Xeikon has announced that Action Packaging Systems, Inc., a supplier of custom and stock labels as well as folding carton packaging, has installed a Xeikon 3500 digital color press to further expand its business.

Based in Ellington, CT, USA, Action Packaging Systems partners with businesses worldwide to enhance the branding of their products with high quality labels and packages. Douglas Rice, president of Action Packaging Systems, says the company had been printing labels using flexographic technology, while outsourcing some digital work with a business partner. The decision was made to bring those digital capabilities to its Connecticut location to better serve its customers and for future plans.

After installing the Xeikon 3500 press in late 2011, Action Packaging Systems has significantly increased the number of short-run, pressure-sensitive label jobs it can handle for its customers. “The superior uptime and the avoidance of costly setup times with printing plates were the two major reasons we chose the Xeikon 3500,” Rice says. “We can now take on print jobs in quantities as low as 5,000 pieces or fewer, and price them competitively with the Xeikon. The Xeikon 3500 is the engine that’s driving our labels business forward.” Rice added that with the 20-inch web width of the Xeikon 3500, Action Packaging Systems has the future opportunity to grow into other paperboard-related applications.

“No other digital label press offers the one-two punch of productivity and flexibility that the Xeikon 3500 brings to the table,” says Michael Ring, president of Xeikon America, Inc. “The range of label sizes that Action Packaging Systems can handle with the Xeikon 3500 puts the company head and shoulders above its competitors.”

According to the company, the Xeikon 3500 is ideal for the production of label and packaging applications. Equipped with high-precision LED-based imaging heads, it features true 1200 dpi resolution with variable dot density, generating excellent image quality. The Xeikon 3500 is equipped with five color stations, four for the standard process colors and fifth for the use of spot colors, and a one-pass opaque white or a security toner for anti-counterfeiting applications. Print speed of the press is unaffected by the number of colors used and/or the size of the labels.

The Xeikon 3500 can handle monthly duty cycles of up to 3.8 million square feet on a wide range of substrates. It runs on Xeikon’s QA-I toner which is FDA-compliant for indirect and direct contact with dry food.