The new Moss Digital Decorating System, developed jointly by Xeikon and Italy based Moss, is said to enable printers to decorate round, conical, rectangular and square pails and containers quickly and cost-effectively, even in very short runs.
Filip Weymans, Xeikon’s business development manager labels & packaging, states: “The solution lets printers decorate various-shaped pails and containers in two simple steps. First, one of the Xeikon web presses prints the exact number of transfers required for the decoration. Then the roll of printed transfers is fed into the Moss system, which perfectly applies transfers to pails or containers via heat transfer.
“The result is an opacity and image quality that’s superior to what direct offset printing can produce. And for applications that need extra durability, an in-line varnishing unit can be incorporated into the Moss transfer machine.”
The Moss system comes in two models: Digicon for round and conical pails, and Digilex for rectangular and square containers. Both are claimed to be cost effective with runs as small as 500.
The intelligent Moss system is said to eliminate the need to create complicated graphic jobs or prepare screens or plates, as well as the chemistry associated with these conventional methods. Machine set-up time is fast on the Xeikon presses, reducing the high fixed costs associated with conventional set-ups that make short runs unaffordable, it is claimed.
According to Xeikon, the digital decorating system enables production at approximately 18ppm with a round 10 litre pail, delivering the same output as a traditional direct offset printing press.
