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 commercially available. Read more about this new dry toner digital printing platform here, via sister publication Digital Printer.

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.

Filip Weymans, vice president of marketing at Xeikon, stated, ‘With more than 30 years of innovation and experience in digital printing, we are still leading the way. Xeikon is recognised as an advisor in many key markets, such as graphic arts and labels, and now in the corrugated market. Xeikon is a true technology-agnostic adviser in the digital transformation that print manufacturing processes are undergoing. We are excited to be bringing Xeikon and Flint Group knowledge and expertise to the corrugated market with IDERA and our broad range of consulting and advisory services.’

Lode Deprez, vice president, digital inks and imaging technology, noted, ‘In our R&D Competence Center for digital inks, our engineers develop, formulate and produce our own high-performing, food-safe, water-based inks. This includes our new and patented technology used for pigment dispersion that guarantees the best performance and a cost-efficient solution.’

From September onwards, Xeikon plans to have an Idera system available at its Global Innovation Center in Lier, Belgium for customer evaluation and testing.

Sebastien Stabel, market segment manager for carton packaging, at Xeikon, said, ‘We are working closely with Flint Group, our partners, and most importantly our customers, to customise the software, hardware and ink sets and address more closely the needs of the corrugated market in Europe and North America. At the same time, we add our digital expertise to what is already a solid base product.’

Read about this and other cutting-edge technologies to bring about the next phase of digital package printing in the May/June issue of Digital Label & Packaging; register here to receive the magazine for free

Read more about the reasons for the number of current players, new and old, in the digital corrugated printing market in the July/August issue of Digital Label & Packaging; register here to receive the magazine for free