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UK based Edale Ltd. is a leading provider
of narrow and mid web digital,
fl exographic presses and converting
equipment. Th ey have a long history of
building modular inkjet presses going
back to their partnership on the AGFA
Dotrix, one of the fi rst production inkjet
presses introduced at drupa 2000.
Th e LabelStream is built on the
modular Edale FL3 fl exo transport
system as the base, which allows the
base confi guration to be extended to
include the addition of inline fl exo
color, embellishment and additional
fi nishing options.
Up to 10 fl exo stations can be positioned
pre-or-post digital to enable
digital over printing as well as printing
on the adhesive, laminating, foiling
or varnishing combined with print
in a single process. Th e fi nishing can
include autoset sheer slitting, and back
slitting from job data, as well as sheeting,
delivery and a twin rewind.
Th e Océ LabelStream has a standard
digital print speed of 48 m/min and a
high-speed mode of 68 m/min, with
two print web widths of 13” and 16”.
Th is provides an impressive productivity
range of 950 – 1,672 sm/h. In
fl exo only mode it can print up to 200
m/min, although it is dependent on
feature confi guration. Th e Label-
Stream includes some very interesting
functionality designed to reduce set up
times throughout the process. It uses
a single-point of operation servo-drive
technology with auto-registration
and impression setting, plus an AVT
inspection system for quality control.
It has a unique hybrid semi-rotary and
full rotary die cutting system, with
automatic die loading and unloading
that automatically synchronizes the
die cutting to the digital print. It also
includes a web cleaning and corona
treatment station, and a delam/relam
module with a turnbar that can be
used for printing on the reverse side,
especially for printing on adhesives
such as in peel and reveal applications.
Th e press supports a wide range of
standard label stocks including on a
wide range of standard label stocks
including coated/uncoated paper, fi lm,
PP, PE, PVC, BOPP and metallized fi lm
plus selected special substrates from
40 to 450 microns in the standard
confi guration and 20 to 600 in the
extended confi guration.
Imaging Engine
FFEI has also had a very impressive
background dating back to their
development eff orts with Crosfi eld
and Fujifi lm on scanners, soft ware and
imaging units. Additionally, they have
experience in building production
inkjet presses including the Graphium,
although Canon is quick to point out
that this is “not a Graphium”, and while
there is some technology cross over,
the press design specs prove that out.
Th e LabelStream includes digital
CMYK and digital White as a part of
the initial confi guration. It uses the
new Xaar 2001+GS6U printheads for
CMYK and the Xaar 2001+GS12U for
the digital White.
This is an impressive
introduction into the
label and packaging
market for Canon/Océ.
Especially with estimated
2X productivity and
approximately 30% lower
running costs compared
with toner-based
soultions.
Th ese heads provide ink recirculation
in the printhead and enables
ink to fl ow past the back of the nozzle
during drop ejection keeping the
printhead primed for reliability. It
prints variable dot sizes at HD mode
at a resolution of 720 x 600 dpi with 4
grey levels, at standard graphics mode
at 720 x 360 with 3 grey levels, and at
high speed mode at 720 x 360 with 3
grey levels. Th is combination provides
the speeds and ink control for a range
of imaging requirements.
Th e use of the GS12U printhead
provides the throughput necessary
for the larger pigment and higher
viscosity digital white ink, and unlike
some of the current toner based label
presses this provides an opacity > 80%
on the Alpine digital white at the full
standard speed of 48 m/min, or ~67%
opacity on the True White.
In addition to manual cleaning,
printhead maintenance is managed
with a few different automated
cleaning systems, including suction,
suction on specific head, wiping, and
high voltage purge.
As is the case in many production
inkjet systems today, the lightfast
CMYK ink set has a wide gamut that
can meet international color standards
and reproduce a signifi cant percentage
of the Pantone library dependent on
media. It uses inter-color UV pining to
set the inks between colors with a fi nal
UV cure. Th e ink is provided by Canon
under their services portfolio.
Workfl ow Control
Jointly developed, it provides complete
hybrid machine control and support.
It may start with the FFEI production
workfl ow system or another of the established
production workfl ow systems
(such as ESKO) which supports a hybrid
approach. LabelStream features include
an inks database with ink aliasing &
spot color matching tools, dynamic
marks and inkjet barcode optimization.
It supports full end to end automation
with intelligent job planning for labels
and automatic matching of job to die
tool inventory.
Applications
Canon is positioning the Océ Label-
Stream 4000 for self-adhesive label
converters who support pharmaceutical,
personal care, beverages, industrial
and other non-food contact uses. Th is
positions it directly at the fastest growing
label market. It may also have some
limited use in select fl exible packaging
applications. Th is is an impressive introduction
into the label and packaging
market for Canon/Océ. Especially with
estimated 2X productivity and approximately
30% lower running costs
compared with toner-based solutions.
It will be very interesting to see where
they go from here.
Pricing on the LabelStream starts at
$760K and can go up to $1.75M. Th e
LabelStream 4000 is expected to roll
out to Europe in Q4 of 2018, with the
US and other regions to follow. It will
be supported by the global Canon/Océ
service and support organizations.
PrintingNewscom August 2018 Printing News 29
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