A New Year, and a new change of focus on multi design labelling

Posted by Adrian on Feb 2, 2012 in Labels | 0 comments One of the most powerful technologies we have benefited from at Mercian Labels is a powerful custom built database that allows us to analyse buying trends amongst our customers. We presented some of these recently at the BPIF Labels Event in late 2011, and after further analyses we are making a small but important change to our market offer. Over the past decade our “Mercian Labels”...
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Why risk using anything but FDA approved food safe print toner from Xeikon on food labels & packaging after the toxic ink migration scare?

Posted by Adrian on Jan 31, 2012 in Labels | 0 comments One of the hottest topics in the world of labelling and narrow web packaging in recent years has been how to tackle the problem of toxic chemical components from printing inks (particularly UV cured) on packaging from migrating into foodstuffs, since it was first identified as an issue in 2005.  Whilst the use of the chemical ITX was subsequently dropped, many customers and brand owners...
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Q. What is short run labelling? A. 1 to 1 million labels of each design

Posted by Adrian on Jan 31, 2012 in Labels | 0 comments Customers often ask us “what do you call  a ‘short run’ of labels?”, and our answer often varies on the circumstances of the customer.  Some customers consider that 500 labels is a long run and ask if its to much for us to handle (no its not!), and others with more established needs consider anything less than 2,000 meters of material (commonly about 1,000,000 labels) to...
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In Pictures – Installing an @Xeikon 3300 digital label printing machine

Posted by Adrian on Jan 17, 2012 in Labels | 0 comments Have you ever wondered what happens when you install a digital label printing machine?  We took a few photos when we swapped out our  330 for the new Xeikon 3300 digital label printing machine in December 2011, shown below.  The whole process of decommissioning the old machine and installing and commissioning the new one took about 6 days, and went very well thanks to the expert team from...
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The Mercian Labels Group are exhibiting in the Ecopack zone of The Packaging Innovations Show

Posted by Adrian on Jan 5, 2012 in A C Labels, business, Labels, Security Labels | 2 comments     We are delighted that all the divisions of The Mercian Labels Group are exhibiting in the Ecopack zone of  The Packaging Innovations Show at the NEC near Birmingham on 29 February – 1 March 2012. Mercian Labels will be showing its latest digital labelling capabilities from the new Xeikon 3300 with FDA approved food safe inks and fully deinkable and recyclable digital label...
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@Printweek report INGEDE’s confirmation @HPIndigo digital labelling inks should remain out of mainstream EU paper recycling

Posted by Adrian on Dec 22, 2011 in Labels | 0 comments       We have noted before the benefits of using Xeikon dry toner for digital label printing as its fully recyclable (known as deinking), where the competitive ink technology from HP Indigo is not. Printweek are today reporting the results of a trial where a used paper trial recycling trial containing 5% of HP indigo paper has been recycled, albeit in a specialist paper recycling...
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A decommissioning celebration of Mercian Labels’ Xeikon digital label printing machine using traditional English Morris dancers

Posted by Adrian on Dec 5, 2011 in business, Labels | 1 comment   On 1st December 2011 we decommissioned our Xeikon 330 digital label printing machine after many years of great service and upgraded to the latest Xeikon 3300 version.  Whilst the retiring machine was destined for recycling, we could not let the occasion pass without a celebration of its achievements over many years.  So we got our thinking caps on, and our sales team suggested we...
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Narrow Web Tech 3-2011 article on Xeikon QAi toner for digital label printing

Posted by Adrian on Nov 23, 2011 in Labels | 0 comments   One of the main reasons Mercian Labels decided to upgrade its digital label printing capability to the new Xeikon 3300 was the quality of the new QA-i toner.  Here, in the industry’s leading technical journal Narrow Web Tech 3-2011 you can read about the evolution of the Xeikon Toner, and the benefits of the new toner formulation.  You can download a PDF of the article...
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Tour around the @Xeikon digital label printing factory

Posted by Adrian on Nov 22, 2011 in business, Labels | 0 comments   Last week I presented a case study on the adoption of digital label printing at an event organised by Xeikon in Lier, Belgium, and enjoyed a tour around their factory where our new digital label printing machine is being made.     It was really interesting to see how the 100+ machines a year are build and tested to such high standards, and the fantastic technology that is able...
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Xeikon 3300 Digital label printer upgrade

Posted by Adrian on Nov 10, 2011 in business, Labels | 0 comments   At Label Expo 2011 we announced the exciting news that we are upgrading our digital labelling capability to include the new Xeikon 3300 – the fastest, highest quality, most environmentally friendly digital labelling solution available with fantastic lightfastness, no origination charges and brilliant colour resolution. The installation will take place during the first week of...
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We have upgraded our Xeikon Digital Label Printing press to the newest and fastest 3300 version!

Posted by Adrian on Oct 7, 2011 in business, Labels, press releases | 0 comments   We were delighted to announce at last week that we have invested in the latest and fastest Xeikon 3300 digital labelling press to further bolster our digital labelling capabilities for our 9000 UK business customers. This new press is fast, productive, fantastic 1200dpi quality, has excellent colour matching, it is solvent free & environmentally friendly as it can be recycled, and uses...
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Comparison of HP, UV Inkjet and Xeikon digitally printed label images exposed to sunlight

Posted by Adrian on Oct 6, 2011 in innovative labels, Labels | 0 comments At last weeks Label Expo 2011 a poster caught my eye, comparing the pigment fading of the 3 principal digital label printing technologies in an easy to see and understand way, the best comparison I have seen to date.  Put simply it showed the same image printed at the same time using 3 different processes (HP Indigo solvent based liquid toner, UV cured inkjet inks used by Xaar, Konica Minolta...
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We are attending the BPIF Digital Printing for labels Seminar #in #bpiflabels

Posted by Adrian on Oct 5, 2011 in business, Labels | 0 comments We will be attending the digital label printing technical workshop run by BPIF Labels in Daventry, UK, on 2 November 2011.  It looks like a really good day for those in the UK labels industry to meet up and discuss a really important trend towards increased digital labelling, and one that we have just again invested into. Speakers include Xeikon, Xaar, HP, LabelTrax, UPM Raflatac, AB Graphics...
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#Labelexpo 2011 review

Posted by Adrian on Oct 3, 2011 in A C Labels, business, innovative labels, Labels, Security Labels | 2 comments   LabelExpo 2011 is the world biggest labelling show   Last week I was at the biggest Labelling show in the world, Label expo in Brusells, Belgium.  It was a fantastic event, certainly the best of the 6 Label Expos I have been too.  This is a review of my thoughts on the show and developments relevant to our customers and marketplaces in the same manner in which I did for the...
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#Labelexpo 2011 later this month looks exciting!

Posted by Adrian on Sep 6, 2011 in A C Labels, Labels, Security Labels | 0 comments Its an exciting time again for those in the world of labelling and narrow web packaging, as its time for the biennial Labelexpo show in Brussels later this month. As always we expect to see a lot of exciting new technology launches, some product line refreshes and a bit of the “same as always” offerings from some suppliers. The core innovations in the digital space from Xeikon and HP...
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