Digital Labeling
Digital printing is based on technology that prints directly from the data of a digital file using electrophotographic imaging.
Typical areas where digital printing is used today are food, pharmaceutical, industrial chemical and special product labeling, multi-language print jobs and personalization.
The main driving forces for digital printing are:
- Profitable short to medium print runs
- No films, no plates
- Fast turnaround
- High quality prints
- No waste
- A wide range of substrates to print on
HP Indigo and Xeikon – the main press manufacturers
HP Indigo and Xeikon are the main digital printing press manufacturers in the world today. Both companies were founded in the late 1980s and introduced their first digital color printing machines in 1993.
HP Indigo uses digital offset technology with liquid toners called ElectroInks. This technology sets high requirements on the printing substrate if good ink anchorage is to be achieved. UPM Raflatac's HP Indigo products have a special top-coat to ensure good print quality.
Xeikon technology is based on LED electrophotography. This technique requires that the printing substrate has optimal and uniform resistivity, which can only be achieved through correct and uniform moisture content and good material formation.
Print-on-demand products for digital ink-jet and toner-based printers
Print-on-demand paper and film labelstocks help drive throughput and increase operational versatility by putting materials and printing equipment instantly to work.
These products offer exceptional printability on digital presses, narrow-web machines, laser printers and even LED toner-based or hot fusion machines and can be printed roll-to-roll or flat for sheet-fed formats.
UPM Raflatac’s print-on-demand product range includes an extensive range of LED toner-based products as well as water-resistant paper and waterfast film universal ink-jet labelstocks that dry instantly on the press after inks are applied, protecting label imagery throughout the product usage cycle.