Afinia Label UK launches five new label finishing machines

Narrow-web label printer manufacturer Afinia Label UK has launched two new label finishing systems and announced that three more are on the way.

The DLF-220 and DLF-220L, which were launched last month, both unwind, knife cut, remove waste, slit and rewind labels. The DLF-220L has an additional lamination feature and is able to work with both unsupported and 'linered' laminates.

The firm said these machines can be used to create full-bleed labels using web widths from 110mm to 225mm due to their plotter-cutting precision.

The DLF-220, which costs £10,950, is suitable for use with laser or pigment inkjet printers where lamination may not be necessary for most applications, the company said.

The DLF-220L, which costs £14,850, is said to pair well with water-based label printers where lamination would be necessary to gain protection from moisture and UV.

The two machines can finish labels at speeds of up to 5.5m/min and can accurately cut any shape up to 381mm in length on demand, without the added cost of dies. They also feature an optical sensor that eliminates potential registration errors caused by dust or debris from the cutting area.

The firm said these devices take away the hassle associated with producing full bleed labels and enable label printers to take more control of their own label production by eliminating waiting times and stock holding of pre-cut labels and saving on costs.

Also new, and set to be commercially available by the end of October, are the DLF-350 and DLF-CS digital label finishers as well as an as-yet-unnamed laser finishing machine.

The DLF-350, which will cost £23,000, has all of the DLF-220L features but with a maximum web width of 355mm while the DLF-CS, which will cost £4,200, die-cuts adhesive label sheets, digital prints on cardboard and silk-screen prints.

Afinia Label UK EMEA sales manager Nathan Daniel told PrintWeek: “Trade printers will take these types of machines because they allow them to do next-day deliveries, or in some cases same-day deliveries because they don’t need any plates.

“We find the food and chemical industries particularly take them because it enables people to increase their product range without really thinking about it.

“The chemical industry, for example, has only ever been able to match the product to the label size that they’ve got but with this equipment they can match the label to the product.

“They are therefore maybe able to produce 20 bottles a week for one particular customer or go into the trigger spray market because they can now control the size of their labels; it gives them that complete flexibility.”

Afinia Label UK, a division of Microboards Technology, sells its machinery through a worldwide network of dealers.