Komar has decided to expand its production by adding the Xeikon Wall Decoration Suite with a Xeikon 3500 digital roll printing system in a five-colour configuration, including coating unit and wallpaper rewinder. The wallpaper system was installed at the production facility in February in Kolbermoor, Bavaria.
Sabine Komar-Häusler, CEO at Komar Products GmbH & Co KG, confirmed that this was a strategic and future-oriented decision, ‘Our customers increasingly expect personalisation and customised production. As a result, our portfolio of designs and sizes is growing. This diversity of possibilities requires keeping as little stock as possible and instead producing orders on-demand. This new system enables us to do just that.’
In order to be able to achieve faster, more flexible and more customised production, Komar will now not only move sections of the existing product line to the Xeikon system, but will also create a dedicated Xeikon collection. The plan is to produce licence themes, such as Disney or National Geographic, digitally as well.
‘We were impressed by the vast experience Xeikon had already gained with digitally printed wallpaper over a number of years. The Xeikon 3500 with its inline finishing units is the manufacturer’s latest development, into which all of this experience has been incorporated. In addition, it delivers a clear advantage in terms of speed over other digital print technologies used in interior decoration, due both to print engine speed and its complete end-to-end production that results in finished rolls of wallpaper being delivered off the back end of the system,’ Komar-Häusler explained.
Its extremely fast printing speed of 19.2m/min, allowing for effective management of volumes and costs, was one of the key criteria for Komar’s decision. The simplex Xeikon 3500 digital press with speed upgrade is equipped with a chamber doctor blade system, enabling the application of coatings with water-based as well as UV varnish. In addition, Komar is able to reduce operational steps during wallpaper production thanks to the inline finishing system. Previously, it was necessary to print and varnish first, then cut, roll up and package. Now, the new Xeikon machine delivers a completely finished wallpaper. Thanks to its ability to print on a wide range of substrate weights, the Xeikon system is suitable for printing on stronger 150g/sqm non-woven materials, for which there is currently huge demand.
‘What drives us every day is knowing that our photomurals help people create a personal and comfortable environment for the most important places in their lives: their homes and offices. This new printing system supports this further by allowing us to meet the ever more varied and personalised customer requests and requirements with customised production’, Komar-Häusler concluded.
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