One of the novelties at the Canon booth at this year’s drupa was the LabelStream LS 2000, i.e. a label printing machine. It was also the European premiere of this solution, as the LS2000 was presented at drupa for the first time outside of Japan.
Although it is a prototype, the machine is, as Mr. Edoardo Cotichini, senior manager for the European market said, worked all the time.
It is a water-based inkjet solution characterized by a printing speed of 40m/min, with a resolution of 2400x1200dpi. Because it is water-based, it meets all the necessary certificates for indirect contact with food. In terms of materials, the LS2000 can print on both paper and film, PP and PE, making the range of applications and possibilities truly wide.
As he told us, in addition to label manufacturers, commercial printers who want to diversify their business also showed interest in the machine at drupa.
The interesting thing about the LS2000 is that it was designed completely from scratch in Japan. When designing, they had in mind, says Mr. Cothicini, ease of use. For this reason, the machine comes with a high degree of automation. For example, automated print head cleaning and built-in color adjustment have been introduced, for maximum work extension and productivity.
The first reactions, he points out, are excellent, and the LS 2000 will be commercially available in 2025.
By launching this solution, Canon has made it clear that label printing, as one of the fastest growing areas, is high on its priority list. Although they are relatively new in this segment, they have rich experience in the production of ink jet solutions for commercial printing, therefore they use this knowledge and bring it to other areas.
“The label and packaging printing market is where Canon wants to become a reliable partner for print shops in the future,” said Mr. Cotichini.
More details are provided in the Print Report, available on the Print Magazin YouTube channel.
