Printers looking for high-speed color label production now have a potential new tool in their arsenal, as Epson has launched its new ColorWorks CW-C8000 label printer.

Available starting in late July 2024 in the US and Canada, the ColorWorks® CW-C8000 printer replaces the Epson C7500 as Epson’s highest volume label printer. It prints 4” color labels at up to 12” per second. 1

“It’s our fastest ColorWork printer, and provides improved print quality and reliability,” said Stevi Sterns, ColorWorks Label Printing Solutions product manager. “The ColorWorks CW-C8000 printer allows small, mid and large businesses and converters to print labels in color and offers customizable label solutions for on-demand flexibility.

“The CW-C8000 is built for the rapidly growing industrial label market that relies on fast printing and high image quality to meet product label requirements,” added Sterns. “Delivering accurate colors, smooth gradations, precise barcodes, and sharp text, this new model is built to inspire businesses to ‘Do Labels Differently’ by breaking free from the conventional and embrace the new era of label printing.”

The ColorWorks line includes the C4000, C6000-A and C6000-P, C6500-A and C6500-P (which is capable of printing labels up to 8.34” in width) and the new C8000. The CW-C8000 is designed for high volume industrial printing in several markets, including prime and boutique, product ID, warehousing and logistics.

“Target applications are Tier 2 prime labels,” Sterns noted. “Product ID labels and boutique labels are primary applications, with industrial labels for secondary applications. End users will be able to print for their own labels in-house use as well as quick production runs, such as asset tags and put-away labels.”

The CW-C8000 uses PrecisionCore® Heat-Free technology, which allow for minimal user interventions and low maintenance costs, and UltraChrome® DL inks which deliver accurate colors, smooth gradations, precise barcodes and sharp text. One of the most intriguing advances is with the UltraChrome DL CMYK inks, which are designed for high-quality labels and resist smudging, smearing and fading. Epson has switched from cartridges to Replacement Ink Pack System (RIPS), which increases ink capacity significantly.

“All of our inks are pigmented,” Sterns said. “Fast speed is a key point, and 1.9 liters of total ink capacity is ideal for high batch runs, requiring fewer interventions and low consumable waste. The ink capacity will go from 300 ml to 480 ml per pouch, which gives the customer 1.9 liters of total ink capacity. 2 This leads to less maintenance while printing more out of one set of ink.”

With the new CW-C8000, businesses are able to pick and choose between matte and gloss inkl. It has a 2.7 color LCD and the new Epson Cloud Solution PORT for remote fleet management, which allows printers to remotely monitor their printers and see fleet utilization and efficiency, make adjustments and do fast, remote troubleshooting.

So far, the initial reviews from printers have been excellent, Sterns said.

“Our beta customers are delighted – the design is robust but not overwhelming,” Sterns concluded. “It’s purpose-built for mid- to high-volume batch runs in on-demand environments.”

1 Printing in full 1200 x 600 resolution.
2 Part of the ink from the first cartridges/packs is used for initializing the printer. Ink usage will vary considerably based on images printed, print settings, paper type, frequency of use, temperature, and humidity. Variance may be more pronounced when printing infrequently or predominantly with one ink color. Ink is used for printing and printer maintenance and all colors must be available for printing. For print quality, a variable amount of ink remains after the “replace ink” indicator comes on.