The innovation delivered by the Xeikon Cheetah, the most important advancement for the digital label market in 15 years, has received its first industry recognition – the EDP Award for Best Label Printing Solution. The award was presented today at FESPA in Germany, and the EDP Association is the first industry body to recognize the market-leading qualities of Xeikon’s most productive digital label press, only months after installation at pilot sites around the world. “We are convinced the Xeikon Cheetah will have a very tangible impact on customers’ businesses through a number of production gains, all at high quality. We are delighted that the EDP Association recognizes this as well,” states Wim Maes, CEO of Xeikon.

“The speed and quality of the Xeikon Cheetah will help our customers to win business while opening up new markets through improved cost efficiencies and increased productivity,” adds Filip Weymans, Director of Segment Marketing, Labels and Packaging at Xeikon. “The new press will also enable traditional label printers to adjust their workflow strategy to both improve competitiveness and expand their offerings. We have already seen these kinds of results at our three pilot sites. Upon the commercial launch later this year, we are certain more customers will be able to take advantage of this ground-breaking technology. We are delighted that the EDP judges agree that this press has a lot to offer to the industry, and to forward-thinking operations looking to stand out from the crowd by adding value and creativity to the print production mix.”

Xeikon Cheetah, a five-color digital label press, runs at up to 30 meters per minute, making it 56% faster than any other member of the Xeikon digital label press family. Its print quality is enhanced by the unique Cheetah toner, specifically developed for high speeds and based on Xeikon’s proven ICE toner technology. It complies with FDA regulations for food contact and offers the ability to print opaque white toner in a single pass. In addition, the exceptionally low fusing temperature for this toner means that a wider range of substrates can be digitally printed at very high levels of quality. The availability of custom toners also expands the color gamut that can be achieved, especially when printing brand colors where a process match is difficult to achieve.

The EDP Awards were established by the EDP Association which was founded in October 2006 by the publishers of six trade magazines with a primary editorial focus on digital production. The EDP Awards acknowledge the value of R&D in the industry and recognize the best products of the past year.