Digital press manufacturer Xeikon has formally entered the digital corrugated printing market, with the launch of Idera.
Idera is a new digital platform for corrugated packaging developed by Xeikon and parent company Flint Group. Idera will use food-safe, pigment-based aqueous inkjet inks, with the ability to handle a 1.6 x 2.8m board size and print at up to 150 linear m/min.
Xeikon’s hardware offer for the market will be a single-pass direct-to-corrugated press, with the high-quality post-print flexo market identified by Xeikon as the area where it can bring the biggest value in corrugated box decoration.
To develop Idera, Xeikon relied on its long-established in-house digital expertise, and lent on the experience and manufacturing footprint of parent company Flint Group, an established supplier of inks for corrugated packaging.
Idera is the latest addition to Xeikon’s digital printing portfolio. Xeikon has already detailed CX300, its new dry toner digital label press, as well as Sirius, a new generation dry toner technology said to deliver higher speeds, reduced cost of ownership, and further improved quality. The first digital press based on this new technology – SX30000 – is now available to order.
This latest development sees Xeikon become the latest entrant to the digital corrugated printing market, alongside Domino with it X630i water-based inkjet press, and Screen, which has been working with German company BHS Corrugated since 2016 to develop a water-based inkjet printing option capable of delivering high-speed throughput of 300m/min at widths of up to 2.8m. The partners are creating the system in response to growing demand in the shelf-ready packaging and full-colour corrugated board markets.
