Xeikon, UPM Raflatac, and Magic Add announce digital printing integration for smart labels – Automates and secures printing of smart labels with unique IDs

UPM Raflatac's intelligent label solution, RafMore by UPM Raflatac, is now available faster and more securely than ever thanks to a groundbreaking integration between Xeikon's digital printing presses and Magic Add's Internet of Packaging platform.

Magic Add’s IoP platform, which powers UPM Raflatac’s RafMore smart labels, can now send unique IDs to Xeikon digital printers directly from the cloud. Xeikon can automatically and securely print RafMore smart labels with unique digital identities in the form of any standard, machine-readable code with shorter turnarounds and in greater quantities than ever possible before.

“Even if you need several million labels, you can just choose to add unique IDs to them during the normal printing process. Integrating Magic Add’s unique ID generation into Xeikon’s X-800 work flow enables new applications and reduces the time because there’s no need for manual integration,” says Jeroen Van Bauwel, Director of Product Management at Xeikon.

“This makes smart packaging much faster and easier for brand owners, especially if they want to try smart labels for the first time,” says Ari Salonen, CEO of Magic Add.

Using smart labels to give products unique digital identities brings a variety of benefits without adding much to label unit cost. UPM Raflatac’s RafMore smart labels can be used to track product origin, authenticate products and fight counterfeiting, make product recalls as narrow as possible, show consumers sustainability credentials, and more. In return for offering users more product information and supply chain transparency, brands gain valuable market insight data based on real-time consumer usage.

Xeikon will unveil the new integration at upcoming Labelexpo Europe 2019 in Brussels. They will distribute a demo at their booth (Hall 5 C28) featuring RafMore smart labels with unique IDs pulled directly from Magic Add’s IoP platform. In addition to showcasing the digitally printed smart labels, the demo will provide a real-world example of the power of smart packaging. The demos contain samples of fully origin-tracked coffee from a pilot conducted by Magic Add, UPM Raflatac, Paulig, coffee partner Volcafe, and farmer outreach programme Volcafe Way.

Using RafMore smart labels, Paulig’s coffee was tracked starting at the point of harvest in Guatemala, through roasting and packaging. The pilot aims to increase transparency by showing consumers exactly where their coffee came from, that it was grown and harvested sustainably, and where it has traveled along the supply chain. “This is a holistic demo of both the value of smart packaging and how easy it is for brands to introduce it to their products,” says Sami Poukka, Vice President for Global Business and Segment Development at UPM Raflatac.