered the same day.”

Another benefit of the Xeikon 3050 is the precise imaging of micro text and security features, which are important for pharmaceutical customers. Bauer also likes the fact that Xeikon produces its own toners, making the company independent from other ink manufacturers. The Xeikon X-800 Digital Front End is responsible for the timely processing of the daily production output. “This greatly improves the degree of automation in digital print production and allows us to put through more jobs per unit of time," he adds.

The Xeikon 3050 digital printing press is part of the Xeikon 3000 series for label and packaging print. It achieves a high level of productivity with the highest print quality at entry-level investment costs. It is perfectly suited for gaining first-time experience of digital printing. The Xeikon 3050 has a variable web width ranging from 9.8" (250 mm) up to 20.3" (516 mm) and runs at a production speed of 297 m2/hour. Xeikon offers  combination of productivity and quality. An additional benefit of this press is its scalability to higher volumes, if required. By upgrading to a Xeikon 3500, Druckerei Bauer doubles its capacity.

As with all Xeikon equipment, standard materials can be used without the need for pre-treatment. This was one of the deciding factors for Druckerei Bauer in choosing this machine. The company primarily uses standard art papers for wet glue labels and SK paper and GC2 carton board for packaging applications.