Xitron, an independent developer of RIP and workflow products for commercial, digital, and high-speed inkjet printing, has announced an agreement with Liaoning Basch Digital for the development of a cross-product prepress workflow. The system will be designed for Basch’s Panthera 3322C color inkjet label press, the 3326V digital inkjet varnish press, and will also be capable of driving the Panthera CTP line.

The Panthera 3322C uses the Memjet Sirius inkjet head and is capable of print speeds up to 18 m/m with a maximum web width of 330mm. Xitron’s Northstar RIP and workflow will handle job submission, job tracking, spot color matching, label-based step-and-repeat, and variable data input, driving the press at full rated speed.

“We’re extremely pleased to partner with Basch on this project,” comments Karen Crews, president of Xitron. “Our experience with other Memjet OEMs places us ahead of the curve in development of these systems, so time-to-market will be short. Of equal benefit is our background with commercial offset and flexographic CTP devices, which will allow us to bring a full-featured workflow to Basch’s Panthera CTP line as well.”

Designed to image flexographic, resin, and metal printing plates, the Panthera 500G offers resolutions up to 4,000 dpi with a maximum plate size of 670mm x 640mm. It’s capable of imaging plates at speeds up to three square meters per hour and it features an auto-focusing system, which matches the laser energy with drum speed and the plate material being used. “We chose Xitron as our workflow partner because of their ability to offer a complete solution,” says Du Xuan, GM of Liaoning Basch. “Instead of supporting several separate systems based on output type, we are able to collapse to a single architecture that includes the features necessary for high-speed, color-accurate throughput regardless of destination.”

Basch demonstrated the Panthera 3322C this past May during ChinaPrint 17 in Beijing. The company will also be exhibiting at Labelexpo Asia in Shanghai beginning December 5, where Xitron’s Northstar workflow will be driving multiple devices.