German digital printer PPS. Imaging GmbH has invested in a Xeikon Wall Decoration Suite, including a Xeikon 8500 digital printing system with an X-800 front end and two CMS/WMF walldeco finishing units. The company took the decision towards the end of 2017 in order to service the growing creative market for personalised wallpaper for hotels, cafés, offices, trade shows, events and homes. Installation is due to be completed by the end of March 2018.
“We believe that there is further growth opportunity in the interior design market,” says Axel Mausolf, Managing Director at PPS. Imaging GmbH. “Our recent takeover of klebefieber.de, an online shop for customised wall decoration and home design ideas, has provided us with a strong additional sales channel for products we can produce with the Xeikon Wall Decoration Suite. We create products using the wide variety of materials the machine can work with, offering an endless range of design possibilities that have a ‘wow’ factor, such as turning a conference room into a wine cellar, antiquity-themed wall designs for museums, or a lounge that appears to be in the middle of a forest.”
For PPS. Imaging, this is the second Xeikon 8500 one-pass-duplex solution in a four-colour configuration for single-sided or perfecting printing in a single pass. The company invested in its first Xeikon 8500 Wall Decoration Suite three years ago at Heimtextil, due to the higher productivity and increased volume it enables for this growth market. As demand for these wall covering solutions grew, the existing equipment was no longer able to cope with production capacity, and a second system was needed.
“We achieved very good results with the first press,” Mausolf says. “Its sophisticated technology and its reliability drove the decision to purchase the new finishing unit as an add-on for the existing press as well. We were aiming to increase service and parts inventory efficiency, as well as run both Xeikon digital printing systems to the same technical standards.”
For the final production step, the first Xeikon 8500 was fitted with an offline Tecnau cutting system for cutting the wallpaper to the desired roll width and a Fotoba winding system. These two external finishing devices are now being replaced with a Xeikon CMS/WMF inline finishing solution. It cuts and rewinds the wallpaper inline, producing a fully completed wallpaper roll that is ready for packaging and shipping. The inline process drastically reduces manual operations and creates a more efficient overall process, from receipt of a PDF file to the finished product.
The Xeikon Wall Decoration Suite is a unique end-to-end solution, comprised of a Xeikon 8500 digital printer, environmentally-friendly toner, an efficient workflow and various inline finishing devices. It can handle a number of different materials, including the FSC®-certified nonwoven wallpapers deployed by PPS. Imaging. PPS. Imaging is an example of how this production solution can meet the demands of the interior design market for large print runs with fast throughput, as well as efficiently produce the smaller, customised runs that are increasingly in demand.
